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by Steve Risner

“Give everybody a present and drop this chump, all right?” —Apollo

This is what I plan to do with 3 more “copycat” theories I’ve come across.

Two weeks ago, I addressed “The Real Jesus” as an argument against those who claim Jesus never actually existed. Last week, we discussed a common atheist argument that the story of Jesus was copied from the myth of Mithra. This week, I’ll touch on a few others: Apollo, Horus, and Dionysus. It’s clear, after investigating these alleged connections, that they are nothing of the sort—not even a little. It’s true that no copycat theory has any support from scholarly sources of merit.

Some have claimed that Apollo, the sun god in Greek mythology and the son of Zeus, was copied by the Apostles. Sounds exactly like the story of Jesus, right? Actually, there are no actual similarities at all. Apollo was the illegitimate son of Zeus and Leto. He had a twin sister, Artemis, who was born first. This sounds nothing like the birth of Christ. Apollo was born in October or November, not on December 25th. Frankly, anyone who claims any mythological person was born on December 25th and, therefore, was copied by the story of Jesus can’t be taken seriously. The Biblical account of Christ’s birth doesn’t have a date. In fact, it doesn’t even have a season to go by. The Bible simply states He was born in a stable in Bethlehem. Apollo had no visitors when he was born—shepherds or wise men. And he wasn’t a teacher in his youth. He did kill a terrifying snake, Python, at the age of 4 days with a bow and arrow. I find no record of Jesus doing anything like that. Christ did come to defeat the serpent. He did that via the Cross by dying for our sins and being raised to life again. Apollo was not crucified and did not die for our sins and did not rise again. I’m actually not sure what the connection could have possibly been.

Horus is another commonly cited “copycat” source. Horus is typically the national patron god of Egypt—usually having the head of a falcon. Documentaries claim the following is true of Horus: he was born of Isis Meri (supposedly where Mary came from) on December 25th and marked by a star in the east; he was given extravagant gifts by three wise men and was a teacher by age 12; he began his ministry around age 30 after being baptized by “Anup the Baptizer” who was later beheaded; he had 12 disciples and performed miracles, the greatest of which was raising back to life after being crucified and laying dead for 3 days. Sounds like a slam dunk. But this is only a slam dunk against Christianity if we are not concerned with the true facts of the story. Despite the claims, Horus was not said to be born on December 25th., he was born in November. But, again, this doesn’t matter. The Biblical account of Christ’s birth makes no mention of the time of year, let alone a date. Isis was never known as anything but Isis (not Mary) and she was not a virgin at his birth. Other details of his birth are not true and wouldn’t matter anyway. No star can be found in the story and no “kings” (the Bible says magi which are not the same thing) visited him. But the Bible doesn’t say three of anything visited Jesus at His birth. It simply records that magi visited—sometime between His birth and likely his second birthday. There is no one in any record named “Anup the Baptizer” or that Horus was baptized at all. He also has no set number of followers. Was he crucified only to rise again 3 days later? Hardly. Crucifixion was invented at least 1000 years after the story of Horus was invented. Keep in mind that the Romans developed this form of execution around 520 BC. Interestingly, Isaiah foretold this as Christ’s form of execution around 700 BC! Horus didn’t die for anyone’s sins and is not the savior of anyone. No record found can remotely related the myth of Horus to the existence of Jesus Christ.

Dionysus is an interesting story. Truly, the stories surrounding Greek/Roman mythology are pretty amazing fiction. Dionysus had a mortal mother while Zeus, again having an affair, was the father. Zeus revealed himself to Dionysus’ mother before he was born. The effect of seeing an undisguised god resulted in her death. Zeus took the unborn baby and kept him in his own thigh until he was born a while later. Seeing the connection to Jesus? Me neither. There are some other versions of the conception/birth of Dionysus, but none parallels the story of Christ on any level. It’s actually interesting studying these myths. There are as many versions are there are hours in day and they all read like a soap opera on steroids. Few scholars today see any connections between these two.

There are those who attempt to connect Horus, the god of wine, to Jesus. I guess there is some big wine fetish in Christianity that I am unaware of. It’s true Jesus turned water into wine. It’s also true that wine was used symbolically in the Last Supper. But wine was a commonly used symbol in Jewish ceremonies. That is the connection between Judaism and Christianity. I’ve never heard Christ referred to as the god of wine. In pagan religions, most supernatural figures that would die and were resurrected did so annually. Dionysus was one of these. There is a version of his story that includes being on trial for claiming deity. Christ was on trial, but He Himself never made a defense nor did He seek honor or publically proclaim Himself to be God in His trial. This is not how the story goes with Dionysus at all. According to Wikipedia, “Most modern biblical scholars and historians today, both conservative and liberal, reject most of the parallelomania between the cult of Dionysus and Christ.”

To quote Apollo: “Yeah, it's mentally irregular, right? But it makes all the sense in the world.” Sure, that’s Apollo Creed (as is my first quote in this blog), but I couldn’t resist. But these are arguments atheists will use against the faith. They are not concerned with the truth at all. This is the sort of stuff a young believer or teenager may come across and take to heart. If they’re not prepared for it, their faith may be unnecessarily shaken. In NO instance are there pagan references (that predate Christianity) to anything like the Christ story. The amazing story of Jesus Christ, foretold hundreds of years before, is like no other. It is also supportable with historical documentation. None of the mythological figures we hear about have any place that we know of in reality. Christ walked the earth.

Be encouraged in your faith! The Bible is the source of truth and there is no faith on planet earth like ours. But the enemy will use whatever means possible to shake your faith. Study up. Pray. Read the Word. And trust Him.

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