6/28/2026 Sunday
Someone brought up the Jesus Myth on Facebook and this time I just had to respond:
Why does Christianity's gospel account story resemble the stories told in several Egyptian myths? Does this mean that it's a made-up story?
C.S. Lewis, a scholar of myth at Oxtord, once stated that Christianity has a mythical radiance, but he never directly commented on Horus and Isis in a major, standalone essay.
However, he frequently discussed them as prime examples of "dying-and-rising" pagan gods. Lewis grouped them alongside similar figures like Adonis, Osiris, and Balder, whom he termed "corn kings".Lewis believed that God used these pagan stories as "shadows" or "hints" to prepare the human imagination for the coming of Christ. While his early skeptic friends viewed these similarities as proof that Jesus was merely a copied myth, Lewis (guided by J.R.R. Tolkien) eventually concluded that these pagan myths were "real, though dappled, shafts of the divine light". He famously reconciled these "parallels" with the resurrection by asserting that Jesus is the "True Myth"—the single point where myth and historical fact became one.In addition to this broad view of dying gods,
Lewis specifically evaluated ancient Egyptian religion in his book Reflections on the Psalms. Interestingly, he focused his commentary not on Isis, Horus, or standard Egyptian polytheism, but on the Pharaoh Akhenaten, who instituted a brief period of monotheism by worshiping the sun disk, Aten. Lewis admired Akhenaten's Hymn to the Sun, comparing its deep appreciation of nature and creation to some of the Jewish Psalms in the Bible.
My response:
If by Horus you referred to his virgin birth, born Dec 25, resurrection, etc. All made up in the last century, but circulated as Jesus Myth virally online. Never originally told that way. I don't know why folks don't go to "libraries" anymore.
As for dying-and-living, analogy of perpetual season cycles, longing for eternity, that would be what John Calvin called "Sensus divinitatis" and general revelation, perceived by sinners.
However, the only truth of resurrection is only found in Christianity, and eternal life in Jesus' own resurrection, which was original in history. All pagan mythologies only show the longing of life but never got it right, so technically their resurrections were not really resurrections by definition - More like reanimation, transitioning or ascension of life which is basically transitioning, etc. They never grasp the concept of becoming THE SAME living person anew, again.
I admire Lewis' pursuit of "true myth" or even William Lane Craig's "Mytho-History", but we really don't need these parallelomanias as if the Bible needs saving from secular critics. And don't get me wrong, definitely appreciate the creativity of men in Narnia and LOTR, though LOTR a bit too Roman for me (elves = Sainthood, etc.) but still...
One exercise for us is to truthfully, with hard work (now you even have the advantage of AI) and study, judge these parallelomania, i.e. True myth & Mytho-history methodology, Epic of Gilgamesh, from the Bible as historical fact, not any form of myth, breathed out by a Sovereign God. And you'll see wonders, as I've shown with just the word "resurrection" in all pagan worlds.
Perhaps now you can try this "virgin birth" idea in pagan mythologies (i.e. How Iris actually conceived Horus by turning the dead Osiris into Frankenstein for her to copulate with). Try how Buddha was conceived. Compare them all with the very concept and definition of the "VIRGIN" birth the Bible offers. You'll see which ones are childish imitations, which one is the boss, regardless of chronological order, just by definition alone.
And now you can chuckle at the term: Comparative Religion, which some hold their PhD in it with great pride. God didn't create us to do comparative religion, He wants us to judge the world! (1Co 6:2). And there is a way to do this humbly, as Moses recalled of his own humility (Num12:3). Certainly wasn't easy (you may be tempted, or you maybe misunderstood), but also not without great joy in the Lord.