“Two principal types of Savior-Gods have been recognized by hierologists: vegetation gods and astral gods. The vegetation theory was presented with great erudition by Sir James G. Frazer in The Golden Bough … and also by Grant Allen in The Evolution of The Idea of God… The stellar, lunar and solar myth theories have been treated with vast scholarship by Charles F. Dupuis, Count Volney, Gerald Massey, Dr. Albert Churchward, Dr. Alvin Boyd Kuhn, John M. Robertson, Godfrey Higgins, Ernest Busenbark, and Rev. Robert Taylor. Other experts will be cited as I proceed, but the men named above are among the outstanding authorities. An accurate and concise summary of the vegetation theory has been given by Dr. Forsyth: ‘Many gods besides Christ have been supposed to die, be resurrected and ascend to heaven. This idea has now been traced back to its origin among primitive people in the annual death and resurrection of crops and plant life generally. This explains the world-wide prevalence of the notion. Among still more primitive tribes, Grant Allen showed, it is not yet understood that sown corn sprouts because of the spring sunshine, and they attribute the result to divine agency. To this end, they are accustomed at seed time to kill their tribal god—either in human or animal form—and scatter the flesh and the blood over the sown fields. They believe that the seeds will not grow unless the god is sacrificed and added to them in this manner. When, therefore, the crop appears, they never doubt that it is their god coming to life again. It is from this erroneous belief of primitive tribes that Christianity today derives its belief in Christ’s death and resurrection….” “The specialists in solar mythology have regarded the ancient crucified saviors as personifications of the sun and believed that their biographies were allegories of the sun’s passage through the twelve constellations of the zodiac. This theory has been oversimplified by some scholars, since stellar and lunar elements also enter into the solar mythology. The vegetation cults were the most ancient, but they were later blended with the astral worship. In the primitive sacrificial rites, the victim was originally the king or chief of the tribe or clan. The prosperity of the group was supposed to have a magical relation to the health of the king. If the ruler became old and feeble, it was thought that the nation or tribe would suffer a similar decline, so the king, considered to be a god in human form, was sacrificed for the good of all and then replaced with a younger and more vigorous successor. In later times the king’s son was chosen as the scapegoat, and, being of divine origin, was called the son of the god. In even later days a condemned criminal replaced the royal victim. The culprit was given regal honors for a time, then put to death. He was usually slain while bound to a tree with arms outstretched, as if on a cross. After being entombed, he was believed to rise from the dead within three days; the three-day period being based on the three-day interval between the old and new moons. Berossus in his Chaldean History tells of annual festival celebrated in Babylonia, called the Sacaea. This fete lasted five days, and during that time masters and servants exchanged places in society. The king temporarily gave up his throne, and a mock king, Zoganes, took his place. After five days the mock was dethroned, scourged, and then either hanged or crucified. ‘In this regard,’ an eminent Egyptologist remarked, ‘it is interesting to notice that in the Acts, the writer mistakenly speaks of Jesus as having been slain and then hanged to a tree, as though this were a common phrase coming readily to his mind, and the word hanged is frequently used in Greek to denote crucifixion….” John G. Jackson “Christianity Before Christ” Page 125
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 03:07:39 +0000
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