📅 Today is Day 18 of The 20-Day Easter Special
Each day leading up to Easter, we’re critically examining a core resurrection claim—one at a time—through the lens of reason, evidence, and The God Question’s Core Philosophy.
🧩 The Claim We’re Examining
Critics have long argued that Christianity borrowed its resurrection narrative from earlier pagan religions—claiming that gods like Osiris, Mithras, Adonis, Dionysus, and others were said to have died and returned to life.
If Jesus isn’t the first resurrected god… what does that mean for Christianity’s foundational claim?
To explore this, let’s apply The God Question’s Core Philosophy:
- Does the claim rely on evidence or belief?
- Are alternative explanations considered?
- Is there independent corroboration?
- Is the claim falsifiable?
- Does the explanation raise more questions than it answers?
1. 🔍 Evidence or Belief?
Christian apologists often assert that the resurrection of Jesus is unique, unprecedented, and historically verified. But this stance requires ignoring or minimizing the abundant mythic material from earlier cultures:
- Osiris (Egypt): Killed and dismembered, later reassembled and revived by Isis.
- Dionysus (Greece): Torn apart and reborn.
- Mithras (Persia/Rome): Celebrated with communal meals and promises of eternal life.
- Tammuz (Mesopotamia): Descended into the underworld, mourned and revived cyclically.
These aren’t obscure parallels—they were widespread and well-known throughout the ancient Mediterranean world before and during the rise of early Christianity.
✳️ Christianity is not the first religion to claim that a divine figure died and returned.
Verdict: The apologist’s claim relies on belief, not critical engagement with the comparative historical record.
2. 🔁 Are Alternatives Considered?
Christianity’s defenders often frame pagan parallels as coincidental or “Satanic counterfeits.” But they rarely engage with the most reasonable alternative:
That resurrection myths were symbolic, archetypal, and fertility-linked motifs shared across ancient cultures—and that early Christian theology absorbed and adapted these themes.
This explanation is not only plausible, it’s predictable. Syncretism—blending religious ideas—is what religions do when they move across cultures and compete for followers.
Verdict: Mainstream apologetics do not seriously consider syncretism as an explanation. The God Question does.
3. 🔗 Is There Independent Corroboration?
There is no independent historical corroboration of Jesus’ resurrection outside Christian writings. The Gospels themselves disagree on the details of who visited the tomb, when, and what happened there.
Meanwhile, evidence of ancient resurrection cults is abundant and well-documented through texts, rituals, and archaeological artifacts. These include:
- Initiation rites into mystery religions (like those of Mithras and Eleusis)
- Artistic depictions of deities returning from the underworld
- Written prayers and poems about divine resurrections
Verdict: Pagan parallels are corroborated by multiple sources. The Christian resurrection is not.
4. ❌ Is the Claim Falsifiable?
Christian belief in Jesus’ resurrection is not falsifiable:
- Empty tomb? Could be legend.
- Witness reports? Decades-later hearsay.
- Spiritual experiences? Common across religious traditions.
If you remove the supernatural assumption, the claim becomes indistinguishable from other mythical resurrection narratives—which Christians dismiss without evidence.
By contrast, the mythic parallel hypothesis is falsifiable: it can be supported or refuted by comparing texts, rituals, and historical timelines.
Verdict: The traditional resurrection claim fails falsifiability. The syncretism hypothesis survives it.
5. ❓ Does It Raise More Questions Than It Answers?
Trying to isolate Jesus’ resurrection from all other myths raises more problems than it solves:
- Why would God stage His single, universal act of salvation in a cultural and religious context already full of dying-and-rising gods?
- Why is the resurrection language in Paul’s letters (1 Corinthians 15, for example) so vague and symbolic—far more in line with mystery cults than forensic biography?
- Why did belief in resurrection lead to ritual practices (e.g., baptism, communion, reenactments) just like in the surrounding pagan world?
Verdict: The syncretic explanation explains the pattern. The supernatural one just doubles down on mystery.
🧠 Final Thought: Not So Original After All
If Christianity had arisen in a cultural vacuum, the resurrection claim might feel more extraordinary. But it emerged in a world where gods died and rose all the time—symbolizing seasonal renewal, harvest cycles, and cosmic hope.
Christianity didn’t invent resurrection. It inherited it, reinterpreted it, and proclaimed it as fact.
But repeating a myth louder doesn’t make it true.
🧭 The God Question’s Invitation
We’re not here to mock tradition—but to ask the questions tradition was too afraid to answer.
Was the resurrection history? Or was it myth, retold with new urgency?
Let’s keep asking.
📺 For Further Exploration
Video: How Christianity Copied Pagan Myths
📅 Note: After we wrap up our 20-Day Easter Special on April 20, we’ll return to our regular schedule of posting three times a week:
- Tuesdays & Fridays – our structured explorations through all 11 blog categories
- Sundays – our Sunday Special Feature, where we critically respond to real-world religious claims in real time
We hope you’ll stay with us as we continue asking bold questions and applying reason to faith.
God or Delusion? 