Christians and others assume that the Greek name Jesus was the original name of the Saviour. This was impossible. The name Jesus did not exist, and would not have been spelled with the letter J, until about six hundred years ago(600). There was no J in any language prior to the fourteenth century in England. The letter did not become widely used until the seventeenth century (17c). The Encyclopedia Americana contains the following on the letter J:
“The form of J was unknown in any alphabet until the 14th century. Either symbol J or I used initially generally had to be the sound of Y as in year. Gradually the two symbols of J and I were differentiated, the J usually acquiring consonantal force and thus becoming regarded as a consonant, and the “I” becoming a vowel. It was not until 1630 that the differentiations became accepted in England. In the 1611 King James Version of the Bible, there was no J letter because it did not exist. James was spelled “Iames” and Jesus was spelled “Iesous”. In the ancient Latin and Greek languages, Jesus was spelled with the letter “I”. (Tom Harper, The Pagan Christ, p. 219)
Jesus is translated Eshoo in Aramaic and Isa in Arabic, and IESUS in the Gospel of the Nazorenes.
(2)The doctrines of Christianity were borrowed from the pagans:
That which is known as the Christian religion existed among the ancients, and never did not exist, from the beginning of the human race until the time when Christ came in the flesh, at which time the true religion, which already existed began to be called Christianity." (St. Augustine, Retractationes 1.12.3)
“The religion published by Jesus Christ to all nations is neither new nor strange…For though, without controversy we are of late, and the name of Christians is indeed new; yet our manner of life and the principles of our religion have not been lately devised by us, but were instituted and observed….from the beginning of the world, by good men, accepted by God; from those natural notions which are implanted in men’s minds”. (Eusebius of Caesarea, 260-340 CE)
“The Christian religion contains nothing but what Christians hold in common with the heathen; nothing new” (Greek philosopher Celsus)
The parallels between the life of Krishna, as recorded in the sacred books of India, and of the life of Jesus Christ, as related in the sacred anthology of the Christians, is so close that some scholars have believed that the Christian writers copied their account from the Hindus. (John G. Jackson, Christianity Before Christ, p. 79)
(3) Jesus is the Sun of God?
The history of the sun, I repeat, is the history of Jesus Christ. The sun is born on the 25th of December, the birthday of Jesus Christ. The first and greatest of the labors of Jesus Christ is his victory over the serpent, the evil principle, or the devil. In his first labor Hercules strangled the serpent, as did Krishna, Bacchus, etc. his is the sun triumphing over the powers of hell and darkness; and, as he increases, he prevails, till he is crucified in the heavens, or is decussated in the form of a cross (according to Justin Martyr) when he passes the equator at the vernal equinox. (ibid, p. 200)
In reading the New Testament we must cease to think of the man Jesus, and even of the “Son of God”, and think of him rather of the sun of god, for this is a solar myth, and its dying hero, a dying sun. (Lloyd Graham, Deceptions and Myths of the Bible, p. 361)
“The divine teacher is called, is tested by the “adversary”, gathers disciples, heals the sick, preaches the Good News about God’s kingdom, finally runs afoul of his bitter enemies, suffers, dies, and is resurrected after three days. This is the total pattern of the sun god in all the ancient dramas”. (The Pagan Christ, p. 145)
When the Council of Nicea took place, the Emperor Constantine
- Declared the Roman Sun-day to be the Christian Sabbath
- Adopted the traditional birthday of the Sun-god, and the twenty
-fifth of December, as the birthday of Jesus;
- Borrowed the emblem of the Sun-god, the cross of light, to be the emblem of Christianity;
- And, although the statue of Jesus replaced the idol of the Sun-god, decided to incorporate all the ceremonies which were performed at the Sub-gods birthday celebrations into their own ceremonies.
(Jesus, The Prophet of Islam, Muhammad Rahim, pp.101)
(4) The cross symbol was not used until the 4th century. The symbol of Jesus hanging on the cross was not used until the 6th century.
The cross, like all Christian paraphernalia, is but an appropriation of pagan mythology. What is more, this appropriation did not occur until about three hundred years after the alleged crucifixion. (ibid, 352)
It needs to be better known that the true sign of Christianity for the earliest centuries of Church history was not a crucifix---a cross bearing the figure of Jesus---but either a bare cross or one with a lamb fastened to it. In the entire iconography of the catacombs, no figure of a man on a cross appears for the first six or seven centuries of the era.
It will come as a surprise to many that the first known figure of a god on a cross is a likeness of the sun god Orpheus from some three centuries B.C.E. The crucifix on the amulet on the cover of The Jesus Mysteries, by Freke and Gandy, clearly depicts this image. Not until 692, in the reign of Emperor Justinian, was it decreed by the Church (through the Trullan Council) that the figure of the historical Jesus on the cross should supersede that of “the lamb, as in former times”. (Tom Harper, The Pagan Christ, pp. 45-46) •
Why do the synoptic gospels fail to mention the Feast of Tabernacles?
• Why do the Gospels fail to mention the name of Pilate’s wife?
• Why didn’t John record the Eucharist?
• If Peter was crucified upside-down, why didn’t Clement of Rome (d. 97) record it?
• Why did the Gospel writers reject the calendar used by the Nazarenes?
"…This was also the calendar that those Jewish people who were the first Christians continued to follow. Therefore it was against this calendar and in terms of these festivals that...the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke were written."- (John Shelby Spong, Liberating the Gospels, p. 60, 63)
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