Why is Christianity So Similar to Other Religions?

Question:

Why is it that Christians are unaware that the Bible's ideas are simply plagiarized from other sources?  For example:

• The 10 Commandments were mostly adapted from the Egyptian Book of the Dead
• The Virgin birth
• The 12 disciples
• The death and resurrection. 

It all comes from other religions.  Christmas and Easter were pagan holidays until Christianity 'borrowed' them.  What makes Christianity True?

My Reply:

I've heard your suggestions before, but actually, the reason for the similarities is because they were all connected culturally, as well as all creations of God.  In fact, we can back up the Bible and its recorded events because such have been discovered in archaeological digs, both in Israel, and also in nations surrounding it.

Granted also that many of the events are common among the other nations, one that we can't deny is Jesus' full-body resurrection, for:

1. Jesus was risen 3 days later, body and all, and never died again.  Jews acknowledge that He died on the cross, and Muslims acknowledge that Jesus rose up into the clouds.  The thing to keep in mind though is that anybody else who is said to have resurrected from the dead in history, died again at a later date for good.
2. Jesus' death was to free US from our sins. Everybody else who is said to have been risen from the dead didn't do so for the sake of mankind, but for themselves. Also, no one other than Jesus took our sins from us when they died or were resurrected.

Another thought to ask yourself is, notice that are there so many religions out there today that have similar parts of Christianity (or similarities from the Holy Bible), yet not all of them.  In fact, just about every one out there has something similar to the way that God intended for His people to do in worship, but then tweaked some other parts some.  The only way that one could say that Christianity is a phony copy is to say that Christianity took everything that it is today from different sources all over the world.  But if that was the case, then why not take more from them?


But let's look for a moment at the 10 commandments.  I haven't seen the Egyptian book of the dead, but if they are similar, then the question to ask is, if they're really so similar, then why did the Israelites reject the 10 Commandments?  Think of it...if it's so much like that of the Egyptian's, the country from where they came and often threatened to return to, then why'd they reject the 10 Commandments presented by God?  My guess would be that they were that significantly different.

As for the 12 Disciples, It's no secret that Jesus copied the 12 Tribes of Israel with them.  That was the whole point, actually.  Isn't it also interesting that in the same way that 1 disciple was cast out of the bunch, so also 1 of the tribes is not mentioned among the 144,000 mentioned in Revelation?  (Something more to ponder).

Here's a site that may help you with some of the other questions you have:  http://www.carm.org/questions/about-bible

---Pastor Andy