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I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified,
writes Paul in 1 Cor 2:2. The determination not to know anything but the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was narrowing down knowledge to rather a small compass. Evidently converts in Corinth were questioning, and Paul begins by establishing that questions are not allowed to Christians. Paul has to berate the wise and praise the foolish in this epistle. God chose the foolish things of the world not the wise. And so it has always remained—the most marvellous way of gulling the credulous. Anyway, already in the 50s of the first century some people were asking questions and one of the questions will have been whether Jesus was really crucified.
Irenaeus, one of the most frequently quoted Christian writers of the ancient bishops, declares upon the authority of the martyr Polycarp, who claimed to have got it from St John and all the elders of Asia, that Jesus Christ was not crucified, but lived to be about fifty years old. There must have been a large margin for distrusting the fact of the crucifixion.
Yet, if Jesus was a saviour, it is likely that he must have been crucified because other saviours of the same type were. Sacrilege! Paul's Christians, trained in foolishness, cry.
Sorry, many more saviours are suspected of crucifixion. Irenaeus might have felt it politic to deny it to distinguish the Christian saviour from the others!
Chrishna was depicted as if crucified. The Persian remembered only the atoning sufferings on the cross of Mithras the Mediator. Aztecs prayed for the return of their crucified saviour, Quexalcoatl, and were rewarded with Cortez. Caucasians chanted praises to their slain Divine Intercessor, Prometheus, for voluntarily offering himself upon the cross for the sins of a fallen race. Yet the Christian disciple hugs to his bosom the bloody cross of the murdered Jesus, confident that only one god ever died for the sins of man.
To retain their following, religions are based on unchangeable dogmas which disciples must accept to the exclusion of all knowledge adverse to their own creed. Whenever they are able they actually destroy contrary evidence for fear of rivalry. Then they magnify their own religion to a unique position above all others.
The earlier Christian saints, having determined like Paul, to know only Jesus Christ and him crucified, made stern efforts to obliterate from the page of history facts damaging to their case.
A report on the Hindu religion, made out by a deputation from the British Parliament, sent to India to examine their sacred books and monuments, was left in the hands of a Christian bishop at Calcutta, with instructions to forward it to England. On its arrival in London, it was so horribly mutilated as to be scarcely recognizable. The account of the crucifixion was gone. The inference is patent.
The disciples of the Christian faith have burnt books, blotted out passages and altered testaments which suggested the opposite of their belief. Not only that, they have demolished monuments showing crucifixions of previous atoning gods so that they are now unknown. Hence, the disbelief of Christians when other cases are mentioned.
Kersey Graves, in a well known book written over a century ago, gives examples of sixteen crucified gods or saviours. Most are very ancient and arguable, depending upon the interpretation of pictures or scriptures since no original written sources now exist, often victims of Christians determined to preserve the memory of only one crucified god.
For the same reasons the dates of their occurrence are doubtful and because chronology before the time of Alexander the Great (330 BC) is far from certain, and the dating of icons, especially from distant or isolated cultures is uncertain. Even mainstream studies of the ancient Near East are involved in controversy over dates, Peter James for example claiming in a well argued case that several centuries have been mistakenly inserted into near Eastern chronologies. It is certain these crucifixions occurred before the time of Christ, but their exact date cannot be fixed.
These crucifixions are not presented as actual occurrences. The objective is not to prove them real events but simply that the belief in the crucifixion of gods was prevalent long before the crucifixion of Christ. To establish this point then six will prove it as well as sixteen. Indeed, one case is sufficient. The reader is left to decide.
Tammuz was a god of Assyria, Babylonia and Sumeria where he was known as Dumuzi. He is commemorated in the name of the month of June, Du'uzu, the fourth month of a year which begins at the spring equinox. The fullest history extant of this saviour is probably that of Ctesias (400 BC), author of Persika. The poet has perpetuated his memory in rhyme.
Trust, ye saints, your Lord restored,
Trust ye in your risen Lord;
For the pains which Tammuz endured
Our salvation have procured.
Tammuz was crucified as an atonement offering: Trust ye in God, for out of his loins salvation has come unto us. Julius Firmicus speaks of this God rising from the dead for the salvation of the world. This saviour which long preceded the advent of Christ, filled the same role in sacred history.
Wittoba is represented in his story with nail-holes in his hands and the soles of his feet. Nails, hammers and pincers are constantly seen represented on his crucifixes and are objects of adoration among his followers, just as the iron crown of Lombardy has within it a nail claimed to be of his true original cross, and is much admired and venerated for that reason. The worship of this crucified God prevails chiefly in the Travancore and other southern states of India in the region of Madura.
Iao was crucified on a tree in Nepal. The name of this incarnate god and oriental saviour occurs frequently in the holy bibles and sacred books of other countries. Some suppose that Iao is the root of the name of the Jewish God, Yehouah (Jehovah), often abbreviated to Yeho.
The Celtic Druids depict their god Hesus as having been crucified with a lamb on one side and an elephant on the other, and that this occurred long before the Christian era.
The elephant, being the largest animal known, was chosen to represent the magnitude of the sins of the world, while the lamb, from its proverbial innocent nature, was chosen to represent the innocence of the victim, the god offered as a propitiatory sacrifice. We have the Lamb of God taking away the sins of the world. The Lamb of God could therefore have been borrowed from the Druids. This legend was found in Gaul long before Jesus Christ was known to history.
Historical authority of the crucifixion of this Mexican god is explicit, unequivocal and ineffaceable. The evidence is tangible, and indelibly engraven upon metal plates. One of these plates represents him as having been crucified on a mountain. Another represents him as having been crucified in the heavens, as St Justin tells us Christ was. Sometimes he is represented as having been nailed to a cross, sometimes with two thieves hanging with him, and sometimes as hanging with a cross in his hand.
The crucifixion of this Roman saviour is remarkable for the parallel features to that of the Judaean saviour, not only in the circumstances of his crucifixion, but also in much of his antecedent life.
He is represented, like Christ:
The crucifixion of Prometheus of Caucasus, described by Seneca, Hesiod, and other writers, states that he was nailed to an upright beam of timber, to which were affixed extended arms of wood, and that this cross was situated near the Caspian Straits. The modern story of this crucified God, which has him bound to a rock for thirty years, while vultures preyed upon his vitals, is a Christian fraud.
The poet, in portraying his propitiatory offering, says:
Lo! streaming from the fatal tree
His all atoning blood,
Is this the Infinite?–Yes, 'tis he,
Prometheus, and a god!
Well might the sun in darkness hide,
And veil his glories in,
When God, the great Prometheus, died
For man the creature's sin.
It is doubtful whether there is to be found in the whole range of Greek letters deeper pathos than that of the divine woe of the beneficent demigod Prometheus, crucified on his Scythian crags for his love to mortals. When he dies:
The cause for which he suffered was his love for the human race. The whole story of Prometheus' crucifixion, burial and resurrection was acted in pantomime in Athens five hundred years before Christ, which proves its great antiquity. Minutius Felix, one of the most popular Christian writers of the second century addresses the people of Rome:
Your victorious trophies not only represent a simple cross, but a cross with a man on it, and this man St. Jerome calls a god.
These coincidences are more proof that the tradition of the crucifixion of gods has been very long prevalent among the heathen.
Thulis of Egypt, whence comes Ultima Thule, died the death of the cross about thirty-five hundred years ago.
Ultima Thule was the island which marked the ultimate bounds of the extensive empire of this legitimate descendant of the gods.
This Egyptian saviour appears also to have been known as Zulis. His history is curiously illustrated in the sculptures, made seventeen hundred years BC of a small, retired chamber lying nearly over the western section of the temple. Twenty-eight lotus plants near his grave indicate the number of years he lived on the earth. After suffering a violent death, he was buried, but rose again, ascended into heaven, and there became the judge of the dead, or of souls in a future state. He came down from heaven to benefit mankind, and that he was said to be full of grace and truth.
This Tibetan saviour is shown nailed to the cross. There are five wounds, representing the nail-holes and the piercing of the side. The antiquity of the story is beyond dispute.
Marvellous stories are told of the birth of the Divine Redeemer. His mother was a virgin of black complexion, and hence his complexion was of the ebony hue, as in the case of Christ and some other sin-atoning saviours. He descended from heaven on a mission of benevolence, and ascended back to the heavenly mansion after his crucifixion. He led a life of strict celibacy, which, he taught, was essential to true holiness. He inculcated great tenderness toward all living beings. He could walk upon the water or upon the air; he could foretell future events with great accuracy. He practised the most devout contemplation, severe discipline of the body and mind, and completely subdued his passions. He was worshiped as a god who had existed as a spirit from all eternity, and his followers were called Heavenly Teachers.
A less usual crucified God was Alcestos, who was female, the only example of a feminine God atoning for the sins of the world upon the cross. The doctrine of the trinity and atoning offering for sin was inculcated as a part of her religion.
Speaking of this crucified Messiah, the Anacalypsis informs us that several histories are given of him, but all concur in representing him as having been an atoning offering for sin. And the Latin phrase suspensus lingo, found in his history, indicates the manner of his death. He was suspended on a tree, crucified, buried and rose again.
The Chaldeans have noted in their sacred books the crucifixion of a god with the above name. He was also known as the Redeemer, and was styled the Ever Blessed Son of God, the saviour of the Race, the Atoning Offering for an Angry God. When he was offered up, both heaven and earth were shaken to their foundations.
In Orissa, in Asia, they have the story of a crucified God, known by several names, including the above, all of which, we are told, signify Lord Second, his being the second person or second member of the trinity. Most of the crucified gods occupied that position in a trinity of gods, the Son, in all cases, being the atoning offering. This God Bali was also called Baliu, and sometimes Bel. Monuments of this crucified God, bearing great age, may be found amid the ruins of the magnificent city of Mahabalipore, partially buried amongst the figures of the temple.
This Persian God was slain upon the cross to make atonement for mankind, and to take away the sins of the world. He was born on the twenty-fifth day of December, and crucified on a tree. Christian writers both speak of his being slain, and yet both omit to speak of the manner in which he was put to death. And the same policy has been pursued with respect to other crucified gods of the pagans, as we have shown.
Devatat of Siam, Ixion of Rome, Apollonius of Tyana in Cappadocia, are all reported to have died on the cross."
Ixion, 400 BC, was crucified on a wheel, the rim representing the world, and the spokes constituting the cross. He bore the burden of the world, the sins of the world, on his back while suspended on the cross. He was therefore called the crucified spirit of the world.
It is curious that Christian writers will recount a long list of miracles and remarkable incidents in the life of Apollonius of Tyana, the Cappadocian saviour, forming a parallel to those of the Christian saviour, yet say not a word about his crucifixion.
Christian writers find it necessary to omit the crucifixion of these saviours fearing the telling would lessen the spiritual force of the crucifixion of Christ, which has to be unique. They thus exalted the tradition of the crucifixion into the most important dogma of the Christian faith. Hence, their efforts to conceal from the public the fact that it is of pagan origin.
Mackey's Lexicon of Freemasonry says that Freemasons secretly taught the doctrine of the crucifixion, atonement and resurrection preceded the Christian era, and that similar doctrines were taught in all the ancient mysteries.
To those who say the ancient crucifixions of gods were mere myths or fables, having no foundation in fact, but added to their histories as mere romance, we reply that there is as much ground for suspecting the same thing as being true of Jesus Christ.
Many of the early Christians and contemporary Jews and Gentiles doubted it, and some openly disputed its ever having taken place. Others bestowed upon it a mere spiritual significance, and not a few considered it symbolical of a holy life. One circumstance, calculated to lead to the entire discredit of the story of the crucifixion of Christ, is the relation, in connection with it, of a violent convulsion of nature, and the resurrection of the long-buried saints, events not supported by any contemporaneous history, sacred or profane.
As these events must be set down as fabulous, they leave doubt about the crucifixion itself, especially when the many absurdities involved in the doctrine of the crucifixion are brought to view.
If the inhabitants of this planet required the murderous death of a god as an atonement, we must presume that all other inhabited worlds need a divine atonement. If there are millions of world inhabited by intelligent beings in the universe then they all need a saviour. Presumably there is only one Most High and it is he who has to be incarnated in each case. He begins to look a bit like a fetishist getting a kick out of slumming it in the worlds of the mortals. Or rather, it begins to make the whole concept look ludicrous.
The idea of gods coming down from heaven, being born of virgins and dying a violent death for the moral blunders of the people originated in an age of the world when mankind was savage and blood was the requisition for every offence. In those days no one had any idea of other possible worlds besides our own and the realms of the gods themselves. So the idea of the supreme god playing his tricks seemed reasonable. Today it does not to anyone with a remaining brain cell.
It has always been presumed that death, and especially death by crucifixion, involved the highest state of suffering possible to be endured by mortals. Hence, the gods must suffer in this way as an example of courage and fortitude which their followers must emulate. To do this they must be superior to their devotees. They must not merely die, but submit to the most ignominious mode of suffering death that could be devised—crucifixion. This gave the highest finishing touch to the drama.
And thus the legend of the crucifixion became the crowning chapter, the aggrandizing episode in the history of their lives. It was presumed that nothing less than a god could endure such excruciating tortures without complaining.
Hence, when the victim was reported to have submitted with such fortitude that no murmur was heard to issue from his lips, this circumstance of itself was deemed sufficient evidence of his godship. The story of the crucifixion, therefore, whether true or false, deified or helped deify many great men and exalt them to the rank of gods. Though some of the disciples of Buddhism, and some of the primitive professors of Christianity also (including, according to Christian history, Peter and his brother Andrew), voluntarily chose this mode of dying in imitation of their crucified Lord, without experiencing, however, the desired promotion to divine honours. They failed of an exaltation to the deityship, and hence are not now worshiped as gods.
The doctrine of salvation by crucifixion had, like most of the ancient forms of religious faith, an astronomical origin. People were saved by the sun's crucifixion or crossing over the equinoctial line into the season of spring, and thereby gave out a saving heat and light to the world and stimulated the generative organs of animal and vegetable life. The ancients would carve or paint organs of generation on the walls of their holy temples with this stimulation in mind. The blood of the grape, which was ripened by the heat of the sun, as he crossed over by resurrection into spring, i.e., was crucified, was symbolically the blood of the cross, or the blood of the Lamb.
Christian reader, what can you now make of the story of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ but a borrowed legend—at least the story of his being crucified as a god?
The Indian chief Red Jacket is reported to have replied to the Christian missionaries:
Brethren, if you white men murdered the son of the Great Spirit, we Indians have nothing to do with it, and it is none of our affair. If he had come among us, we would not have killed him. We would have treated him well. You must make amends for that crime yourselves.
This view of the crucifixion, from the viewpoint of a people regarded as savage, is more sensible and rational than that of Christians, who make it meritorious and a moral necessity. If the act were a moral necessity then Judas as well as Jesus was a saviour, because without him in the Christian story the act which saved the world could not have happened. If it was necessary for Christ to suffer death upon the cross as an atonement for sin, then the act of crucifixion was right, and a monument should be erected to the memory of Judas for bringing it about. Only Christian logic can find a flaw in this argument. They say that even though it was God's fore-ordained plan, Judas could only have played his part because he was wicked! So the Christians finish up believing that the means justify the end, because their own Father would use a wicked man to achieve the salvation of the world. It is hardly any surprise that the Christian world remains so wicked despite being saved.