Christians today argue that Jesus was the first and only person resurrected from the grave, that immortality is part of Jewish and Christian theology, and that the concept of three-gods-in-one-god (the Trinity) is unique to and with Christianity. None of that is true.
Resurrection, immortality, and the Trinity are thousands of years older than Christianity or the establishment of the Christian church by the Emperor Constantine at his Council of Nicaea in the fourth century CE (325 CE). We find the accounts of all three theological concepts going back to ancient Egypt (see Pleyte and Rossi, Papyrus de Turin. Facsimilés par F. Rossi de Turin, et publiés par W. Pleyte de Leideplates. Leide, E. J. Brill, 1869-76, plates 31, 77, 131, 138; cp. Wiedemann, Die Religion, p. 29, with summaries in Erman, Adolf (1934). Die Religion der Ägypter, ihr Werden und Vergehen in vier Jahrtausenden, Berlin, De Gruyter; and Erman, Adolf (1923). Aegypten und aegyptisches leben im altertum, von Adolf Erman; neu bearb. von Hermann Ranke, mit einem farbigen titelbild, 100 abbildungen auf 42 tafeln, sowie 276 strichzeichnungen, 2 karten und Schriftproben im text. Tübingen, Mohr, p. 359; cp. Maspero, Gaston Camille Charles (1901?). Histoire ancienne des peuples de l’Orient classique”, [1] Les origines, Égypte et Chaldée. [2] Les premières mêlées des peuples. [3] Les empires. London, The Grolier society [1901?], Vol. 1, pp. 162-164; original English translated from the French published under the title of Life in ancient Egypt and Assyria. From the French of G. Maspéro. With one hundred and eighty-eight illustrations, New York, D. Appleton and company, 1892: an abbreviated version).
We read the account of the resurrection in the Papyrus of Nekht (British Museum, No. 10471, Sheet 21): O Ra, who are Heru-Khuti, the divine man-child, the heir of eternity, self-begotten and self-born, king of the earth, prince of the Tuat [Other World] … you are the god of life, you the lord of love, all men live when you shine, you are crowned king of all the gods … [You are the] lord of eternity, the prince of everlastingness, you sovereign of all the gods, you the god of life, you creator of eternity, you maker of heaven wherein you are firmly established. The Company of the Gods rejoice at your rising, the earth is glad when it beholds your rays; the people who have been long dead come forth with cries of joy to see your beauties every day [as they resurrect from their earthly graves] in this rapture:
Papyrus of Kekht (British Museum No. 19471 Sheet 21)
While the Trinity (Osiris, Isis, and Horus) have always played a unified role in ancient Egyptian theology, they are not unique. The Trinity, however, had a special role in preserving the body and guaranteeing the faithful immortality. This ran from the first dynasty up to and including the Ptolemaic period were there was a common theme: “Soul to heaven body to earth” (5th dynasty), “The essence is in heaven, your body to earth” (sixth dynasty), to “Heaven has your soul, the earth has your body” (Ptolemaic period). All of these are reflected in the Papyrus of Ani, Chapter LXXXIV (Plate XXVIII.1.15) which reads: “I am Shu or divine company. My soul is God [and] my soul is eternity.” (Cp. Recueil de travaux relatifs à la philologie et à l’archéologie égyptiennes et assyriennes. 1870-1888: Paris : F. Vieweg, Libr., [1870-1923], t. IV, p. 71, l. 582, and V, p. 45, l. 304; an online translation, minus the hieroglyphics, is at http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/ebod/ebod05.htm; the original was printed in 1866 in Paris; my copy is to fragile from constant reading and reference to reproduce for this blog).
The concept of the soul appears in the Hymn for Sunrise (Papyrus of Ani pl. 21): [26b] “You mould your limbs as you advance, you bring them forth, you who never was brought forth in the form of Ra [you are eternal], who ascends into the highest part of heaven. Grant that I may reach the heaven of eternity [everlasting life], and the region where your favored ones dwell. May I unite with [l. 28] those holy and perfect Spirit-souls of Khert-Neter. … [l. 29] My two hands are raised to you in praise and thanksgiving [l. 30] when you set in life (i.e. as a living being, or in the Land of Life]. Behold, you are the Creator of Eternity (or Eternal Creator), who are adored when you set in Nu [deified celestial waters: holy waters]. I have set you in my heart, without [l. 31] wavering, as You are more divine than the [other] gods”, with the papyrus as presented here:
"Hymn for sunrise" (Resurrection of the dead), Papyrus of Ani pl. 21
The Holy Egyptian Trinity:
While Egyptian theology believed in immortality, few others did, and no tribe in the Middle East had a concept of an afterlife. The Apiru (who would become the Hebrews) saw death as opening to darkness. Ancient Arabs saw life as stopping and consciousness evaporating. But one thing all cultures had in common, save for the most backward in the Middle East after the fall of the advanced civilization of Babylon, was the concept of a Trinity–which began both in ancient Egypt and India and spread outward but did not take hold in what would become ancient Israel until after the fifth century CE.
All ancient civilizations in Africa, Asia and Europe had three gods leagued together: one was always a child who was growing in intelligence and thus considered to be Knowledge (logos). Statues of these Trinities are common place. The most common came out of India and Hindu theology.
Trimurti (Hindu Trinity)
YHWH weds Asherah (ancient Canaanite art)
From India came the Apiru, a disgruntled agricultural lot of migrant marauders led by a mythological father known as Abraham (the Hindu god Brahma) who sold his wife only to reclaim her with demands of extortion to gain cattle, sheep, and other forms of wealth. Even the Apiru came to Cana they came with their gods, the favored being the agricultural god YHWH (2 Kings 18:4; 21:7; cf. http://blog.eteacherbiblical.com/2008/05/25/married-deities-asherah-and-yahweh-in-early-israelite-religion/).
Yah of Samaria and his Asherah (old potsherd)
There were many Yah gods throughout the lands of Egypt (where the word originated), Canaan, and Assyria. Yah is associated with the moon-god of Egypt and is symbolized with the heifer/cow gods of Jeroboam reflecting the ancient India cultural theology of worshipping the cow (in Egypt the cow was associated with the goddess Isis and a part of sexual ritual that included homosexuality and bestiality–both which were commonly accepted formats of worshipping the deity and not condemned), and accompanied by goats (those easily led). The consort of Yahweh was not the one playing the flute–but the cow (which is why some societies still refer to the wife as a cow or heifer). There is no validity to the claim that Yahweh was unique nor the real God of Israel–as archaeology and ancient texts shows that Yah belongs to the pantheon of Egyptian deities.
Babylonians used an equilateral triangle to represent this three-in-one god. Babylonians worshiped a trinity of gods: Ea – the god of water, Anu – the god of the sky, and Enlil – the storm god. Later, a second trinity developed – Sin, Shamash and Ishtar.
King Melishipak I (1186–1172 B.C.E.) presents his daughter to Shamash, the sun, represented at the right, next to Nanna and Ishtar.
From the Babylonian culture came the ontology and theology of the Sumerians.
Sumerian gods (wings depicted rapid movement in flight)
According to the Sumerians their gods came from a distant planet they were told was called Nibiru (Planet of the Crossing.) The Assyrians and Babylonians called it ‘Marduk’, after their chief god. Sumerians left a long history of these space travelers, whom, they were told, developed their astrology and told the Sumerians that one year on planet Nibiru, a sar, was equivalent in time to 3600 earth years. The Nibirus also claimed that Anunnaki lifespans were 120 sars which is 120 x 3600 or 432,000 years, and that they had been on the planet we know as Earth for 440,000 years. According to the King List 120 sars had passed from the time the Anunnaki arrived on Earth to the time of the Flood that covered Sumeria (it did not cover the earth). However when the Lofty Ones [space travellers] came to Earth their lifespans began to sync with Earth’s faster orbit and they faced rapid aging compared to that on Nibiru. The Sumerians never called the Anunnaki, ‘gods.’ They were called din.gir, a two-syllable word. ‘Din‘ meant ‘righteous, pure, bright’ while ‘gir‘ was a term used to describe a sharp-edged object. As an epithet for the Anunnaki ‘dingir’ meant ‘righteous ones of the bright pointed objects:’ which many have interpreted as being swords or spears–and with them came the beginning of foundries of weapons and the Bronze Age heralded by gods who came like birds in groups of three.
Birth of Athena from head of Zeus
The Greek triad was composed of Zeus, Athena and Apollo. Greek religion was different from many others in that it had no great founder, no sacred books and no priestly caste system. Rather than just belief, Greek religious worship was a matter of cheerful practice incorporated into daily life, and their gods were very “earthly” with the same carnal lusts, desire for wine and other alcoholic drinks, committed adultery freely, and more (see: http://www.suite101.com/content/understanding-the-worlds-religions-a62138).
Three Goddesses
One of the largest pagan temples built by the Romans was constructed at Ballbek (situated in present day Lebanon) to their Trinity of Jupiter, Mercury and Venus. Jupiter did have a son (Vulcan) by his wife Juno, and the son was acclaimed by the ancient Romans to be “the Son of God” and recognized as “sitting on
Vulcan son of Jupiter crossing the heavens in a winged chariot
the right hand of his Father who is in the heavens … giving guidance through the ministrations of his Holy Wife”–Vulcan was a part of the early Roman Trinity that would take on various shapes through the passing of time until this ancient theology influenced the emperors of the decaying empire to insist on the incorporation of a Trinity into Christian theology. What is unique is that the image of Vulcan was portrayed commonly as a god riding in a winged chariot across the heavens, in the same way that Old Testament prophets
Prophet Elijah's Chariot of Fire (Icon courtesy of www.eikonografos.com used with permission)
are said to have traveled or seen wheels in the heavens in their eagerness to see their god YHWH (cp. the prophet Elijah (Hebrew: אליהו), also Elias (NT Greek Hλίας), in 2 Kings 2:11; in many Slavic nations Elijah is sometimes referred to as Gromovik (literally “Thunderer” which is the Slavic god of storms, snows, and rains).
There is no evidence the Apostles of Jesus ever heard of a Trinity. The Bible does not teach the doctrine of the Trinity.
The disciples viewed Jesus as the ‘one mediator between God and men,’ (1 Timothy 2:5) not as God himself. A mediator by definition is someone separate from those who need mediation.
While Christians since the sixth century liked to proclaim that Egypt was one of the original Christian bastions, that was not true, as the old religion of the past remained strong until the sixth century and only caved into the worship of “the Messenger” (Jesus) because of imperial force. Augustine of Hippo was neither Egyptian nor respected in Egypt but seen as a mad man who lusted openly and wrote about his sexual conquests in his Confessions.
Quite frankly, you are lying. ” Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name (singular) of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:” Matthew 28:19
” For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” I John 5:7
There are numerous errors in your short reply. Both Biblical verses are suspect, as the Bible was not even written before the Arian Bishop Eusebius created fifty copies for the Emperor Constantine under imperial order in 380 CE. Matthew is copied from Mark, but the first “gospel” is that of John and it does not appear until the second century CE, and there is but a fragment left when it was found three hundred years ago. Furthermore, most of what is said in these two writings can be traced back to the theology of ancient Egypt when “Christ” was the name of the senior magi(cian) who hosted student magicians by offering them a cup that he pronounced the words “drink from this cup that holds my blood” and then gave them bread that he declared was his “body” meaning that it was a symbol that they had passed their examination. The various miracles can be found in all nations and regions and religions, but the most grevious error is your quotation of John 5:7, as “the Word” was actually “Sophia” or wisdom, and there was never a son. The birth of Jesus, in the Bible, is a recounting of the nativity of the god Seth, and the Holy Ghost, even in Hebrew lore meant a form of understanding–not a spirit. I won’t say you are lying, as you are quoting, but the quotes are a lie–as “go to all nations and teach” comes from Buddha, and baptism is part of Babylonian lore and is done as with Achilles–fire. You cannot prove the truth or validity of any single book by citing lines from that particular book. Science, history, and reality requires that there is more than one book to prove the existence of reality. To that end, scientist continuously study the evolution of species–not blindly accept Darwin’s book “Origin of Species” and Cambridge scholar Stephen Hawkin has disproved the Cambridge PhD student Stephen C. Myer’s Intelligent Design theory repeatedly–and the federal court in Pennsylvania rules it to be religion (creationism). The Bible is but one book and it has no more value than the Koran (which also incudes references to Jesus, Noah, Moses, etc) or any other book. There is no outside work that validates it, as historical and paleographic studies among other research tooks shows that there was no Nazareth when the alleged Jesus was born and a small boy (it was a watering hole for camels and its name not recorded until the crusades), etc. I stand behind my research and reject your biblical passages based on the Codex Vaticanus and later the Codex Sianaticus, etc.