Acts 2:1-13 | Even the Pentecostal micracle of "speaking in tongues" is prefigured by Pagan myth. After Jesus' death the disciples found themselves miraculously speaking in strange tongues, which others heard as their own native language. The same phenomonon was reported centuries earlier at Trophonius and Delos, where the oracular priestesses seemed to some to speak unintelligibly, while other witnesses heard them speaking in their own differing mother toungs.[1.3.115] Burkert, one of the foremost modern classical scholars, asserts that these Pagen and Christian miracles "have justly been compared."[1.3.116] [1] |
Acts 9:5-6 | "Note! - But sometimes the whole paragraph itself, was altogether a forgery. Acts ix. 5,6, which Erasmus himself foisted in without authority of any manuscript whatever. - See Marsh, vol. 2, p. 496." [Quoted from Robert Taylor's Syntagma, written in 1826, pg. 66. I don't know who "Marsh" is whom Taylor quotes. I have not found a reference to "Acts ix" in Joseph Wheless' book Forgery in Christianity.] |
Acts 17:28 | This is a quote from Diosemeia, a poem by Aratus, who lived from 400 to 350 B.C. Aratus wrote a very famous work about the heavens called Phaenomena, in which he described all the constellations and figures of the heavens. His poem Diosemeia was the most famous and most popular Greek poem next to the two famous poems of Homer, The Iliad and The Odyssey.[2] Evidence that the Bible story is an astro-theological allegory. |
Acts 20:28 | In one clause of this verse there are six varieties
of reading:
1. “Church of God.” A small number of Greek manuscripts: the modern text of the Vulgate, but it is contested with regard to the most ancient copies: the Syriac of Philoxenus, made in the begining of the sixth century, but it has Lord in the margin: Epiphanius and Ambrose, in the fourth century, and some of the later fathers. 2. “Church of Christ.” No existing manuscripts: but this reading is found in the Peshito Syriac, which certainly existed in the fourth century, and may not improbably be ascribed to the third or even the second: thence it was apparently derived by an Arabic version not higher than the seventh century: it appears also, but not perfectly free from ambiguity, in citations occurring in the works of Origen, Athanasius, Basil, and Theodoret. 3. “Church of the Lord.” All the manuscripts which are the most ancient, the most valuable, and derived from different sources: the Coptic, Armenian, and old Latin versions: many of the Greek and Latin fathers. 4. “Church of the Lord and God.” One manuscript of the ninth century, and forty-six more, amounting to the majority in mere number, but none of them are very ancient: the Sclavonic version, made in the ninth century: none of the fathers. 5. “Church of God and the Lord.” One manuscript, and that very recent. 6. “Church of the Lord God.” One manuscript of the twelfth century: an Arabic Version, not probably earlier than the thirteenth century. After a laborious consideration of the numerous branches of evidence, which are here but briefly pointed out, it appears to my humble opinion that the third reading, “Chunch of THE LORD,” is shewn, by preponderance of proofs, to be the genuine text. —John Pye Smith, An Answer To A Printed Paper Entitled MANIFESTO of the CHRISTIAN EVIDENCE SOCIETY (by Robert Taylor)(1827). |
Acts 21:9 | "He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied." "I should not wonder if their names were Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter." - Taylor DP1 pg. 308] |
Acts 28:11 | Castor and Pollux are the twins of Gemini, one of the signs of the Zodiac. Further evidence that this Bible story is an astro-theological allegory. In Greek mythology Castor and Pollux are the twin sons of Zeus and Leda. Leda was a married woman when Zeus descended on her in the form of a swan. The boys born of this union hatched from an egg. Both were heros. Castor liked horses. Pollus liked to box. Pollux was immortal. Castor was not. Both joined Jason on the quest for the Golden Fleece. When Castor was killed in a fight, Pollux begged Zeus to bring him back to life. Zeus agreed to allow Pollux to share his immortality with Castor, but he insisted they alternate shifts; while one walked alive, the other remained in the underworld. Their fraternal loyalty was apparently commemorated by the two stars in Gemini. [3,pg.134ff] |
Back to Books of the Bible | |
Back to Solar Mythology and the Jesus Story |