Freethought Nation

In response to the confusion about this important subject, I post here a lengthy excerpt from my book Suns of God concerning the charges almost from the beginning of the Christian era proper that Jesus Christ is a sun god. As we can see from the evidence below, the solar-myth thesis is not new - NOT from the 19th century as some would opine. Nor has it been "discredited" in any meaningful way.

The following excerpt is from the "Jesus Christ, Sun of God" chapter in Suns of God, which constitutes 48 pages that include a dissection and analysis of several pertinent parts of the Christ myth. Although the critics may haggle over details, no one has discredited this nearly 50-page chapter in any way.

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From the beginning, early Church fathers such as Tertullian (fl. 190-220 CE) were compelled to combat this assertion [that Jesus Christ is the sun] by rejoining to the effect: "You say we worship the sun. So do you." In Ad. Nationes, Tertullian addressed and denied the contention that Christians were just another sect of sun worshippers:


In The Apology (Ch. XVI), Tertullian provided the following comeback to the charge of sun worshipping:


Tertullian also acknowledged that Christians prayed to the east; in fact, for centuries Christians bowed to the rising sun before entering churches.

Over a century later, St. Augustine (354-c. 371) was forced to denounce what was obviously a continual "heretical identification of Christ with Sol." Before becoming an orthodox Christian, Augustine was a Manichean, a member of a major "heretical" Christian sect that was overt in the fact that its religion was sun worship. Not only did they, like other Christians, face the sun during their prayers, but they also stated that "Christ was the Sun, or that Christ resided in the Sun, where the Ancients had placed Apollo and Hercules," an assertion affirmed by Christian authorities "Theodoret, St. Cyril and St. Leon."

Like so many of the ancient gods, Christ is principally a personification of the sun, representing light and immortality, demonstrated by the numerous correspondences between his "life" and that of other solar heroes, as we have already seen abundantly. This fact can also be established through iconography, as well as the scriptures themselves, in which we find the "foreshadowing" (blueprint) for the "sun of righteousness," as in the final chapter of the last Old Testament book, just preceding the New. In that book, Malachi ("my messenger") says:


This sun of righteousness is Jesus - and he is "Shamash," as the word appears in Malachi's original Hebrew. Shamash/Samas, the Babylonian sun god and winged sun of righteousness, is the same as the solar disc with wings found depicted in Assyria, Babylonia, Egypt and elsewhere.

Another clue can be found in Revelation, where Jesus is described as "the Amen":


Commenting upon this identification of Christ as "the Amen," CMU observes:


Again, "I am the resurrection and the life; the day star on high that redeemeth his people: I come a light into the world." This word Amen is nothing else than the disguise in which the translators have thought it proper to put Ammon. The sun, in the sign of Aries, was personified in Jupiter Ammon, as well as in Christ. Ammon signifies the secret or concealed one, and sacred had originally no other meaning than secret. In Isaiah 65:16, is not the "God Ammon" mentioned in the original, and suppressed by English translators?

Jesus's role as "the Amen" has already been discussed, including Amen's identification with Osiris, with whom the Christ character shares so many profound commonalities, including the most obvious that both are aspects of the God Sun.

Despite his protestations, in On the Resurrection of the Flesh (Chapt. XLIX), Tertullian referred to Paul's comments at 1 Cor. 15:21 and compared the "glory of the sun" to that of Christ:

In like manner does he take examples from the heavenly bodies: "There is one glory of the sun" (that is, of Christ), "and another glory of the moon" (that is, of the Church), "and another glory of the stars" (in other words, of the seed of Abraham).

In The Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes, Church father Archelaus (277 CE) also related the comparison of the "glory of the sun" to that of Christ, and referred to "the true Sun, who is our Saviour." Numerous of the early Christians for centuries called Christ "the true Sun," "our Sun" and "the Sun of Righteousness," etc. In his Exhortation to the Heathen (Ch. IX), Church father Clement of Alexandria (150?-215?) refers to Christ as the "Sun of the Resurrection":


Regarding the "Sun of Righteousness," Clement further says (Ch. XI):
But night fears the light, and hiding itself in terror, gives place to the day of the Lord. Sleepless light is now over all, and the west has given credence to the east. For this was the end of the new creation. For "the Sun of Righteousness," who drives His chariot over all, pervades equally all humanity, like "His Father, who makes His sun to rise on all men," and distils on them the dew of the truth. He hath changed sunset into sunrise, and through the cross brought death to life…

The solar imagery could not be clearer: The sun of the resurrection, with his life-bestowing beams, rising or being born again each morning, awaking from the darkness, with the night fearing his light and ceding to his day. Furthermore, "sleepless light" or daylight pervades, and the west "gives credence to the east," as Jesus the Righteous Sun rises, in his chariot, the same as Apollo, Mithra, Krishna, Helios, etc.

In his writing to "Autolycus" (II, XV), Antiochan Bishop Theophilus (d. 180), to whom "Luke" evidently addressed his gospel, describes the sun as a "type of God":


While Christian historicizers actively worked to make some slight distinction between the visible Sun and the "true" Sun of Righteousness, Jesus Christ, their attempts were not successful, as the gospel fable remains the story of the sun, no matter how elegant the sophistry to prove otherwise. One of the alleged differences between Christ and the other "Suns of Righteousness" is that Christ purportedly walked the earth, emanating as the Word out of Judea. As Origen asserts in Contra Celsus (VI, LXXIX):

There would have been no need for such protestations and claims if the mainstream "history" regarding Jesus were true. The fact is that early Christians were desperate to explain why the basic story of Jesus was widely found, centuries prior to the purported advent of Christianity.

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Anyone who is interested in the full argument - in a book nearly 600 pages - that covers pretty much all these objections - may wish to read Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ.

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Why suffer from Egyptoparallelophobia, when you can read Christ in Egypt? Try it - you'll like it:

Acharya S opened my eyes like a blind man in Jerusalem. I feel like I have been blessed with the revelation of Jesus Christ. Amen to all of the Amen's.

Solar mythology is the best way to explain all of the religious cults in this world.

John 1:14 - "And the Word was made flesh"

When they carnalized the sun it gave alot of control to the leaders of the church. People will give their own life in this type of manipulation. It is pure insanity as you watch lives of millions enslaved to a sun outside that they worship in a mystery.

Go Acharya S......

In solar mythology, one of the sun god's epithets is "carpenter" or "builder." I've included here a relevant excerpt from Acharya's book Suns of God with her permission.

(This is a continuation of the Zeitgeist thread, where we were discussing the word "tekton.")

The Solar Carpenter
by Acharya S

The crucifixion, the two thieves and the resurrection are astrotheological motifs that one would expect to find in the mysteries of a solar priesthood. And mysteries they have remained, as books containing them continue to be mutilated and destroyed. The carpenter motif is likewise solar in origin, and a number of gods, including Krishna, Christ and Hesus, were said to have been carpenters, sons of carpenters and/or woodcutters, such as the Druidic sun god Hesus. As noted, Fohi/Buddha is incarnated at least once as a carpenter and is evidently the spiritual head of the carpenter's guild in China, as "in Chinese mythology Fuxi holds a carpenter's square." In Sumero-Babylonian mythology, dating back centuries and millennia before the common era, appeared a sun-carpenter correspondence in the god "Nin-ildu," the "carpenter-god that carries the pure axe of the sun."

Moreover, the sun-as-carpenter turns up in the Jewish text the Talmud, at Yoma 20b:


The Talmud (Chullin 60a) also compares Yahweh, who has been demonstrated to be an aspect of the God Sun, to a carpenter:


The carpenter aspect of the sun can be seen in the word "sun-beam." A beam is not only a plank but also a "ray of light," while "to beam" is "to emit rays of light" and "to support with beams," as well as "to smile with joy" and to be hit with a plank. The beam is also a form of guidance, an appropriate role for the "God of gods," the Sun. Also, like the sun, who builds his daily houses, the moon is considered a carpenter: "…the moon, because he divides and measures the sky, is a carpenter."

As also noted, an Indian initiation included the Puranic tale of the sun being crucified and shorn of his beams on a cross or "cruciform lathe," having part of his brightness cut away by the "woodcutter and carpenter," Viswakarma/Takshaka, after which Surya appears with a crown of thorns instead of rays. This story reflects a mystery-school rite within a builder's guild. Like that of the masonry, the carpenter guild has been very important, as in later times most churches have been built of wood.

In the Indian "prophecy" regarding Salivahana related by Wilford, which is actually supposed to have taken place in the past, the virgin-born and cross-borne Salivahana is the "son of a Tacshaca [Takshaka], or carpenter." Wilford further explains this carpenter motif:


Oddly enough, legend further holds that "Deva-Twashta," Deva-Tat or Deva Thot, who was the "Aryya-Raja" or "chief of the Aryas or Christians," as Wilford interpreted it, was "crucified by order of BUDDHA," after the Raja "loudly preached against the doctrine of BUDDHA." A pious Christian unable to accept that these wild tales concerned mythical characters, Wilford rationalized this evident anachronism by saying, "BUDDHA and DEVA-TWASHTA are made contemporaries in this romance: but this can be no objection; for it is only in allusion to the wars of their followers in subsequent times."

The Salivahana tale is not an Indian recounting of the "historical" gospel story, and "Deva-Tat" is God the Father, not the Son. It is God, not the earthly father Joseph, who is the carpenter, for the reason that God is the Grand Architect of the Universe. His "carpenter" status is a reflection of his being the patron god of that architectural guild. In any event, the god's father-as-carpenter theme precedes the Christian era, as it can also be found in the myth of Adonis, whose father, Kinyras, "is said to have been some kind of artizan, a smith or carpenter."

Another god represented as a carpenter is Tvashtar, the father of Agni, the Vedic fire and sun god, whose ancient tale so resembled the Christ myth. Tvashtar's name "characterises him simply as a modeller (world-modeller) or work-master, divine artist, skilful smith, or 'carpenter.'" Thus, as in the Christ myth, the god's father is a carpenter.

So too is the Egyptian buddha Hermes's father an "artisan"; as Drews says, "Hermes closely resembles Agni as well as Jesus." The word in the New Testament translated as "carpenter," tektwn (tekton), also means "artisan." Interestingly, the Greek word "Demiourgos," the "god of this world," means "artisan" as well, along with "architect" or "carpenter." Hence, to be the "son of the carpenter" is to be the son of the Demiurge or "lord of this world."

As has been abundantly established, there are numerous common themes running throughout the "lives" and religions of the world's godmen, including Buddha, whose "life" is patterned after that of a typical sun god. That Buddhism has changed significantly over the past couple of millennia, losing its lofty esoteric meaning and being reduced to mundane "history," is apparent. In this regard, a "primeval Buddha of great antiquity" who was the sun has been hidden "under the modern trash."

Once the rubbish piled up over the ages has been removed, numerous correspondences, resemblances, similarities and correlations are revealed between the stories and religions of Krishna, Buddha and Christ. Many of these similarities are obvious, some less so, and still others are hidden in esoteric traditions within the mysteries. In any case, it is evident that these correspondences exist and that, for the most part, if not in toto, they precede Christianity by hundreds to thousands of years. Regardless of any denials, the fact will remain that Buddhism preceded Christianity, and that the Buddha myth is so strikingly similar to the Christ fable that numerous writers and authorities over the past centuries have extensively remarked upon it.

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2013 Astrotheology Calendar
The Mythicist Position
Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection
Stellar House Publishing at Youtube

Since making this original post, I have composed an ebook and lengthy article:

Jesus as the Sun throughout History



"The result of the Church's encounter with the sun-cults of antiquity was nothing less than the dethronement of Helios."

Dr. Hugo Rahner, Greek Myths and Christian Mystery (93)

In my books and articles, I present the evidence that many aspects of the gospel story about Jesus Christ, and of Christian tradition in general, represent motifs from older astrotheology and solar mythology, specifically reflecting legends and myths regarding the sun gods of antiquity. There remains much confusion concerning this subject, including erroneous claims that this equation of Jesus with the sun only started to be expressed during the 19th century. This contention that connecting Jesus to the sun constitutes a "modern" phenomenon is easily demonstrated to be false, through the study of ancient texts, including the Bible and works of the early Church fathers, as well as Christian traditions, rituals, architecture and artifacts. From a wide variety of sources, it is clear that associating, identifying and equating Christ with the sun began in ancient times and has continued abundantly over the many centuries since then....

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Why suffer from Egyptoparallelophobia, when you can read Christ in Egypt? Try it - you'll like it:

Another point here is that while the Christians were preaching a doctrine that symbolizes the sun and it's movements through both the annual and Great Year, they had to strongly deny that Jesus represents the sun at the same time. People probably wonder why?

Well, from what I understand after reading through many books on this, if the Christians were being accused of profaning the ancient mysteries - which all deal in large part with solar symbolism - then all the early Christians needed to do was start publicly denying that the story is about the solar mysteries, even though to many people it was more than obvious that the story is about the solar mysteries. As long as they were claiming that they weren't talking about the sun - and kept insisting that the whole thing is a historical account and not an astrotheological allegory along the same lines as the ancient mysteries - then technically they weren't exactly profaning the ancient mysteries in the eyes of the state. Profaning the ancient mysteries was a capital crime at the time. So by coming up with an exoteric interpretation of the solar allegories the inner esoteric symbolism remained blocked from the minds of the general public, while the other mystery school initiates (those who also faced the east...) of the empire could readily understand what the solar allegories of the Christians are really talking about. The Christians were treading on thin ice with the state at first and so they started working on ways to correct the situation until during the second century they were finally able to come up with an orthodox tradition which provided a way of using all of this ancient mystery school symbolism and allegory which was eventually viewed as something acceptable by the state. Not too long after during the third century the state took full control of the whole thing as something that it could use for governing purposes. The solar mysteries of the past could continue through this pseudo-historical storyline without all of the uninitiated people of the empire having any knowledge or access to the inner content of the stories.


So the early Christians and Fathers prayed to the east, worshipped on the Suns day, identified one another with the symbol of the sun housed in the recently new age of Pisces (the fish is the oldest symbol), but strongly denied that they were worshipping the sun while speaking to people in public. This way they could continue their Piscean Age based mystery school religion without getting stomped out by the state for profaning the ancient mysteries to the masses. Instead of fading away via capital punishment they could instead move forward and even gain more members. All of these years later the old public denial of sun worship technique has gone around and around so many times over that we have people like Keith Thompson on u-tube making ridiculous claims about Christianity having nothing to do with sun worship. These claims are easily refuted because the charge of sun worship had been there the entire time from the earliest of days. And there's plenty of proof of that as demonstrated all over the thread. These modern apologists like to point at the quotations and say that the church fathers are denying that they're sun worshippers, as if that settles the case and proves that they weren't. When in reality their public denial merely represents an early Piscean Age cult tactic of pussy footing around the ruling authorities to try and avoid capital punishment for breaking the law and profaning the ancient mysteries to the general public!

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The Jesus Mythicist Creed:
The "Jesus Christ" of the New Testament is a fictional composite of characters, real and mythical. A composite of multiple "people" is no one.

The celestial Origins of Religious Belief
ZG Part 1
Jesus: Hebrew Human or Mythical Messiah?

The theme of Jesus as the Sun is central to astrotheology, as a key explanatory principle that provides the basis for understanding the real intent of the religious texts.

I have just made this illustration of Jesus as the Sun, to help show how the meeting point of the galaxy and the zodiac at the solstices provides the framework for the Christian vision of the alpha and omega as a temporal mythic identity for Christ as the Sun.

Precession of the equinoxes is caused by the axial spin wobble of the earth. In terms of observation, we see precession as the slow movement of the sun, so precession really is an indicator of the relation between the earth, the sun and the galaxy, as a millennial marker of the movement of time. The slow pace of precession, one degree per lifetime, fits it as a connecter between time and eternity. This connecting function relates closely to the ancient concept of Logos or divine reason. The movement of the sun due to precession provides the connection between time and eternity from our terrestrial viewpoint. The sun performs the same function as Jesus Christ in Christian myth, connecting us to the ultimate rationality of the universe.

Plato's dialogue The Timaeus indicates that the letter Chi (Greek X), as shown in the traditional Christian Chi Rho cross that I have placed in the heart of the sun in the picture below, models the angle between the galaxy, symbolising eternal identity, and the zodiac, symbolising temporal change. The placement of the alpha and omega letters symbolising the start and end of the age either side of the Chi Rho symbol illustrates how Christianity is really grounded in correct cosmic perception. The symbolic identity between Christ and the sun shows the real meaning of Christian religious language with its roots in natural observation.

The solstices precessed across the galactic plane in 1998. This slow cosmic movement illustrates the archetypal meaning of the Mayan Long Count, with its focus on 2012.