Freethought Nation

presented by Acharya S and TruthBeKnown.com, online since 1995

It is currently Sat May 18, 2013 4:37 pm

All times are UTC - 8 hours




Post new topic This topic is locked, you cannot edit posts or make further replies.  [ 356 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ... 24  Next
Author Message
PostPosted: Sun Dec 19, 2010 10:32 pm 
Offline
Hercules

Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2010 7:15 pm
Posts: 94
Tat Tvam Asi wrote:
Thanks for clarifying your belief in the supernatural KD8. I suppose you feel that belief in the supernatural is a good foundation from which to build a system of sound logic and reason.


Not necessarily, but I do believe that one should consider the possibility of such things.

Quote:
BTW, most of us have come from a background in Christianity - myself, FTL, and Acharya and I'll let the others mention their backgrounds if they'd like.


And I come from an atheist background (my mom, who raised me was one, and I was an atheist until I was 20).

Quote:
It seems fairly obvious that you have founded your beliefs on taking the gospel story literally even though there's no evidence from contemporary sources that Jesus ever lived in the first place


Same with Hannibal. Fortunately, contemporary evidence isn't the only kind of evidence there is.

Quote:
and even though there isn't a shred of evience that the gospels were written any earlier than the second century.


Sure there is, if we consider ALL types of evidence, including internal evidence and what other authors have written about the Gospels. Even irreligious scholars like Bart Ehrman date the Gospels to within the 1st century (Ehrman says they were written 30-65 years after Jesus' death, which puts them to within the 1st century).

Quote:
In this case, you have become all so concerned about evidence, which you keep dismissing, while pointing to belief in something that has far less evidence.


No, we have the stories where Jesus is virgin-born, baptized, crucified, resurrected, etc. For Horus, Mithra, etc., we don't have the stories. For Jesus, it's a question of whether the evidence is valid or not. For the mythicist claims, it's a question of whether the evidence even exists in the first place.

Quote:
The whole thing boils down to you being pissed off because Acharya has written about Christianity as a remake of more ancient mythological moifs and you wanting to reject that reality in favor of clinging to the apriori assumption that the gospel story is real history.


I'm willing to accept that reality, as soon as someone can show me that there is significant reality to be found in the mythicist claims.

Quote:
Seeing the Isis myth as a pre-Christian virgin mother motif is a foundation built on stone as GodAlmighty keeps pointing out.


So far, I haven't seen that it's built on anything but thin air. But even if this one turns out to be valid, that still leaves the vast majority of the mythicist claims without evidence.

Quote:
Your bias towards trying to protect the original status of your preferred supernatural storyline shines very bright for all to see and consider.


If I was just trying to protect it, then I wouldn't be here asking you all for evidence against it, would I?


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 9:06 am 
Offline
Moderator

Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2007 4:17 pm
Posts: 2247
Location: Everywhere
Quote:
Your bias towards trying to protect the original status of your preferred supernatural storyline shines very bright for all to see and consider.


KD8 wrote:
If I was just trying to protect it, then I wouldn't be here asking you all for evidence against it, would I?

Of course you would!!! That's why you're here to begin with. You are trying to protect the virgin mother Mary from being exposed as a remake of the mother Isis during the Christian era. You are asking for evidence against the original status of Mary because you think that you have an argument powerful enough to refute claims that Isis was a virgin mother before Mary. You've already concluded that your argument is sound and then came here making demands for evidence. And why would you do such a thing? Well for starters:

KD8 wrote:
And I come from an atheist background (my mom, who raised me was one, and I was an atheist until I was 20).

So you were lacking in God belief until age 20, at which point I assume you converted to Christianity. Being raised atheist, did you know very much about religion? And if you did know a lot about mythology and religion why did you choose to join Christianity in the first place? Was it because of all of the strong evidence and sound reason that Christianity provides above and beyond all other religions in order to substantiate its claims? Please do tell...

This is all very telling so far in terms of why you're fighting so hard to refuse the obvious evidence that Isis was regarded as an eternal virgin mother goddess, being perpetually virgin in the mythos as Neith before her. She's the dawn goddess giving birth to the morning sun, pure and "immaculate". She's immaculate because she represents something in the mythos, and that is the virgin, or clean and pure dawn from which Horus, the morning sun, rises every morning. The most important morning of the year for the sun being about the time of year when the sun rises noticeably one degree to the north after descend to the south marking the beginning of longer days ahead - the very time of year we are in right now as a matter of fact. Isis's mythological husband, Osiris, representing the sun on it's journey from midnight until morning (through the underworld beneath the earth) at which point the sun goes from being Osiris of the underworld to Horus the morning sun born at the immaculate dawn.

This is mythology!!! The wife and husband aspect is entirely mythological and serving allegorical purposes pertaining specifically to the second function of a traditional mythology, the cosmological function!!!

In this mythology one figure that represents an aspect of nature is being portrayed as married to another figure which represents another aspect of nature, and the female goddess wife character is playing the role of the clean and pure virgin dawn that gives birth to the morning sun. That's why Isis declares that she is the great hwn.t at Abydos!!!

It's to say that she is the virgin dawn, and they mean very much to use the term hwn.t as the most powerful way of expressing "VIRGINITY" in the Egyptian langauge when addressing virgin dawn, and to also state very clearly elsewhere that she is "immaculate" and that she has given rise to the sun without having her veil or garment lifted as well!!! And they are doing all of this in order to express a reference to the virgin dawn from which the sun rises in the morning. That's why it doesn't make sense when taken and analyzed as literal history and what a literal marriage ought to be, it isn't. These allegorical myths are pertaining to the movements of the sun serving the cosmological function of a traditional mythology, plain and simple.

Let's look at what your argument does to the context of this obvious solar myth?

Isis is the great 'young girl' who is young, but not a virgin - not pure and clean (immaculate) - and who represents the dawn giving rise to the sun, which, is something that is viewed as pure and clean in ancient times. But Isis herself is not pure and clean, even though she is the dawn giving rise to the morning sun and whose conception of the sun is never given as a physical bodily conception in any imagery known to Egyptology!!!

And virgin girls, who have NOT had sex in life, are required to play the role of Isis because they are pure and clean like the virgin dawn. But according to you Isis herself, who these virgins are playing the role of all while having her name written on their arm to make perfectly clear that they are playing the role of Isus, was not herself pure and clean like the girls portraying her. According to you Isis was just representing the virgin dawn mother of the morning sun (as stated @ Abydos) as an unpure, unclean, violated, non-virgin, who was sexually active with her husband and not a virgin.


You've butchered the entire context of a solar myth coming sun worshipping and nature worshipping people in order to try and make it conform to what you'd prefer to believe. You think that by admitting that Mary runs parallel to Isis that you'd have to surrender your new found faith as a Christian. But what about Justin Martyr? Did he have to surrender his faith simply because he had to admit that the Jesus story was a bit of a johnny-come-lately? No. He just admitted the parallels and tried to blame them on the devil trying to create Jesus-like tales before Jesus arrived. You'd probably have better luck sticking to a Martyr type apology instead of running yourself out of rope the way you're doing in this thread.
:lol:

GodAlmighty's recent number 7 edition to the video series:

_________________
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?


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 5:34 pm 
Offline
Moderator

Joined: Sun Sep 05, 2010 7:45 am
Posts: 523
Quote:
And, again, non-virgins can have sexless conceptions just as easily as virgins can, making this point irrelevant.

No, it is not irrelevant, it is corroborative with the other evidence, just as a christian would consider the fact that Mary's conception of Jesus was allegedly non-sexual to be corroborative with the fact that she had previously been called a parthenos to try and deduce that she's meant to be viewed as a virgin mother.
In fact, that's the point of the miracle really, that sex was not needed to conceive Jesus, her alleged virginity just emphasizes that such is the case, seems it's her virginity that compliments her miraculous pregnancy, not vice-versa, her non-sexual pregnancy is not being used to supplement her status as a virgin. The point being, Christ's non-sexual conception is more important to the story than Mary's status as a virgin.
And such is also the case in the conception of Horus, the authors of the early version of the tales, and the artists of the relevant depictions, clearly went out of their way to show that Isis's ba is what gets pregnant while her body stands off to the side in order to emphasize the fact that she did not physically copulate with Osiris. Given the fact that she is demonstrated to be a virgin mother at Sais & Abydos, this leads to the succinct conclusion that one of the reasons, if not the only or most important reason, was in order to preserve Isis's virginity. The nature of Horus's conception is very relevant to whether he was virgin born or not, because if he was the product of sex, then in that version, such as some of the ones recorded by Plutarch, he would clearly not be virgin born. So your statement was wrong, this is plenty relevant. But of course, the job does not stop there, but, neither does the evidence, since her virginity must be demonstrated on top of this non-sexual birth, and it has been demonstrated, at Sais, Abydos, and the Songs papyrus.
You go on to admit that when sex cannot be demonstrated to have occurred, the most succinct conclusion is that a virgin birth is what is intended by the story teller, as in the case of Perseus's birth.
The one and only objection you've brought to the table in regards to this being the same case with Isis, is her marriage to Osiris. This has been rebutted by the fact that she calls herself the great virgin. In response to that, you exchange deduction for induction, and try to argue, against the scholarship of folks of like Botterweck, Becking, etc., that hwnt cannot mean virgin in this one and only exception, because Isis is married.
But as Vishnu pointed out to you, Botterweck demonstrated that marriage does NOT nullify the hwnt's meaning as "virgin". We saw how in Botterweck's work that even though Queen Ahmose was married, she was still a virgin because she was a hwnt. She had not yet copulated.

So yes, inspite of your hair splitting attempts to try and distance "hwnt" from "virgin" on account of a marriage, here an actual scholar(unlike ourselves) has proven that your argument does not work. Marriage does not deter hwnt from meaning virgin. And so just like Queen Ahmose, yes, as Botterweck also told us, Isis IS indeed the Great Virgin, and she said so after already having given birth to Horus. So case closed, and this refusal of yours to acknowledge the Abydos passage as the proof that it is of Isis status as both a virgin and a mother is untenable.

Quote:
"Immaculate" doesn't mean "virgin", but just sinless or clean.

Incorrect. Now had you only moved that word "just" over to between "doesn't" and "mean", and then put an "also" into it's former spot, then your statement here would've been correct. As per Merriam-Webster's dictionary & thesaurus, virgin and virginal are listed as synonyms, as is clean, but sinless is not. However, I am granting that, since I too have heard immaculate used in that way as well, although that may just be a colloquial thing. But that aside, the point here is that immaculate does also include virginity.
We know full well that when immaculate is used in reference to Mary(in times prior to the invention of the Immaculate Conception doctrine, such as in the writings of Hippolytus & Methodius) it is in reference to her status as a virgin. Plus given that the same epithet there given to Isis would be given to Mary centuries later for the very reason of denoting her virgin status, Occam's razor leads to the conclusion that Isis likewise had the epithet for such a reason, given how well her virgin motherhood was established(which is indisputably well), especially in places like Sais & Abydos.

Quote:
If it meant "virgin", then calling Mary the "immaculate virgin" would be redundant, wouldn't it?

Had you clarified better with a "always" or "only" in front "meant", I might agree with this statement, and even then that would be the fault of the ones who composed the epithet. Tertullian refers to just plain ol' jane doe christians as having "immaculate virginity", plus Tertullian is writing before the development of the Immaculate Conception doctrine, he doesn't appear to even regard Mary as sinless, let alone regular john & jane does to be sinless, since we're all allegedly sinners, that being why we need Christ, as they say. So even if redundant, he is clearly not implying that these virgins are sinless by his use of "immaculate".

Quote:
Did the people of Sais ever refer to Isis as a "virgin mother"?

If you mean by that explicit phrase, "virgin mother", then of course not, and same with the New Testament in regards to Mary. And likewise, same as with the New Testament, the passage is clearly intended to denote virgin motherhood inspite of the lack of such an explicit phrase as that in your question.

Quote:
Do they have a variation on the Horus story in which is mother is clearly portrayed as a virgin upon his birth?

Yes, that being shown by the inscription to which we are referring. As several ancient sources have shown us, such as Plutarch, Diodorus, and even as early as Herodotus in the 5th century BC, Horus was syncretic with Apollo/Helios. It is also demonstrated in artifacts, such as the gems mentioned in this catalogue- "HORUS, as Helios, standing on a starred spheroid flanked by serpents", "HORUS, as Helios, in a quadriga preceded by Phosphorus".

So there's no disputing that Helios is also Horus. So the only thing left in which one could possibly try and dispute is Isis's statement that no one has uncovered her robe/lifted her veil. What do you take that to mean? That smacks of euphemism, not at all unlike the biblical euphemism "thou shalt not uncover her nakedness". uncovering the robe is clearly referencing sex, she is stating that no one has had sex with her, that she is a virgin.
"On Mankind, Their Origin and Destiny" p. 468-
Quote:
The Egyptians did in fact celebrate at the winter solstice the birth of the son of Isis, and the delivery of the goddess who had brought this young child into the world, feeble and weak, and in the midst of the darkest night.
...
It was this child of whom the virgin Isis called herself the mother in the inscription over her temple at Sais which contained the words, "The fruit which I have begotten is the sun". This Isis of Sais has been correctly assumed by Plutarch to be the chaste Minerva[Athena], who, without fearing to lose her name of virgin, nevertheless says of herself that she is the mother of the sun.
...
She is the Virgin of the constellations, who is called by Eratosthenes, a learned Alexandrian, Ceres or Isis; that Isis who opened the year, and presided over the birth of the new solar revolution, and of the god of day - in a word, her in whose arms we shall soon see the symbolic child.





Quote:
I said "only virgins could portray Isis", which is definitely an exclusivist statement. I'm not sure how you could possibly interpret that any other way than non-virgins were forbidden from portraying Isis.
So you didn't like my use of the word "could", but use it in your clarification?

So you clarify that you in fact did not intend anything significant by it. Very well then. Although that is admittedly weird and unbecoming that I ended up phrasing it exactly the same way in the "rephrase". Must have had a Freudian slip of sorts. But no matter, as you have clarified that nothing in particular was being implied by that word choice.

Quote:
I'm really pretty amazed that you can't see how weak this is. "Only virgins could portray Isis" does not mean that Isis herself could only have been a virgin. Is there significance that the girls who played her could only be virgins? Sure, but the significance could just as easily have been in regards to many other things.

I'm really not amazed that you continued in your pattern of obstinacy here and refused to see how weak your argument here is. You didn't even address one of the main points in this portion of my post, and it is against parsimony as it is making assumptions beyond what the text implies, i.e., your "many other things", when no such things are implied by the text. As I stated, you are engaging in special pleading here for just that one and only thing in the list of requirements. The significance of the virginity could only "as easily have been in regards to many other things" as easily as it can be the case that the girl is given the name Isis could "have been in regards to many other things", and not because this is a feature of Isis herself. You have offered no justification for why you separate the feature of virginity from the list of requirements(and understandably so, since there is no justification) and apply an ad hoc criticism to it while not applying the same criticism to the other features of the list. They COULD have named the girl Isis for any number of "other things", they COULD have just drawn letters out of a hat, and the ones picked just coincidentally happened to spell Isis. The name COULD be due to any irrelevant unsubstantiated reason you can pull out of your ass, but based on the context of the passage and the law of parsimony, the simplest explanation that makes the least amount of assumptions is that these features were required because they are features of Isis herself. She is given the name Isis because Isis is Isis, that is indisputably obvious, as is the fact that she should be beautiful, and that she should be a virgin, and etc. on down the list. There is no break in the passage when it gets to the virginity requirement, no reason to make any special pleading for that one feature above any of the rest.


Quote:
The most likely has to do with the fact that, per most religions,

I find this interesting that you appealed to other religions, as that once again makes you guilty of using "a completely different story" to try and bolster your applications of those stories features to this story right here. Something your previous posts tried to staunchly forbid.

Quote:
virgins are considered "better" than non-virgins, being more pure and untainted.

No, the requirement to be pure was already addressed earlier in the list of the requirements distinct from the virginity stupilation, and so was clearly not the objective of listing virginity in the requirements. It says that they must be females, they must be "pure of body", and they must be virgins, and so on.

Plus the implication of what you're arguing here makes a false dichotomy. I mean, when you admit that "virgins are considered better", well, yeah EXACTLY, hence Isis had this feature as well, but not merely demonstrated by this papyrus though, but also in corroboration with everything else brought up so far.


Quote:
So when choosing someone to play the goddess Isis, they're basically "offering their very best" to the goddess, instead of casting someone who they would consider inferior. Do I know this to be the case? No, I just came up with that. But it seems just as likely, if not more so, as the idea that it means Isis herself was a virgin.
Again, another false dichotomy. The succinct "idea that it mean Isis herself was a virgin"(and that Isis herself was named Isis, etc.) wouldn't exclude the religious sacredness of these requirements. The very fact that they are in emulation of a goddess would seem to indicate that, yeah, they are trying to offer their best. There just really is no apparent dichotomy here between these two things as your statement seems to want to imply.
Casting someone who they would consider superior would be a part of offering their best to Isis, stands no reason from the text why this would not be the case.

For instance, while your allowing appeals to "completely separate stories", i.e., other religions, as I pointed out last time, in literature I've read, catholic monks and nuns take vows of celibacy in emulation of (their perception of)Christ himself. And their emulation of him is a very part of their efforts to offer their best to him. There just really isn't any dichotomy here at all. There just doesn't stand any reason why emulating your deity for religious purposes would be exclusive and not inclusive of an attempt to offer your best to said deity.

Quote:
the choices involved in who will portray a role can relate to factors other than the character itself

Something never denied or argued against. It is simply that such factors are not stated in the Songs papyrus's list of requirements, the requirements clearly have correlation to Isis herself, there is no justification for making exceptions to this for the feature of virginity, and so the fact you point out here is not the case with the requirements listed in this text.

Quote:
But there are many things we do know for sure about Isis, and were significant. Per mythology, she's a mother and a wife. That much is without question.
And in some versions she is a virgin mother. That much is without question.

Quote:
So, if they were trying to cast someone who had a lot in common with Isis, it seems more logical to use a married woman with a child, rather than a virgin.

Even if Isis was believed to be a virgin mother who was married (which doesn't seem to be the case), casting a virgin fulfills only one of those three items. Casting a married mother would fulfill two.

Again, this was already covered when I addressed how things not required were clearly of no consequence. Had they required she have the same hair color as Isis, then that would fulfill three, and had they required her to have the same eye color, that would fulfill four, and so on. But they clearly weren't trying to just score high numbers on some meticulous checklist, numbers were not what was important.
These other details were obviously not listed because they did not matter. Eye color, Hair color, husband, children, were clearly not of any consequence to the authors. And hair color in particular did not matter since the girls were told to wear wigs made of long ram's wool. Anyway, the details listed clearly were of consequence to the authors and clearly in emulation of Isis.
She is named Isis because Isis is named Isis.
She has to be a female because Isis is a female.
She has to wear wig of long flowing ruffled ram's wool because the text states that Isis & Nephthys are the two girls with flowing ruffled hair, and the usage of their hair is significant to the story, since it describes how Isis & Nephthys show their mourning of Osiris by tying the curls of their hair into knots/braids, and later on it describes how they used their hair to clean the torn pieces of Osiris's corpse.
Clearly this requirement for them to name themselves Isis and to wear wigs of hair resembling the description of Isis's hair is because these ARE attributes Isis, and attributes which play a significant role in the story, unlike any other meticulous details not listed which are clearly of no consequence.
And there is no reason to think anything less of any of the other requirements in the list.

"Per mythology", she's named Isis. That much is without question. At Sais and Abydos, she is a virgin(in spite of being a mother). That much is without question. So finding these two details listed as requirements for portraying Isis comes as no surprise and Occam's razor leads us to the firm conclusion that these are to be understood as attributes of Isis herself, including the virginity, which is made all the more undeniable by the fact that the text itself, as well as other texts(and even supported by Herodotus), let us know that these rituals of the mourning of Isis for Osiris took place in...
SAIS. The very place where the aforementioned temple to Isis bears the inscription of Isis herself claiming to be both a virgin and a mother. So, although you appear to have repealed your prohibition against corroborating "completely different stories" from different places, even if such a ludicrous stipulation were to be humored, that is not the case here. Isis called herself a virgin mother in Sais, her rituals for mourning Osiris took place in Sais, the Songs of Isis & Nephthys mentions in passing that it's rituals are taking place in Sais, so when this same text has Isis depicted as a virgin, Occam's Razor points out to us how things things are corroborative and further supports the fact that this requirement in the Songs text is put there, just like its other requirements, because these were understood to be attributes of Isis.

But getting back to your statement that including a married woman with a kid would've outscored a virgin, the text reveals to us why they did not cast someone who already had a kid, and so no, a married mother with children would have only fulfilled ONE attribute of Isis that a virgin(most likely) could not, thus would only be tied with virgin at 1-1. But as I said, scoring points was clearly not the objective of the requirements.

A woman who already had a kid would not have properly corresponded to Isis for these particular rituals, because within the narrative of these songs, the birth of Horus occurs. That's only part of the story though, not it's central plot. The main plot is the mourning for Osiris, then the collection of his pieces and reassembling him, and then trying to raise him from the dead. These texts also reaffirm the belief that Osiris was reborn in Horus as Budge confirms. In particular, Column 13 has Isis & Nephthys pleading for the deceased Osiris to return to them and to his temple, during which time the birth of Horus occurs, indicating to us that their request for Osiris to return was fulfilled in Horus, for he is born again and lives on in his son. Throughout the songs Isis prophesied of all the great things Horus will do that are typical of his mythos, i.e., defeat Seth, become king, raise Osiris, etc.
Anyway, the point is, as the ritual begins, Isis has not yet had child. Horus has not yet been born. His birth takes place during the course of the ritual, during which, btw, intercourse is never even alluded to, and Isis & Nepthys are given the titles of birds, and based on the artistic depictions of the conception of Horus, we know why, because, as the Pyramid Texts also tell us, it was Isis's ba, Sothis, in the form of a bird, that conceives Horus.(Perhaps that's part of the reason why Horus has a bird's head).
This text of the Songs papyrus is highly corroborative with everything else we know about this scenario. And most of all, it is corroborative with Isis herself claiming to be a virgin mother in Sais.

Quote:
So it's unlikely that the "virginity" clause related to any idea of Isis being a virgin,

Only as unlikely as giving her the name Isis is related to any idea of Isis being named Isis, or giving a wig of ruffled long flowing hair is related to the fact that Isis has the same ruffled long flowing hair which she uses to clean Osiris's corpse, etc., etc.

Quote:
but rather to honoring Isis by casting their "purest" actresses in the role.

Same false dichotomy already addressed above, plus the requirement that she be pure is listed in the list distinct from the requirement that she be a virgin.

Quote:
No, you're missing my point once again. I'm simply saying that the choosing of a role CAN relate to factors other than "similarity with the character".

No, I didn't miss that point, that point missed any relevancy to the papyrus, and as I have already more than sufficiently demonstrated, and as the text conspicuously clear about- those required features correlated to Isis herself. So that fact that other instances of portayal have not abided by such is inapplicable to this text's requirements. But what you have entirely failed to demonstrate, against the conspicuously clear implications of the text, is any justification for your special pleading for singling out virginity from the rest of the list.

Quote:
Many times, a specific actor is chosen for a role because they're an actor popular with audiences, and thus guaranteed to bring in a bigger take at the box office. Does that mean that the character in the movie is popular with audiences, and thus guaranteed to bring in a bigger take at the box office?
When did I say, or suggest, that the similarities are "of no consequence"? All I'm saying is that similarities with characters aren't the only factor in choosing an actor or actress for a role.
But here's a good question - why hire Kirsten Dunst in particular, rather than a natural redhead who looks more like Mary Jane, of which I'm sure there are many? Probably because Dunst was popular with audiences based on her earlier movies, which is, obviously, a dissimilarity with Mary Jane herself, who was an obscure, struggling actress.

Irrelevant based on what has already been addressed above. You continue to want to try and swing this papyrus towards theater instead of religious ritual. They weren't trying to break box office records or win an Oscar or make a good film, etc.

Quote:
Yes, because the audience would have no way of knowing this fact

Such a statement leads me to deduce that you either haven't seen Superman Returns or other Kate Bosworth films, or at the very least, not a good quality version, and/or you saw it but just didn't pay attention to it, and/or just don't know what heterochromia is.

Quote:
just as the audience for the Isis plays would have no way of knowing whether the actress portraying her was a virgin or not.

And with that statement you have revealed that you have lost the plot. There was no audience here. This was not a "play", and there was no "audience", the text gives no indication of anyone else being present other than the participants. And given this is a religious ceremony taking place in a temple, it's reasonable to think that priests and priestesses would have had some role in it as well. These were the mourning rituals for Osiris afterall, a major religious observance. In fact, the text tells us these rituals took place on what is in our calendar, December 25th to the 29th. So this was really like their Christimas, in a manner of speaking. This did not have some audience like that in a play, you keep trying to turn this thing into a theatrical perfrmance and use theatrical language like play and actress, when really this is just not the case. They weren't "acting" as Isis in kind of theatrical sense anymore than the Pharoahs of the Pyramid Texts "acted" as Horus, Osiris, or Ra.

Quote:
Thus the virginity requirement was most likely for a reason that has no bearing on the audience itself,

Agreed, since, as just stated, there was no "audience", they weren't putting on a performance to entertain a crowd, or to do anything for a crowd. These things were done in worship of the gods, and especially Isis & Osiris in this case. These weren't put on for approval of some audience anymore than the Mithraic Mysteries or the Cybele Mysteries were done for the sake of an audience, since Faulkner says of this papyrus that these were part of the Osirian Mysteries. There is no indication that there was ever an "audience" for any of these rituals, other than those who served in some capacity in the ritual itself. And to liken that to an audience for a theatrical play or movie is painting with a brush so wide it doesn't even fit on the canvas. And even the participants being taken into consideration, the rituals were not being done for their entertainment or whatever, it was being done to worship their gods.


Quote:
such as simply "offering their best" for the role, out of honor for Isis herself.

Already addressed further above.

Quote:
The actress playing Mary Jane in "Spiderman" is required to be a female because Mary Jane is a female. She is required to be a redhead (even if it's a dye job) because Mary Jane is a redhead. She is required to be an actress who is popular with movie audiences and thus will bring in a bigger take at the box office because...um...Mary Jane is an actress who is popular with audiences and thus will bring in a bigger take at the box office? Nope.

Nope indeed, as this was already addressed further above, and is grasping at straws.

Quote:
Just because some factors required for the role relate directly to the character being portrayed, it doesn't mean that all of them do.

Already addressed further above as well.
Indeed, and this was never the argument. You have yet to demonstrate any justification for your special pleading for this one and only attribute on the list in the face of corroborative evidence and logical parsimony. And this lack of justification is to be expected, since there is none.

Quote:
For Mary, we have the authors specifically saying that Mary and Joseph were abstinent until after Jesus' birth, making it as obvious as it could possibly be that they're intending to relate to their reader that Mary was a virgin. We have nothing similar for Isis.

Incorrect, we do have something similar for Isis, which has been referenced here time and again.

Quote:
This isn't a case of special pleading. If we had a version of the Isis/Horus story in which the authors were clearly trying to relay to their reader that Isis and Osiris were abstinent after marriage, then you'd have made your point

Which we do have, and so my point has been made, time and again. At Sais(both Isis's temple and from the Songs Papyrus) and Abydos we have the texts demontrating that she is both a virgin and a mother. And as Botterweck demonstrated to us from an Egpytian primary source, marriage does not deter hwnt from meaning virginity/abstinence, and Queen Ahmose was a virgin inspite of being married, and Botterwekc tells us we know this because she was a hwnt.

Quote:
If you could find me a version of the Horus story in which Isis and Osiris didn't have sex, I wouldn't arguing, "well...maybe she had sex with Ra instead".

Indeed you wouldn't have argued that since Isis is not having Ra's kid, but Mary IS having Jehovah's kid, and so your attempted analogy here does not correspond and makes it all the more transparent that you are engaging in kettle logic.

Quote:
Sex between Isis and Ra is not suggested, any more than sex between Mary and Jehovah is.

It sure is suggested more, for the reason already mentioned above. Isis is not having Ra's kid, and in fact she has no interaction with Ra at all during that scenario in any text I've ever read. But Mary IS having Jeohavah's kid. Your flawed analogy does not correspond. And it's interesting that you acknowledge through this statement that just having a kid with someone is not indicative of sexual intercourse between them, neither for Mary & Jehovah nor Isis & Osiris. The only thing you've ever been able to try and bring to the table was the fact of their marriage, but Isis being a virgin mother at Sais and in the Songs, and being a virgin mother at Abydos nullifies that as any kind of contention, as does the case of Queen Ahmose being a virgin/hwnt in spite of being married. And so the one and only thing you even had to try and argue against Isis virgin motherhood doesn't even work. You've got nothing. Her statements concerning her virgin motherhood remain validated.

Quote:
The Gospel authors were clearly relaying the idea that Mary was a virgin upon Jesus' birth. I see nothing in ancient writings giving the idea that Isis was a virgin upon Horus' birth.

Then you have not seen the inscription at Sais, the Songs of Isis & Nephthys, or plate 9 from Seti's temple in Abydos.

Quote:
The difference is that Osiris was married to Isis, thus sex between them is strongly suggested.
Jehovah was not married to Mary, thus sex between them is not suggested at all.

Again, you acknowledge that having someone's kid does not suggest sex at all. But you have yet to acknowledge the same in regards to marriage it's failure to suggest sex at all, especially in the cases of Queen of Ahmose, Isis, in which we have explicit statements letting us know they were virgins in spite of marriage, and in Mary's case in which we have strong implication that she was too.

And the only reason you could even say something so counter-intuitive such as having someone's baby does not suggest sex at all, is because you have removed this scenario from human experience, and into the realm of the supernatural in which the constraints of human experience are removed and pretty much anything is possible thus there is no apriori bias to be had.

And yet, the only evidence that supports your claim that marriage is a strong suggestion of having had sex is... human experience. Here, in regards to divinities, you have distanced pregnancy from what we observe in human experience, i.e., pregnancy ONLY ever happens by sex(before the invention of artificial means), yet you have refused to likewise distance marriage from what we observe in human experience, but rather have maintained the evidence of human experience in regards to marriage in order maintain your apriori bias. And in such, your double standard is revealed.
If it's pregnancy- sex being our only means to produce that just doesn't count, and sex "is not suggested at all", but if it's marriage, oh yeah, that one's okay, we can appeal to the record of human experience on that one.
Nah, there's no evident justification for this special pleading of yours. Though true to form for you.

Quote:
Why not, though? Without it, we obviously have nothing telling us that Isis was a virgin upon Horus' birth.


Incorrect. Even without an explicit statement of "Osiris knew not Isis until after Horus was born", we still have all the aforementioned things, the inscription at Sais, and at Abydos, etc.

Quote:
The problem is that your "Jehovah" example only calls Mary's virginity into question. Let's say, hypothetically, that the Gospel authors WERE intending for us to believe that Mary and Jehovah had sex (which we both seem to believe isn't the case). Ummm...okay, now what about Isis and Osiris? Is there anything in their story suggesting they didn't have sex?


Yep. Isis's virgin motherhood, proven by all the things reference previously in this post.

Quote:
Nope. We still don't have anything similar to Matthew 1:25, and thus we don't have anything suggesting that Isis was a virgin upon Horus' birth.


Incorrect. We do have other things suggesting it, all of which have been referenced earlier, time and again.

Quote:
Except for the fact that she’s married, which, obviously, implies that she had sex. Sex an marriage go together like a horse and carriage, to paraphrase ol' blue eyes. Unless the text specifically says the couple was abstinent after marriage, you would never just assume it.


The double standard here has already been exposed above. Pregnancy and sex go together like a penis and vagina as well, and yet you've never claimed that unless the text specifically says the couple having the baby was abstinent, you would never just assume it. And you have just assumed it for Jehovah and Mary.
But that aside, we do have the proof of her abstinence by way of her statements that she is a virgin mother.

Quote:
Of course it can. You point this out in your own video, that it's been translated as "lass", "damsel" and "maiden", none of which have the exact same meaning as "virgin". Yes, they're all synonyms for "virgin", but that doesn't mean that they have the exact same meaning. It only means that their definitions are similar enough that the terms can mean the same thing in a given context.


And the terms are all used in the SAME given context, and hence they mean the same thing, that is WHY the various translators can use the various word to translate the same passage, because none of the meaning is lost. Otherwise, they are doing just that, changing the meaning of the text. Hence no meaning is lost when Faulkner translates the Pyramid Text phrase as Great Maiden while Botterweck translated it as Great Virgin. Yet that is what you tried to argue from the outset with your whole "hwnt is also maiden" thing, you were trying to pass it off as if the meaning should be different, when, as you just conceded here, they are synonyms and "mean the SAME thing in a given context", this given context being, Utterance 389 from the Pyramid Texts. Synonyms can only be interchangeable when the meanings in their definitions overlap. And the place in which the definitions of virgin and maiden overlap is in regards to sexual abstinence-
Image

But sexual abstinence is not the only place where almah, bethulah, and parthenos overlap with each other, they also all three extend beyond that to women who have engaged in sex, either by getting laid by Heracles, raped by invading armies, or are examples of adulterous women. Yet sexual abstinence IS the ONLY place where these three words overlap with hwnt, as there has yet to be such a case demonstrated in which hwnt means someone who has engaged in sex. As the Vishnu fellow pointed out to you, or rather, as scholar Johannes Botterweck pointed out to you, hwnt is the absolute best word in Egyptian to denote virginity and even denotes virginity in the face of marriage.

Quote:
No, "maiden" doesn't mean virgin, since virgins are always virgins, and maidens, while frequently virgins, aren't necessarily. To say that one word is a synonym for another doesn't mean that they have the same meaning. For example, "gossip" and "repeat" are synonyms for each other, but that doesn't mean that they have the exact same meaning.


Yes, maiden does mean virgin, as already demonstrated above, and even you concede "their definitions are similar enough that the terms can mean the SAME thing in a given context", this is still the same given context, thus they mean the same thing. You are hyperextending what was argued. It was never put forward that synonyms always mean the same thing universally irrespective of the context. But given that our discussion of hwnt has never veered off of context, that much should have gone without saying. But with as often as you have lost the plot on sub points through out this exchange, it comes as no surprise that you did the same here.

Quote:
They don’t, though. You seem to think that if one word is a synonym for the other, then they must mean the exact same thing, which isn’t the case. Lasses and damsels aren’t necessarily virgins, though they often are, which is why they are synonyms.


Already addressed above, and, EXACTLY, it is only in those times when "they often are" virgins that they can be interchangable with virgins. It is where they overlap that no meaning is lost in interchanging them. Hence no meaning is lost from Botterweck's translation as "virgin" to Mercer's "damsel" and so on. This "damsel" in the Pyramid Texts IS a virgin, afterall she cannot copulate and only got pregnant by lightning or moon light. Same with Botterweck's translation of the Abydos passage, which is the ONLY English translation I've seen. If someone were to come along and translate it as maiden, no meaning is lost or changed since they are synonyms. Should someone come along and translate it as "whore" or "loose" or "easy", or anything at all that is not synonymous with virgin, THEN we have a problem. But so far, no problem, no meaning is lost from virgin to maiden. Hwnt is still virgin, and has yet to demonstrated to mean otherwise.

Quote:
You're right, actually. But that's only because I thought you understood what a synonym was. I was wrong. Apparently, you think if one word is a synonym for another, then they mean the exact same thing.


You're wrong, actually, that is not what I think or have ever put forward, as already expounded upon above.

Quote:
If it can be translated the same way, sometimes as "virgin" and sometimes as "damsel", etc., then the idea that it can ONLY mean "virgin" is incorrect. This means that it's a word with the same properties as a, b and p, referring to the same type of women.


Already expounded upon above. Virgin is more exclusive than damsel, as you go on to say something similar, a damsel can be a virgin or non-virgin, but a virgin can never be a non-virgin. Hence for damsel to be interchangable with virgin and no meaning be lost, then the part of damsel's definition that is being invoked by it's usage can only be the definition that matches with virgin. Hence Luke 1:27's parthenos could be translated as a virgin or maiden or damsel and no meaning is lost. But in a case of a parthenos that has been raped for instance, cannot be translated as damsel OR virgin, as the meaning WOULD get lost in translation.

But alas, we have no such instance of a hwnt getting raped, or getting laid at all. Hence, as it stands now, hwnt only means virgin and thus can only properly be translated as such or some synonym thereof.

Quote:
As is hwn't, since it's sometimes translated to words like damsel, lass and maiden, which don't necessarily mean "virgin".


No, not as is hwnt, since as I was clearly contrasting there, I never "went beyond" that with hwnt, only with almah, bethulah, and parthenos as they are the only ones here that even can go beyond that. And I even demonstrated that they only go beyond just virgin NOT on account of being translated as maiden, damsel, etc., but on account of actually being able to demonstrate cases that with no ambiguity have these nouns engaging in sexual activity. This was never done with hwnt. Again you have confused yourself about what was said.
Damsel, lass, and maiden DO necessarily mean virgin when it is the situation that they are interchanged with virgin, for, as stated, a virgin can NOT ever mean a non-virgin. It is damsel, lass, and maiden that must step down to where virgin is, virgin cannot step outside it's boundaries to include everything they also include, otherwise, meaning is lost on that word. If they are being used interchangably with virgin it is because they are accomodating to virgin's meaning, as virgin cannot do the vice-versa and ever include non-virgins.

Maiden here DOES necessarily mean virgin-
Image

And likewise, maiden in Faulkner's Pyramid Texts DOES necessarily mean virgin, as this maiden cannot copulate and only got pregnant through non-sexual supernatural means.

And IF maiden were to be interchanged with virgin here(since it has yet to be), it too would necessarily mean virgin since virgin can never mean non-virgin, and a hwnt has yet to be shown to refer to anything other than a virgin, as Botterweck has demontrated. Not even marriage was able to change that fact.

Quote:
Actually, you did when you pointed out that it's sometimes translated as "lass", "damsel" and "maiden", words which don't necessarily refer to virginity.


No, I did not, as just addressed above.

Quote:
Huh? You think that all women who can be described as "hwn.t" must either be married or virgins?


Married OR virgins, then no, of course not, since hwnt only means virgin. No OR to it, no dichotomy there, as Queen Ahmose proves.

Quote:
That it can't refer to a young woman who hasn't gotten married yet, but has engaged in premarital sex? How so?


Yep, it cannot, and how so is because it can only ever be demonstrated to mean virgin, as Botterweck has shown.

Quote:
Keep in mind that it's also translated as "damsel" and "lass", words which generally mean "young woman".


Until they are used interchangably with virgin, in which case they mean virgin, as virgin is more exclusive than just young woman. As already expounded upon above.

Quote:
As have a, b and p. But they, like hwn.t, have also been translated as "damsel", "lass" and "maiden", meaning that they, like hwn't, aren't words that can only mean "virgin".


Again with this pitiful strawman. I never once argued that almah, bethulah, and parthenos can refer to non-virgins just on account of them being translated as damsel or maiden, it is because it can actually be demonstrated when a parthenos has engaged in sex, or a bethulah has been raped, etc. But this has never been demonstrated with hwnt.

Quote:
Since it's been translated as "maiden", "damsel" and "lass", it clearly has non-exclusive properties. If it didn't, it would only be translated as "virgin".


No, as already addressed above. Virgin can never be a non-virgin as damsel can. Hence if they are used interchangably, it is because they accomodate to virgin, as virgin cannot do the vice-versa in regards to a non-virgin.

This maiden can never be anything other than a virgin, forever-http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5128/5278427969_85a1e4a41d_z.jpg Interchanging maiden with virgin does not expand virgin's meaning, it specifies which of maiden's multiple meaning is being invoked, it is making maiden more exclusive, it cannot make virgin more inclusive.

Quote:
a, b and p are also applied to people who had not yet had sexual intercourse. But that doesn't mean that they ONLY apply to people who had not yet had sexual intercourse, any more than hwn.t does.


Incorrect, as alreay explained earlier, the reason why being translated as virgin "doesn't mean that they ONLY apply to people who had not yet had sexual intercourse" is because it can be demonstrated in no ambiguous terms that a parthenos has slept with Heracles or Ares, or that a bethulah has been raped, or that an almah is an example of an adulterous woman, etc. No such thing has ever been demonstrated of hwnt. It's only ever been used to denote virginity, in particular, fertile virginity, as Botterweck notes, hence a virgin too young to have kids would not be a hwnt inspite of being a virgin. So in that respect, hwnt is even more exclusive than the English word virgin, as Botterweck notes, just biological virginity is not enough to get in this club, pre-pubescent virgins need not apply.

Quote:
Yet, as we read on, we see that she is married and has a kid.


Just like Mary. And married, just like the virgin/hwnt Queen Ahmose. You yourself even earlier conceded, just because a chick has someone's kid, "sex between them is not suggested at all."

Pregnancy doesn't suggest sex at all.

And Ahmose proves marriage is not sufficient to deter the fact that hwnt means virgin.

Quote:
Normally, when faced with a word that could be translated as "damsel" or "lass", we would say "okay, obviously that word back on plate 9 isn't referring to biological virginity in this case". But, instead, mythicists say "well, she must be a virgin anyway!"


Already addressed above. Damsel or lass could only even be made interchangable with virgin when it's meaning as "virgin" is the meaning being invoked. A virgin can never mean a lass who is not a virgin, but a lass can mean a virgin who is a virgin. Moreover, damsel or lass isn't even used to refer to Isis, it used to refer to Nut, who's virgin motherhood Osiris is inconstestable. She cannot copulate, hence she got pregnant by non sexual means, such as moon light. Hence nothing is lost in the meaning of the passage whether we read Botterweck's translation as great virgin or Faulkner's translation as great maiden, etc.
It has never been demonstrated that hwnt has ever been used for someone who has had sex.

Quote:
But regarding the Abydos inscription, you can't show me other texts where Isis birthing Horus while still a virgin is implicit, giving us no reason to assume that the authors of the inscription recognized him as such.


We sure did, the inscription at Sais in which he declares herself to be a virgin and yet also mother of Helios/Horus.

Quote:
And her being married and a mother does imply that Isis is not a virgin, strongly suggesting a different intention by the authors for the word "hwn.t".


No, as pointed out time and again, being married has no bearing on the fact that hwnt denotes virginity, as was the case with the married virgin/hwnt Queen Ahmose.

Quote:
I'm not "making an exception", but am looking for the evidence in the first place. You're holding to "hwn.t" meaning "virgin", when it's a word that doesn't necessarily mean "virgin".


Already addressed throughout above.

Quote:
No, but if she was generally seen as such, then it's a reasonable assumption. But since there's no evidence that she was generally seen as a virgin mother, it's beside the point.


Yes, there is evidence, though it's not necessary as hwnt indisputably denotes virginity even in the face of marriage. But yes, at Sais she was seen as a virgin mother.

Quote:
I think you misunderstood what I meant by "new narrative". I'm talking about creating facts not present in any of the above stories. For example, if in one story, a woman is seen as a virgin, and in another story, she is seen as married, you can't combine the two stories in order to say she she was a married virgin. It doesn't work that way.


Actually, yes you can, and yes it does work that way, although the Sais & Abydos inscriptions can and have stood on their own as proof of her virgin motherhood, they are simply corroborative with everything else.
But anyway, to expound upon what I just said, yes it does work that way. Different versions of stories in ancient mythology are not regarded by academia as antithetical, but rather, as corroborative, as different versions which supplement each other, even when contradictory on certain points.
And to begin here on this point, I will quote historian Prof. Elizabeth Vandiver in her Teaching Company lectures-
Quote:
"Once a version of a myth is written down, it's fixed, there it is. And we, literate people, have a strong tendency to assume that that means that version is somehow the myth, the real myth, the only way the myth was ever told. But that's not how traditional tales work, in any oral setting.
...
I can give a clear example of what I mean by this. Everyone knows the story of Oedipus the King, how he killed his father, married his mother, without knowing who they were. When he discovered the terrible thing that he had done, after his mother hanged herself Oedipus blinded himself, went into exile, never returned home to Thebes again, right?
Well, right according to Sophocles, who wrote the play "Oedipus the King". In homer, in "The Odyssey", there's a very brief reference to Oedipus which agrees that yes, he killed his father and married his mother. Yes, his mother killed herself after the truth came out, but Oedipus, says Homer, continued to rule in Thebes many years thereafter.

Which is the "real" version of the Oedipus myth?

THEY BOTH ARE.

Sophocles version dominates our understanding of the myth because it is such a marvelous play, and because it's so famous. And this is the kind of thing we have to guard against. Often we have only one version of a myth. We have to remember there probably were others.
...
Occasionally a work of art preserves what is clearly a very different version from the only ones known to us by literature. There's a beautiful classical Greek painting, vase painting, of a character who is quite clearly Jason, Jason who got the golden fleece, after his voyage on the Argo.
The golden fleece is there on a tree behind Jason, the tree is guarded by a dragon. All of those elements point to the fact that this is very clearly Jason, and yet, in this painting, the dragon is either swallowing Jason, or spitting him back out again. Jason is halfway out of the dragon's mouth. His arms and head are visible outside the dragon's mouth.
In no written version of Jason's story that has survived for us, does the dragon eat Jason, or attempt to eat Jason. The whole point is that Jason is helped by Medea, who gives him magic potion so that he can overcome the dragon without being eaten. If this case painting had not survived, we would not know that there had ever been a variant in which Jason was eaten by the dragon. Because we have the painting, we know this variant existed, but that's all we know about it. We have no written description of that version of Jason's story."


And to bring this closer to our specific topic, concerning Horus, Egyptologist Edmund S. Meltzer wrote-

Quote:
"The roles, local cult foundations, and titles or epithets of Horus are sometimes correlated with distinct or preferred forms in iconography: for example the falcon, the falcon headed man, the winged disk, and the child with a side-lock(sometimes in his mother's arms). Egyptologists therefore often speak of distinct, sometimes originally distinct, Horuses or Horus-gods.

Combinations, identifications, and differentiations were, however, possible for Horus, and they are COMPLIMENTARY RATHER THAN ANTITHETICAL. A judicious examination of the various Horuses and the sources relating to them supports the possibility that the roles in question are closely interrelated, and so they may be understood as different aspects, or facets, OF THE SAME DIVINE PERSONA."- The Ancient Gods Speak: A Guide to Egyptian Religion


Quote:
Of course there is. The authors of the birth narratives are clearly intending to portray Mary as a virgin when she gives birth to Jesus, clearly stating that she and her husband remained abstinent while married, and giving no indication that Mary had sexual intercourse with Jehovah.

You can't say the same for Isis.


The only thing you have ever been able to try and point out as any remote possibility of indication of sex with Osiris is her marriage to him. And that has been proven to not work time and again here, as Botterweck did in the case with Ahmose.

Quote:
No, it does not. They're being synonyms doesn't mean that they have the same meaning. Maidens can be non-virgins. Virgins cannot be non-virgins.

Already addressed further above.

Quote:
And in Mary's case, her being abstinent until Jesus' birth is explicit in the story.

No, it is not, as already pointed out. Her being abstinent until the birth is at best implicit, never explicit to all without dicrimination. Only her abstinence with Joseph is explicit. And even if parthenos were as strong an indicator of virginity as hwnt(which I have demonstrated, it is not), she is never called a parthenos after the annunciation.

Quote:
The same can't be said for Isis.

Sure it can, and has been, both at Sais, Abydos, and in the Songs papyrus.

Quote:
So, by that logical, every living creature was born of a virgin. Is that what you're actually saying?

No, that's what the text is saying. I have merely pointed out to you that obvious fact of what it says.

Quote:
Or do you recognize this as being like us Christians saying God is the "father of us all", not a reference to Jehovah literally being our biological father, but just the one who ultimately created us.

No, I recognize as being like how Genesis has Eve being the mother of us all. And had she born her children by parthenogenesis, it's quite easy for her to have been a virgin mother to everyone. Much like Gaia, which, given the Hellenistic nature of this inscription, it seems to bear influence from this image of Gaia as the mother of all, especially as per Hesiod's version since he explicitly states she gave a virgin birth to her first three children, though after that she took up sex, but what is relevant is her being the first female from whom all things living have descended and that she did have parthenogenesis, and we see this same idea having been transferred to Isis here in Sais. But moreover, as I mentioned, and was the point of that portion of my post, she gives special emphasis to Helios, who by way of syncretism, is also Horus, whom we know Isis did not just "ultimately create", she biologically gave birth to him, as she even makes reference to in inscription, "the fruit I bore". Fact remains, this inscription has been identified as Isis, this inscription makes it clear that she is a virgin, and this inscription makes it clear that she has given birth to Helios(or Horus the Elder, pick your flavor), hence she is indisputably a virgin mother here.

Quote:
Sure, and the idea that Isis never had sex with Osiris before Horus' birth doesn't mean that she didn't have sex with someone else.

And our position here has never been exclusive to just sex with Osiris, as the definition of hwnt or virgin has never been exclusive to just abstinence from Osiris. Not would her statement that no one has lifted her veil be exclusive to just Osiris.
But unfortunately for Mary, Matthew 1:25 is just exclusive to Joseph.
And also unfortanely for Mary, parthenos is more ambiguous than hwnt, and thus fails us in indicating that she was completely abstinent, unlike hwnt does for Isis.

Quote:
But if you can show me that she didn't have sex with Osiris, and no other lover for her is implicit in the text, then I'll agree that she is, per the text, a virgin mother.

Sure, as shown to you many times- "Ever memorable should be the inscription at the base of the statue of the Egyptian Isis at Sais: "I am the goddess Isis, the Mother of all the living. No man hath lifted my veil, and the fruit I bore was Helios."
"In a text in the Abydos Temple of Seti I, Isis herself declares: 'I am the great virgin'."
Hwnt does not make exceptions for who the hwnt is abstinent from. Unfortunately, parthenos doesn't indicate absitence at all, but has been used to refer to women who can be demonstrated to have already had sex. Such a thing has yet to be demonstrated of hwnt.

Quote:
I don't need unambiguous explicit evidence for Isis, just something showing that the authors intended to portray her as a virgin mother, exactly as we have for Mary.

Which you have received time and again, portrayed as a virgin, while assisting Seti alongside her full grown son-"In a text in the Abydos Temple of Seti I, Isis herself declares: 'I am the great virgin'."
Virgin + her child=virgin mother.

Quote:
That would be interesting, but if you're making an analogy to my challenge, it doesn't fit. I'm not asking for texts that leave zero room for misinterpretation or misunderstanding, just texts where the authors' intentions are clear.

Which you have received time and again, and referenced above, yet you have indeed tried your best to "misinterpret" and "misunderstand" them, in spite of how unambiguous they are.


Well, that was rather tedious and less than enjoyable. I'm not sure how much time I can keep devoting to such long exchanges in text format. So as far as the 'last word' goes, you can go ahead and have it. I've kind of grown weary of such drawn out back & forth and it has become abundantly apparent that neither side can produce anything sufficient to satisfy the other, so I'm going to just agree to disagree at this point and go ahead and punch out.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 7:10 pm 
Offline
Dionysus

Joined: Tue Jan 19, 2010 6:56 pm
Posts: 280
I would give up at this point, it seems like KD8 is only interested in rationalizing away evidence along with create strawman argument as smokescreens without providing any evidence at all. How much evidence did we provide? Enough to fill a 500GB HDD if one looks hard enough. How much evidence does KD8 provide? Not even a single 1bit of information comes from him. Ever heard that evidence needs to be refuted with evidence?

I knew KD8 wouldn't live up to his end of the bargin, in fact his challenge of "evidence" proves as much that not a single person can meet it.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 6:51 am 
Offline
Hercules
User avatar

Joined: Fri Apr 18, 2008 1:07 pm
Posts: 51
Location: Vaikunta
^For real. I was surprised he at least admitted that Perseus was born of a virgin and that Horus did have a non-sexual birth, since that is far more than most Christians are willing to admit.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 12:08 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2006 5:24 pm
Posts: 4331
Location: 3rd rock from the sun
On a side note:

Mary Magdalene whore/prostitute?

Who is Mary Magdalene?

For 1500 years Christians considered Mary Magdalene a reformed prostitute. That may have been part of a campaign by the early church to keep women out of the clergy. Nevertheless, for 1500 years Christians considered Mary Magdalene a reformed prostitute.

Identification of Mary as a prostitute or whore
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Magdalene

"In Roman Catholic tradition, Mary of Bethany is identified as Mary Magdalene, while in Eastern Orthodox and Protestant traditions they are considered separate persons.[57] "Mary of Bethany" itself is an anachronism, as she is just referred to as "Mary" both in Luke 10:38-42 and the Gospel of John."

"The identification is mainly based on the Gospel of John. The Mary appearing in Bethany is introduced in John 11:1 only by her first name, as if her identity was self-evident."

"Since 591 A.D., Mary Magdalene has been identified in the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church as an adulteress and repentant prostitute."

"Seventh-day Adventists, who consider the three women to be the same. They also believe that Jesus was the one who cast the seven demons out of her."

Luke 8:2 "And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,"

Now, back to Mary, Jesus' mum:
Quote:
"The Gospel of James, also known as the Infancy Gospel of James or the Protoevangelium of James, is an apocryphal Gospel probably written about AD 150. It is the oldest source to assert the virginity of Mary not only prior to but during (and after) the birth of Jesus."

"The consensus is that it was actually composed some time in the 2nd century AD. The first mention of it is by Origen of Alexandria in the early third century, who says the text, like that of a "Gospel of Peter", was of dubious, recent appearance and shared with that book the claim that the 'brethren of the Lord' were sons of Joseph by a former wife."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_James

Also, lets not forget that only two of the gospels even mention the "virgin birth." Mark and John do not include Jesus' birth narrative - only Matthew and Luke do. Why not all four?

Quote:
Justin Martyr, The First Apology, XXI (written around 150 ce):

"And when we say also that the Word, who is the first-birth of God, was produced without sexual union, and that He, Jesus Christ, our Teacher, was crucified and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, we propound nothing different from what you believe regarding those whom you esteem sons of Jupiter. For you know how many sons your esteemed writers ascribed to Jupiter: Mercury, the interpreting word and teacher of all; Æsculapius, who, though he was a great physician, was struck by a thunderbolt, and so ascended to heaven; and Bacchus too, after he had been torn limb from limb; and Hercules, when he had committed himself to the flames to escape his toils; and the sons of Leda, and Dioscuri; and Perseus, son of Danae; and Bellerophon, who, though sprung from mortals, rose to heaven on the horse Pegasus. For what shall I say of Ariadne, and those who, like her, have been declared to be set among the stars? And what of the emperors who die among yourselves, whom you deem worthy of deification, and in whose behalf you produce some one who swears he has seen the burning Cæsar rise to heaven from the funeral pyre?...."

Quote:
A Uniquely Divine Birth?

"As we have seen, various translations likewise have been rendered in order to accommodate "political" sentiments of the day. The controversial virgin-birth pericope, for example, seems to have been included to compete with the miraculous birth stories of other individuals in the Pagan world. This suggestion of the virgin birth being not historical but a mythical motif added to the gospel tale would explain its absence from Mark (or "Ur-Markus"), widely considered to be the earliest of the gospels.

The divine-birth motif in the myths, traditions and legends of Pagan cultures was addressed by Catholic Church doctor and saint Jerome in his defense of the Christian virgin birth against the "heretic" Jovinianus (393 AD/CE):
Quote:
"To come to the Gymnosophists of India, the opinion is authoritatively handed down that Budda, the founder of their religion, had his birth through the side of a virgin. And we need not wonder at this in the case of Barbarians when cultured Greece supposed that Minerva [Athena] at her birth sprang from the head of Jove [Zeus], and Father Bacchus [Dionysus] from his thigh. Speusippus also, Plato's nephew, and Clearchus in his eulogy of Plato, and Anaxelides in the second book of his philosophy, relates that Perictione, the mother of Plato, was violated by an apparition of Apollo, and they agree in thinking that the prince of wisdom [Plato] was born of a virgin…. And mighty Rome cannot taunt us as though we had invented the story of the birth of our Lord and Saviour from a virgin; for the Romans believe that the founders of their city and race were the offspring of the virgin Ilia and of Mars. Let these allusions to the virgins of the world, brief and hastily gathered from many histories, now suffice…1"

Although Jerome wrote in the fourth century, a number of these virgin-birth legends and myths from "many histories"—the word "history" indicating a passage of time—such as those concerning Plato and the Roman founders Romulus and Remus, preceded the common era by centuries. Moreover, in asserting the story of the Indian savior Buddha's virgin birth as "authoritatively handed down," Jerome is apparently attributing some degree of antiquity to this mythical motif as well. Hence, it is reasonable and logical to suggest that, rather than representing implausible "history," the inclusion of the virgin birth—which by the evidence was an afterthought to the gospel story—serves as a move to compete with the divine births of these many other gods and heroes in the Roman Empire and beyond....."

* fn 1. "Jerome, AJ, I, 42-43. (Emph. added.) In his Stromata (I, 15), Church father Clement of Alexandria (202 AD/CE) discussed "Boutta" as being worshipped by the Indians as divine, demonstrating a relatively early awareness of Buddhism in the Roman Empire and within the Christian church."

- Who Was Jesus? 217-220

Who is the Virgin Mary?

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


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 12:54 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2006 5:24 pm
Posts: 4331
Location: 3rd rock from the sun
Image

Image

Image

Image

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


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 9:24 pm 
Offline
Hercules
User avatar

Joined: Fri Apr 18, 2008 1:07 pm
Posts: 51
Location: Vaikunta
^You can also add "known date of resurrection - yes", to that list, as Caesar was believed to have resurrected and ascended to heaven on the day of his funeral as his body was cremated. This resurrection is depicted on coins minted that same year, it shows Nike snatching his body out of the flames of the cremation pyre and carrying it up to heaven. And this is another parallel Justin Martyr acknowledges.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 7:46 am 
Offline
Moderator

Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2007 4:17 pm
Posts: 2247
Location: Everywhere
Yes, the old compare Jesus to someone else from the ancient world is played out and doesn't work. Jesus is claimed to have been famed far and wide and with people coming out of their graves and the assorted other miracles - including the claim to be Yahweh incarnate walking the earth - that certainly would have prompted someone to write something about at least some of this during his lifetime as these events were unfolding. But there's nothing!!! There's only a vague Pauline savior cult with no life details which eventually produces the gospel writings that are not quoted or acknowledged until well into the second century. It shows all of the signs of an evolving religious sect that plugged in more and more details with time. The God of the universe here on earth couldn't do any better than that??? Did he plan out in advance that he would come to the earth and provide no contemporary evidence so that people would have to rely on forgeries and late dated texts as proof that he was ever here??? Rely on weak forgeries and non-contemporary source materials or go to hell for not believing in this story with so little evidence to support it??? Those of us who have since moved on know all too well where this path leads in the end. And it seems that KD8 has yet to realize it...

_________________
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?


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 7:53 am 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2006 5:24 pm
Posts: 4331
Location: 3rd rock from the sun
Tat Tvam Asi "Jesus is claimed to have been famed far and wide"

That's right Tat, I'm reminded of:

In over 20 passages throughout the canonical gospels claiming Jesus was famed far and wide not a single one has ever been substantiated with credible evidence.
Quote:
Jesus famed far and wide:

"These "great crowds" and "multitudes," along with Jesus's fame, are repeatedly referred to in the gospels, including at the

Matthew 4:23-25, 5:1, 8:1, 8:18, 9:8, 9:31, 9:33, 9:36, 11:7, 12:15, 13:2, 14:1, 14:13, 14:22, 15:30, 19:2, 21:9, 26:55;

Mark 1:28, 10:1;

Luke: 4:14, 4:37, 5:15, 14:25, etc."

- Who Was Jesus? page 85

Quote:
"Additionally, even though many times in the gospels Jesus was claimed to have been famed far and wide, not one historian of the era was aware of his existence, not even individuals who lived in, traveled around, or wrote about the relevant areas. The brief mentions of Christ, Christians or Christianity we possess from non-Christian sources are late and dubious as to their authenticity and/or value. Nor is there any valid scientific archaeological evidence demonstrating the gospel story to be true or even to support the existence of Jesus Christ. Despite this utter lack of evidence, Christian apologists and authorities make erroneous and misleading claims that there are "considerable reports" and "a surprisingly large amount of detail" regarding the life of Jesus and early Christianity."

- Who Was Jesus? page 257

Prior to the end of the second century, there is no clear evidence of the existence of the canonical gospels as we have them.
Quote:
The Canon: A Second-Century Composition

"...With such remarkable declarations of the Church fathers, et al., as well as other cogent arguments, we possess some salient evidence that the gospels of Luke and John represent late second-century works. In fact, all of the canonical gospels seem to emerge at the same time—first receiving their names and number by Irenaeus around 180 AD/CE, and possibly based on one or more of the same texts as Luke, especially an "Ur-Markus" that may have been related to Marcion's Gospel of the Lord. In addition to an "Ur-Markus" upon which the canonical gospels may have been based has also been posited an "Ur-Lukas," which may likewise have "Ur-Markus" at its basis.

"The following may summarize the order of the gospels as they appear in the historical and literary record, beginning in the middle of the second century:

1. Ur-Markus (150)
2. Ur-Lukas (150+)
3. Luke (170)
4. Mark (175)
5. John (178)
6. Matthew (180)

"To reiterate, these late dates represent the time when these specific texts undoubtedly emerge onto the scene. If the canonical gospels as we have them existed anywhere previously, they were unknown, which makes it likely that they were not composed until that time or shortly before, based on earlier texts...."

- Who Was Jesus? pages 82-83

The Gospels: A 2nd Century Composition?

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


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 8:51 am 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2006 5:24 pm
Posts: 4331
Location: 3rd rock from the sun
Vishnu wrote:
^You can also add "known date of resurrection - yes", to that list, as Caesar was believed to have resurrected and ascended to heaven on the day of his funeral as his body was cremated. This resurrection is depicted on coins minted that same year, it shows Nike snatching his body out of the flames of the cremation pyre and carrying it up to heaven. And this is another parallel Justin Martyr acknowledges.

Very good point and thanks for bringing it up. We have a thread I completely forgot about titled, Of Caesars, Plato and Divine Births where we could certainly add this information. I'd love to have an image of those coins there.
Quote:
"...Hence, it is reasonable and logical to suggest that, rather than representing implausible "history," the inclusion of the virgin birth—which by the evidence was an afterthought to the gospel story—serves as a move to compete with the divine births of these many other gods and heroes in the Roman Empire and beyond. Could these and other such "histories" be those of the Jewish, Greek and Roman writers that Christian apologist Dr. J.P. Moreland declared as influencing the evangelists? Regarding the Christian virgin birth, in Who Is Jesus? Dr. Crossan remarks:
Quote:
"The stories of Jesus' birth are religious fiction, or parable, if you prefer...1"

Dr. Crossan further discusses the divine-birth motif found in the Roman world, in the story of Caesar Augustus (63 BCE- 14 AD/CE), who was said to have been the son of the Greek sun god Apollo:
Quote:
"...On the night of his conception, Augustus' mother, Atia, fell asleep in the Temple of Apollo and was impregnated by the god in the form of a snake. Meanwhile, back at home, Augustus' father, Octavius, dreamt that the sun was arising from his wife's womb. Augustus, in other words, was conceived of a divine father and a human mother. And if you think that such stories had no political or social implications but were just imperial propaganda, look at this ancient decree of calendar change in the Roman province of Asia. It is found on marble stelae in all the Asian temples dedicated to Rome and Augustus."
Quote:
"Whereas Providence...has...adorned our lives with the highest good: Augustus...and has in her beneficence granted us and those who will come after us [a Savior] who has made war to cease and who shall put everything in [peaceful] order...with the result that the birthday of our God signalled the beginning of Good News for the world because of him... therefore..."

and it goes on to decree that the new year shall begin for all the Asian cities on the birthday of Caesar Augustus.1"

As we can see, in the story of "our God" Augustus we possess an undeniably pre-Christian divine-birth story that was taken quite seriously. In this pre-Christian inscription, we also have a widespread declaration of a "Savior" who brought "Good News" to the world. Moreover, as Crossan remarks, the Christian birth stories constitute "religious fiction."

- Who Was Jesus? 219-220

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


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 5:12 am 
Offline
Moderator

Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2007 4:17 pm
Posts: 2247
Location: Everywhere
And I mentioned the new ZG source book which goes over the entire transcipt to part 1 of the movie earlier so here's a link to that just in case any one browsing this thread hasn't already seen it or wasn't aware of it at all:

Zeitgeist part 1 & the Documented Evidence

Documented Sources for Zeitgeist Part One (much of this comes from Acharya's books and her sources)

The New ZEITGEIST Part 1 Sourcebook (2010)

_________________
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?


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 10:59 am 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2006 5:24 pm
Posts: 4331
Location: 3rd rock from the sun
BTW, the image above comparing the historical evidence between Caesar and Jesus came from this website Jesus never existed - just scroll down. Maybe we need to make our own image to include more of the facts?

I love the images of those coins so, I'm going to re-post Vishnu's comment & image from the Of Caesars, Plato and Divine Births thread:
Quote:
"These are Buca denarius from 44 B.C., and this particular resurrection depicts Nike directing Selene to awaken Caesar from the "sleep" of death with her kiss as she did with Endymion. You can see Caesar is laying upon the flames of the pyre."

Image

So, to reiterate, here in Caesar we have a pre-Christian motif of a divine birth, son of god, savior, bringing the "good news" (evangelia), who was murdered, resurrected and ascended into heaven to be with the gods.

Julius Caesar, Emperor of Rome, becomes a God

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


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 12:54 pm 
Offline
Moderator

Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2007 4:17 pm
Posts: 2247
Location: Everywhere
It's funny to reflect back on the top of the thread now after having KD8 come here personally trying his best to dismiss this one particular parallel between Horus and Jesus:

1) Horus was born of the virgin Isis-Meri on December 25th in a cave/manger with his birth being announced by a star in the East and attended by three wise men.

Quote:
kingdavid8.com: "Horus’ mother was not a virgin. She was married to Osiris, and there is no reason to suppose she was abstinent after marriage."

What a complete idiotic rebuttle this turned out to be in the end. The very opposite of KD8's assertion is true. That's the main point of consideration when reflecting on his intial claim.

Quote:
"The Pyramid Texts speak of “the great virgin” (Hwn.t wr.t) three times (682c, 728a, 2002a, cf. 809c)" ...

"In a text in the Abydos Temple of Seti I, Isis herself declares:

“I am the great virgin.”

“The Egyptian goddess who was equally ‘the Great Virgin’ (hwnt) and ‘Mother of the God’ was the object of the very same praise bestowed upon her successor [Mary, Virgin Mother of Jesus].”

- Dr. Witt, an Egyptologist

- Christ in Egypt, page 152


Quote:
The Pyramid Texts are around 4,400 years old.

There are, of course, many more Egyptologists who express this same sentiment, and their commentary can be found, obviously, in Christ in Egypt. These are facts that you can't find in encyclopedia entries and on Christian apologist websites, so those who are relying on such things - whether they are theists or atheists - are proving their own ignorance of the subject matter, as kingdavid8 does here. He's presenting himself as an expert - having obviously only scanned a Wikipedia article - when he doesn't even know that Isis was called the "Great Virgin."

The Virgin Birth Mystery

One thing non-expert, non-mythologist, shallow net-surfers like our Christian friend kingdavid8.com doesn't know is that in many pre-xian Pagan religions a female could regain her virginity via sacred union with God. It was one of the "MYSTERIES." So, regardless of being married and regardless of the number of children, her virginity may be regained through sacred union with God - this mystery is described by the ancient Jewish writer Philo, as Acharya also shows in CIE. Also, lets not forget the fact that the Egyptian gods—including Isis—were highly popular throughout the Roman Empire by the time Christianity was created. It throws a monkey wrench into their "debunking" when they learn about these types of little factoids.


Then KD8 went on further to claim:
Quote:
kingdavid8.com: "Horus was, per the story, miraculously conceived. Seth had killed and dismembered Osiris, then Isis put her husband's dead body back together and had intercourse with it. In some versions, she used a hand-made phallus since she wasn't able to find that part of her husband. So while it was a miraculous conception, it was not a virgin birth."


FTL wrote:
So, kingdavid8.com concedes that it was a miraculous conception but denies any virgin birth, even though Isis claims herself to be the "GREAT VIRGIN" as already explained - but kingdavid8, the great "expert" on Egyptian religion clearly knew nothing about Isis being called the Great Virgin centuries before Jesus supposedly existed. Again and again, KD proves he is no expert at all but is just repeating shallow facts from encyclopedias in a dishonest attempt at shoring up the faith at all costs. The rest of his critique is just about as poor as this example.


And KD8 knew nothing about Isis's "Ba" doing the conception of Horus, not her physical body, wooden phallus version or otherwise. Nor did he know the fact that "hwn.t" is shown to refer to a sexual virgin regardless of marriage, and for obvious reasons because she's the virgin dawn giving birth to the sunrise in the mythology. In all of this so-called 'searching for the truth' KD8 somehow missed the open evidence for Isis's virgin mother status in mythology until deciding to come here and cross paths with the likes of us, the dreaded "Christ Mythers". :lol:

I just checked and found our thread on the first page of a search for "King David 8.com": Link

And on the second page of a google search for "King David 8": Link

At least the public can tune in and see how it went for him every time they search his name or website.
8)

_________________
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?


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 5:17 pm 
Offline
Site Admin
User avatar

Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2006 5:24 pm
Posts: 4331
Location: 3rd rock from the sun
I finally read King David8's supposed "response": "Response To FreeThought Nation's Critique of my Website"
Code:
http://www.kingdavid8.com/FreeThought.html

That was more like one endless distraction fallacy than any type of response. I love how KD8 omits 99% of what I posted on the first page of the forum here and goes for the distraction fallacies instead of making any effort to have a grown-up conversation about the actual evidence and scholar commentary that proves him wrong. Notice how KD8 refused to acknowledge (beyond a footnote count change or other insignificant things) a single point I made on actual evidence &/or scholarly commentary that may be valid, or that I may have been right about anything at all or even provided some information he never knew? KD8's typical response to everything is his normal knee-jerk reaction to immediately dismiss everything. That's because KD8 has no intention of being objective, rational, reasonable, logical or honest - it demonstrates that KD8's modus operandi is the typical Christian hand-waving dismissal of the mountain of facts and evidence that proves him wrong, and that's because KD8 has no intention of ever paying up or admitting Christianity is a fraud. KD8 is more interested in his little anti-"Christ Myther" pissing contest.

So, while KD8 didn't counter anything on topic in any meaningful way, I suppose I'll have to waste more of my time going through it anyway:
KingDavid8 wrote:
"Someone pointed out to me that, back in April, the website Freethough Nation did a "critique" of my website in its forums. I was, at first, surprised that they didn't inform me of the critique, since it would seem the only fair thing to do. But after having read it, I can see why they didn't want me to know about it. The moderator who wrote it, Freethinkaluva22 (henceforth, "Luva" on this page), completely misrepresents myself and my website in his critique, claiming (among other things) that the majority of my website is centered around criticism of Acharya S's works, which anyone who has been to my site would know is not the case.

I have roughly 675 pages at my site. Only one page deals specifically with Acharya S, and only about thirty of my pages (less than 5%) even mention her at all."

I made no mention of KD8's website page numbers or percentages of this or that - because it's completely irrelevant. According to the Wayback Machine, King David 8 has mentioned: "Acharya S, the author of "The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold," from the beginning. KD8's oldest archives mention Acharya S and her book Christ Conspiracy. Her response to KD8's very own e-mail to Acharya is dated "(9/1/02)" - that was over 8 years ago, and KD8 still hasn't read a single book of hers.

So, King David 8's main complaints (distractions) seem to be:

1. My comment: "a majority of his website is centered around criticism of her works"

2. "Only one page deals specifically with Acharya S"

3. I "completely misrepresent" him and his website "which anyone who has been to my site would know is not the case." (even though I quoted him consistently in context, which he did not do in his response).

First of all, KD8's website tells a very different story. And I'm not talking about "675 pages or (less than 5%)" I don't care about that crap. Notice how KD8 advertises at the very top of his homepage: "Copycat Challenge! Win $1000!"
Code:
http://www.kingdavid8.com/Copycat/Challenge.html

When you go to that link King David8 says:
KingDavid8 wrote:
Christ-Myther Challenge! You could win $1000!

"I have a website that is trying to debunk the claim of the Jesus story being influenced by pre-Christian deities ... Below, I give seven common lists that I see Christ-mythers give. They say that these are things that pre-Christian deities were credited with doing that influenced the Jesus story. I will give $1000 to the first person who can provide evidence of any one of these lists being valid. Yes, just one. It must be evidence which shows that the deity was believed, prior to the 1st century A.D., to have done these things. You can send me an E-mail if you can find such evidence."

Of course those "seven common lists" all came from Acharya's work. If that isn't a significant part of KD8's website then, why is that particular link the ONLY one advertised at the top? And why has KD8 been going all around the net posting it everywhere for years now and trying to get others to do the same, if it's not a significant part of his website? I don't see anything else advertised at the top beyond the homepage, which advertises his recent additions, where we find that a majority of them are centered around Zeitgeist Part 1, and Acharya's lists in one way or another. Readers can make their own decision on #3 but, I can't believe KD8 actually has the nerve to complain about my comment in #1 & 2 above? Seriously? :roll:

But wait, there's more from the homepage:

KingDavid8 wrote:
Recent additions:

12/12/10 It was pointed out to me that there was a critique of my website on FreeThoughtNation. I've responded to it here.

8/15/10 I decided to make another $1000 challenge, this one specifically related to Zeitgeist. For this one, anyone who can provide evidence for half of Zeitgeist's claims for Horus, Attis, Krishna, Dionysus and Mithra will get the full $1000. The challenge is here: Zeitgeist Challenge

3/26/10 A writer for Examiner.com has done an article about Christ-mythers and Acharya S, which mentions my website: Skeptics' Idea of Conspiracy (as of 4/8/10 the article was taken down, due to Acharya S complaining to the Examiner that the article was libelous towards her)

3/21/10 I got an inquiry over whether Jesus had parallels to the Greco-Roman warrior Aeneas. I respond to it here: Copycat/JesusAeneas

10/17/09 A couple of new conversations. I'm in a polite discussion with a guy who recently de-converted from Christianity over "Zeitgeist" and other issues, which is here: Letters/Zeitgeist2. And I got a letter from a guy who says he's writing a book that will expose Christians as "delusional" here: Letters/Book. I also got a letter from a guy who wants me to pay him the $1000 I promised in my Christ-myther challenge, but won't provide even a single piece of the evidence I require, here: Letter/Thousand2

3/14/09 A received a letter from "Jessica" telling me about her experience with the movie "Zeitgeist" (which present lots of false claims in an effort to debunk Christianity) and how my site helped her see past its lies. Please read it here: Letters/Zeitgeist. I also decided to finally write a response to the movie, which is here: Zeitgeist

2/16/09 Some of the "Christ-myther" videos that you'll find on YouTube or other places contain a scrolling list of 40+ deities that Christ-mythers claim influenced the Jesus story, without giving specifics of what the parallels were. There's a reason for that. I made a page giving the list and a quick response to their stories, and links to specific pages for each deity. The page is here: GodList

12/11/08 Someone has told me that visitors to my site have been harassing Acharya S. This person changed their story about what exactly is happening (first saying that *I* was harassing her, which I've never done), so I'm not sure whether to believe him. I did e-mail Acharya to ask her if anything like this has been happening, but she never responded. So I'll just say that it's a good idea if anyone who talks to Acharya S or any other non-Christian avoids harassing or being rude. It reflects negatively on all of us when this happens.

So more than half of KD8's "recent additions" have been about Zeitgeist &/or Acharya's lists. And, of course, lets not just gloss over the fact that Acharya was a significant source for ZG1. So, anytime KD8 is mentioning ZG1 it's probably related to Acharya's work too.

But wait, there's more - According to the Wayback Machine and KD8's oldest web pages that show up dated Jun 10, 2004:
Code:
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.kingdavid8.com

KingDavid8 wrote:
Isn't the Jesus story just a retelling or 'copycat' of earlier godmen stories?

"No. The first time I heard this theory, I was in a chat room and a person came in listing comparisons between Jesus and Horus (such as that Horus was also born of a virgin, had 12 disciples, resurrected someone named El-Azarus, was crucified and resurrected, etc.). Wanting to see if this was true, I hit a few websites about Egyptian mythology so I could read the Horus story for myself. None of them gave any such details, and even said things which clearly contradicted this person's claims. I also went to my local library, and even a bookstore, looking at books on Egyptian mythology, and found nothing in the way of comparisons to Jesus. I then went to as many websites as I could find where similar lists were given, and asked the people running the websites to back up their claims. I heard back from only two of them, one of whom agreed that the list was probably bogus and agreed to take it down. The other was Acharya S, the author of "The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold" who claimed the list was valid, but couldn't name one unbiased source to back it up (to see the content of our discussion, click here). I then found a couple of Christian sites that had already discussed the supposed 'comparisons' between Jesus and Horus, as well as His supposed comparisons to other ancient godmen. Their work was quite thorough, and what I'm posting on my site here is simply a summary of their work, plus my own research into these (and other) godmen stories. Their lists can be seen at Tektonics: Confronting The Copycat Thesis and Christian-Thinktank.com: Jesus A Copycat?.

Of course, as you'll see on my pages, there are a few (very few) valid similarities. So what does this mean? Honestly, not much."
Code:
http://web.archive.org/web/20040608213336/www.kingdavid8.com/Copycat/Home.html

I love KD8's comments here:
KingDavid8 wrote:
"Freethinkaluva22, ... completely misrepresents myself and my website in his critique, claiming (among other things) that the majority of my website is centered around criticism of Acharya S's works, which anyone who has been to my site would know is not the case."

KingDavid8 wrote:
"How that equals my site basically attacking those two subjects, I have no idea. I created most of my website before I even knew about Acharya S or Zeitgeist."

LMAO at "I have no idea" :lol:

"I created most of my website before I even knew about Acharya S or Zeitgeist." :oops:

So, from where I stand KD8 is wrong - embarrassingly wrong. My comment: "a majority of his website is centered around criticism of her works," seems to be spot on (especially since I was never talking about web pages or % anyway; nice attempt at another distraction though) - even if KD8 doesn't fully realize that for himself yet. I have just thoroughly demonstrated that even the oldest archives for KD8's website mention Acharya S and quoted it above so KD8 can't lie his way out of it. Plus, the fact that most of his "recent additions," at least since '08 (since that's all that show up), have been relevant to ZG1 &/or Acharya's lists.

Expert?
KingDavid8 wrote:
"Which works and subjects do I present myself as an expert on? And how am I presenting myself as an expert on them?"

"Again, when I have ever pretended to be an expert at subjects I know little about?"

KD8 has set up his "Christ-Myther Challenge" in such a way that KD8 and KD8 alone gets to decide what is or what isn't credible evidence. So even if the most highly respected and highly credentialed top Egyptologist in the world sent an e-mail to KD8 he could still do his typical hand-waving dismissal.
Quote:
"King David" has absolutely no relevant credentials whatsoever. kingdavid8 is no linguist, as he does not read, write or speak any other languages beyond English."

KingDavid8 wrote:
That's correct, and I don't pretend otherwise.

King David8 was honest about one thing: He has conceded that he has absolutely no relevant qualifications, formal training, credentials or relevant linguistic (language) skills whatsoever. That's significant because it shows that he doesn't know what he's talking about. KD8 is totally reliant upon Christian apologists - and shallow scanning of encyclopedias, which he proudly cites as some authority. So, all he's done is some encyclopedia surfing, and he thinks he's expert enough to judge a "challenge!"

The fact is that KD8 knows nothing about comparative religion, mythology, archeoastronomy, archaeology, astrotheology, Pagan religion and their origins, history and evolution. In short, KD8 is not any sort of go-to guy for anything related to religion. He doesn't even know much about the origins, history and evolution of Christianity yet, he has the temerity to presume that his OPINION is enough, and that his personal FAITH is all that he needs to critique highly respected & credentialed scholars who are trained in these areas of expertise. I get the sense that just because KD8 is capable of creating a website and loading it with Christian apologist material and encyclopedia entries somehow that puts him on par with top scholars in their field of study. It doesn't.

So, there's no independent group with any qualifications or credentials and without bias or prejudice to weigh the evidence presented objectively & fairly. KD8 makes all the judgment calls himself even though, as he admits, he has absolutely no relevant qualifications or credentials to make any such judgment calls. KD8 alone gets to play the role of the judge, jury and executioner.

KD8 has never read a single book by Acharya S
Quote:
"However, what kingdavid8 will never tell you is that he has *NEVER* read a single book by Acharya S. kingdavid8 never admits on his website (anywhere I've seen) that he has read a single book by Acharya. Yet, a majority of his website is centered around criticism of her works; works kingdavid8 has never read. Critiquing an author's work one has never read is known as intellectual dishonesty."

KingDavid8 wrote:
Big question here - if I've never told anyone that I've never read any of Acharya's books, then how does Luva know that I've never read any of Acharya's books? Is he just guessing, or does he know this because I've told this to people on several occasions? He's either one of the people I've told this to, or he heard it from someone that I told it to. Either way, the claim that I "will never tell you" this is incorrect on his part. If I didn't tell people this, he wouldn't know it.

KD8, it's blatantly obvious that you've never actually read a single book of hers just by reading your comments on your website, which show you don't know the information in her books. And, in all your ranting about my comment you still never admit it. I'll reiterate what I said on the first page here, the free online excerpts and articles DO NOT contain all of the details - THAT IS WHAT THE BOOKS ARE FOR.

KD8's Blatant Dishonesty and Misrepresentation
Quote:
"Acharya S's book "The Christ Conspiracy" is the apparent source of this list, but the author provides evidentiary footnotes for only five of the claims, and those footnotes frequently disagree with her own claims!"

Err, actually, she provides NINE footnotes on page 115 of Christ Conspiracy, 53 through 61.

KingDavid8 wrote:
So she does. I've fixed that on my site.

Now, here's what I really said; take note of what all KD8 purposely omitted:
Quote:
Err, actually, she provides NINE footnotes on page 115 of Christ Conspiracy, 53 through 61. And, fn 60 has two source references to support the claim there. Now, kingdavid8.com doesn't give any specifics explaining exactly how "those footnotes frequently disagree with her own claims"; until he does, I'm not going to waste my time with his claim here.

Still, it wouldn't matter, because Acharya has completely updated and renewed the list and sources with modern Egyptologists and other experts in their field of study in her book, Christ in Egypt, which is a nearly 600-page book specifically substantiating the entire list of parallels. Christian apologists and even some militant atheists keep attempting to bludgeon Acharya S to death with Christ Conspiracy even though she has written several books since then - how long are they going to keep riding that little scooter? She is working on a type of 2nd edition to Christ Con titled, The Christ Myth Anthology.

Notice how KD8 also omits what I stated on the first page here at the forum? Pay close attention to this comment by KD8:
KingDavid8 wrote:
"Acharya S's book "The Christ Conspiracy" is the apparent source of this list, but the author provides evidentiary footnotes for only five of the claims, and those footnotes frequently disagree with her own claims!"

Notice how KD8 didn't mention a single footnote or provide the evidence to substantiate his claim? This is very significant because: 1) KD8 has never actually read her book; and 2) I suspect that this comment originally came from elsewhere (if so, KD8 provides no source) by others who also have no idea what they're talking about, and KD8 decided to reproduce it without even checking. Thus, here we have a prime example of severe dishonesty and misrepresentation, i.e., KD8 showing his true colors.

King David 8 is constantly misrepresenting Acharya S and her work - probably due to the fact that he hasn't read a single book of hers. KD8 wears his utter ignorance of her work and this subject in general like some sort of proud badge of honor. His ignorance on the subject is his very best evidence against mythicism. So long as he knows almost nothing about it then apparently, it can't be for real. It's akin to sticking his fingers in his ears and yelling, "La, la, la, la." KD8 has been doing just that for over 8 years now.

So, we have thoroughly debunked KD8, and KD8 has helped us do that so - a thank you goes out to him for that - and we're not even finished yet. KD8, you sir, are completely irresponsible and not to be trusted on this subject in any way whatsoever. In the end, you are like a child demanding to be spoon-fed the material because you REFUSE to actually read it for yourself and you consistently blame everyone else for your ignorance rather than take any responsibility yourself.

I'll be back to expose more of KD8's nonsense soon.

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


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic This topic is locked, you cannot edit posts or make further replies.  [ 356 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 ... 24  Next

All times are UTC - 8 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group