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Serving the Truth
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1 Peter 3:15 "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:" |
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Diabolical Mimicry
None of these mythological figures ever walked the earth in physical form, nor have witnesses claimed they did. --- Have you ever heard the term Diabolical Mimicry? The early Christians used it to explain the similarities between their own Jesus and the much older pagan Gods. They claimed that the devil knew in advance that Jesus was coming, so he sent the other "sons of god" (Mithra, Horus, etc) to test the faith of the Christians.
Famous Christians like Justin Martyr and Tertullian made this claim and they made it because the similarities were obvious to everyone. Wrote Tertullian "The devil, whose business is to pervert the truth, mimics the exact circumstances of the Divine Sacraments. He baptises his believers and promises forgiveness of sins from the Sacred Fount, and thereby initiates them into the religion of Mithras. Thus he celebrates the oblation of bread and brings in the symbol of the resurrection. Let us, therefore, acknowledge the craftiness of the devil who copies certain things of those that be Divine".
C.S. Lewis had a theory that the pagan or non-Jewish/Christian cultures had an innate idea of the truth, that God has instilled in every people some light of truth, but that it was distorted through time and became 'paganized' so to speak. Only the Jews retained the Sacred Tradition and preserved it throughout history, until Christ appeared and fulfilled all prophecies concerning his Incarnation.
So, when Jesus Christ entered into human history, every culture already had an idea of Him, although distorted. And that many of the parables, where Christ is comparing himself to various things, such as the vine, or the light, or the bread, other cultures would recognize these ideas through their own 'gods' and know He was who He was.