One of the popular ideas being promoted today, especially on the internet, is the idea that the miracle stories of Jesus were borrowed from ancient pagan myths. This position was taught in the nineteenth century in Germany; however, by the mid-twentieth century this view was refuted as false and abandoned even by those who believed Christianity was purely a natural religion. The scholar Ronald H. Nash described it like this in 'The Gospel and the Greeks', “During a period of time running roughly from about 1890 to 1940, scholars often alleged that primitive Christianity had been heavily influenced by Platonism, Stoicism, the pagan religions, or other movements in the Hellenistic world. Largely as a result of a series of scholarly books and articles written in rebuttal, allegations of early Christianity’s dependence on its Hellenistic environment began to appear much less frequently in the publications of Bible scholars and classical scholars. Today most Bible scholars regard the question as a dead issue.” When you look at the primary sources, you find they're not at all parallel to the gospels. This movement to try and explain Christianity against the backdrop of paganism was primarily a Germanic anti-Semitic theological movement around those who wanted an Aryan Jesus not a Jewish Jesus. Skeptics find it advantageous to continue the charade as it gets them mileage with a large number of those in the popular culture who are ignorant of the facts and thus easily swayed with respect to this discussion. This despite the argument already having collapsed as the world's best New Testament scholars refuted the hypothesis using primary sources within a correct historical context of a Jewish reclamation of Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth and his disciples were Jews and it's against a traditional accurate historical backdrop of first century Palestinian Judaism that Christianity is properly understood. ---------- Fair Use: Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act in 1976; Allowance is made for "Fair Use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statue that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. All rights and credit go directly to its rightful owners. No copyright infringement intended.