The unused argument

[xSilverPhinx]

This has all gotten me wondering just how much of it is direct plagiarism and how much are more of optimal "meme conditions" for such myths and mythical characters to happen. 

Some people tend to be magical thinkers, which could go a long way in causing myths. 

[Stevil]

The actual stories in the scripture are pointless filler.
People believe that god is good, perfect, all powerful, we are in his image, if we are good we go to heaven, if we are bad or worse, don't believe, then we get tortured in hell.

People don't read the book, they interprete it so it fits their own assertions on what/who god is.
It could have been filled with the life works of Hitler and people would read through it and come out the other end in awe on how wonderful their god is.

[Too Few Lions]

It could, if people already see the bible as symbolic and not literal. People would certainly know more about the origins of their beliefs, but I don't know how far a debate on comparative mytholgies (with theirs being among them) would go in changing their beliefs and them. Do you have any experience debating these topics with a Christian? If so, what was their reaction?

my experience has been they often get quite angry and rude, at which point I politely tell them they should just turn the other cheek 

people who are that wrapped up in their religion just tend to think that all the other gods and saviours and religious stories are myths, but somehow theirs are true! But it's still good fun to point out to them where their myths derive from, and maybe drive a bit more doubt into their minds

[fyv0h]

It could, if people already see the bible as symbolic and not literal. People would certainly know more about the origins of their beliefs, but I don't know how far a debate on comparative mytholgies (with theirs being among them) would go in changing their beliefs and them. Do you have any experience debating these topics with a Christian? If so, what was their reaction?

my experience has been they often get quite angry and rude, at which point I politely tell them they should just turn the other cheek 

people who are that wrapped up in their religion just tend to think that all the other gods and saviours and religious stories are myths, but somehow theirs are true! But it's still good fun to point out to them where their myths derive from, and maybe drive a bit more doubt into their minds

Funny,  I've always gotten the response that the other mythologies were all copying Christianity. Sounds reasonable. The chronology might be a wee bit off, but who cares?

[xSilverPhinx]

That's what I mean, they dismiss mythological evidence just as quickly as we dismiss their myths religious theologies.

It's like trying to disprove the koran using the bible. Odds are it won't even dent their beliefs even though Islam comes from the Abrahamic faith.  

[Too Few Lions]

the other classic reply (I think iSok might use this one!) is that their god gave a preempting of the truth to the heathens, a little taster of the real truth that was to follow. I remember reading a book years ago that I got from the uni library on Greek / Roman mystery religions published by a reputable publisher (Thames and Hudson).
The author was trying to explain how Christianity shared so much in common with Mithraism, its great (and older) rival in late antiquity. These include a cave birth witnessed by three shepherds on 25th December, miracles, a last supper, eucharist, baptism, and a promise to return as saviour at a final judgement. Rather than suggest the obvious explanation that Christianity either borrowed these elements from Mithraism or they both obtained them from the same source, the author wrote,

'It is my suspicion, which, unfortunately, cannot be bolstered by scholarly evidence - that Roman Mithraism was born of some clairvoyant sense of the coming of Christ, seen through the perspective of Zoroastrian dualism'   

I mean seriously he thought that and Thames and Hudson published it! This book was published in 1981, which really wasn't all that long ago, and shows what a problem there's been with looking at Christianity or Judaism as mythology. I also remember that my large encyclopedia of world mythology I had as a teenager stated that 'the Israelites have little mythology'

[Sweetdeath]

How could Christian mythology ever be copied?  Never!  It's not like Egyptian beliefs existed years and years before hand...   Oh wait.

[xSilverPhinx]

the other classic reply (I think iSok might use this one!) is that their god gave a preempting of the truth to the heathens, a little taster of the real truth that was to follow. I remember reading a book years ago that I got from the uni library on Greek / Roman mystery religions published by a reputable publisher (Thames and Hudson).
The author was trying to explain how Christianity shared so much in common with Mithraism, its great (and older) rival in late antiquity. These include a cave birth witnessed by three shepherds on 25th December, miracles, a last supper, eucharist, baptism, and a promise to return as saviour at a final judgement. Rather than suggest the obvious explanation that Christianity either borrowed these elements from Mithraism or they both obtained them from the same source, the author wrote,

'It is my suspicion, which, unfortunately, cannot be bolstered by scholarly evidence - that Roman Mithraism was born of some clairvoyant sense of the coming of Christ, seen through the perspective of Zoroastrian dualism'   

I mean seriously he thought that and Thames and Hudson published it! This book was published in 1981, which really wasn't all that long ago, and shows what a problem there's been with looking at Christianity or Judaism as mythology. I also remember that my large encyclopedia of world mythology I had as a teenager stated that 'the Israelites have little mythology'

Amazing

it really is futile to try and counter a myth with a myth...they (all theists) already presuppose that theirs is true and take it from there.

"It is my suspicion, which, unfortunately, cannot be bolstered by scholarly evidence - that Roman Mithraism was born of some clairvoyant sense of the coming of Christ, seen through the perspective of Zoroastrian dualism"

A perfect example of theistic mentality hindsight bias, if there ever was one.