Um...these?
1) words aren't magic and if you use the word amen it doesn't mean you are worshipping the sun or anything for that matter. [my paraphrase] - Sure, seems straight forward.
2) laughing at ignorance - aimed in this case at such a wide and diverse group of people - is perhaps not something to be so proud of - Ok, but that doesn't mean it isn't fun sometimes.
3) it's another fringe theory - I'm not sufficiently versed in the field to know for sure the fringe from the nonfringe, but so far her main source does seem fringy. Better?
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M*W: Words do change meanings over time, and they are not necessarily meant to change into funny words or serious words. They just evolve. The point of my post on "amen", was
to give a little history on its usage.
According to Ellis, "Classically, the Aton is described as being the firs monotheistic religion, one that attempted to do away with the plethora of gods that were then in vogue in Egypt. Like Amun, it was essentially a solar worship, but modified in that it was not the Sun itself that was worshiped, but rather the power behind the Sun, as it has been called."
"Christian churches are orientated toward the east, as was the mobile Israelite temple, the Tabernacle."
"In the eighteenth century Viscount Bolingbbroke, Charles F. Dupuis, and Count Volney dioscussed and wrote about the myth theory of Christian origins. In the early nineteenth century this propaganda was continued in England by the Reverend Robert Taylor. Reverend Taylor preached sermons in which he claimed that the Christian Savior was the Sun and that the story of his life was nothing more than the allegory of the passage of the solar orb through the twelve signs of the zodiac. As a result, Reverend Taylor was called the "Devil's Chaplain" and was sentenced to two years in jail for blasphemy. Taylor was an ordained minister, a surgeon, and a graduate of Cambridge University, but this did not save him from persecution. A Frenchman named Perez wrote a pamphlet to refute the Mythicists. As far as we know this tract was never translated into English, but a good digest of it was made by Herbert Cutner, whom I cite:"
'It was a Frenchman called Perez who, early last ccentury decided to annihilate the Sun Myth as appliec to Jesus. He wrote a pamphlet which is often . . . but few persons appear to have read it. Here then are some of the points it makes: First of all take the word "Napoleon." It is practically the same as "Apollon" or "Apollo," but if we take the spelling of this name as it appears on the
column in the Place Veindome, Napoleon, the prefix
Ne which is Greek is a participle of affirmation, shows that Napoleon is the true Apollo or the Sun Bonaparte, his other name, reall is "
bon part: that is, the good part of the day--the sun giving us the good part, or daylight, and the moon and stars, the bad part--the Night or Darkness.'
"The history of the sun, I repeat, is the history of Jesus Christ. The sun is born on the 25th of December, the birthday of Jesus Christ. This is the sun triumphing over the powers of hell and darkness; and, as he increased, he prevails, till he is crucified in the heavens, or is decussated in the form of a cross (according to Justin Martyr) when he passes the equator at the vernal equinox. These celestial images are what induced the learned Alphonso the Great to declare, that the whole history of Jesus Christ might be read in the stars."
"Julian, one of the noblest of the Roman rulers, was a devout sun worshipper. He tried to crush Christianity and restore paganism in the fourth century but failed gloriously. We may regret that he had no success. One of his modern scholarly admirers has pain him this tribute."
'The last stand for the worship of the Sun in antiquity was made by the Roman Emperor Julian. in a rhapsody addressed to the orb of day, the grave and philosophic Emperor professes himself a follower of King Sun. He declares that the Sus is the common Father of all men, since he begat us and feeds us and gives us all good things; there is no single blessing in our lives which we do not receive from him. And Julian concludes his enthusiastic panegyric with a prayer that the Sun, the King of the Universe, would be gracious to him, granting him as a reward, for his pious zeal, a virtuous life and more perfect wisdom, and in due time, an easy and peaceful departure from this life, that he might ascent to his God in Heaven, there to dwell with Him forever.'
References:
Cutner, Herbert.:
Jesus: God, Man or Myth?,the Truth Seeker, NY 1950,
Ellis, Ralph.:
Jesus: Last of the Pharaohs--The True History of Religion Revealed/I], EDFU Books, Bournermouth, UK, 1999.
Frazer, Sir James George. Attis, Adonis, Osiris. New Hyde Park, University Books, NY 1961.
Higgins, Godfrey.: Anacalypsis. Vol.II, Green and Co., Longmans, London, 1836.
Taylor, Rev. Robert.: The Devil's Pulpit, Gilbert Vale, NY, 1884.
Jackson, John G.: Christianity Before Christ, American Atheist Press, Austin, TX 1985.
