If someone were to ask, “Who is the son of God?” about 2 billion people would say, “Jesus“. That is just under 1/3 of the population of the planet (the projected global population is 6.9 billion). However, long before Jesus was claimed to be the Son of God, Heracles (more commonly known as, Hercules) had that title. If you go even further back, Horus had that title as well (except his mother was a Goddess). So who was it?
Everyone has heard of both Jesus and Hercules but, few have compared the similarities between the two. Lets look at a comparison of Hercules and Jesus:
Method of Conception: The mortal and chaste Alcmene, the mother of Hercules, gave birth to him from a union with God (Zeus). The young (or virgin) Mary, mother of Jesus, gave birth to him from a union with God (the Holy Spirit).
Marked for Death as a Child: Hera wanted to kill Hercules. Herod wanted to kill Jesus.
Performed amazing feats: Hercules traveled the earth as a man helping mankind and performed miraculous deeds. Jesus, as a man, travelled throughout Judea (a little less ground then Hercules) and performed miracles and cast out demons (although he did not kill them).
Death, Resurrection, and Ascension: Hercules died, was saved from death by Zeus, and ascended to Olympus as a God. Jesus was crucified, rose from the grave, and ascended to heaven.
There are more parallels but, the fact remains that in ancient Greece, long before Jesus walked the face of the earth, Hercules was believed to have been a real person, they told stories about him, worshiped him, and dedicated temples to him just as Christians do today for Jesus. Hercules was the Son of Zeus, Jesus was the Son of Jehovah. Both Jehovah and Zeus were considered God, they just had different names.
There is no concrete evidence that proves that either of these men existed, so proving which was the real Son of God is rather a moot point. Another interesting set of parallels is the collection of evidence for both. We have historical figures like Hesiod and Plato who frequently mentioned Hercules in their writings. The gospels tell a narrative history of Jesus. Homer and Aesop tells stories and quotes the words of Hercules. We have a very brief mention of Jesus by Josephus in his Antiquities and Josephus mentions Hercules as well. Tacitus mentions a character named Christos, who is likely to be Jesus but, he too mentions Hercules in his Annals. The fact is neither Jesus nor Hercules wrote anything themselves, we have no artifacts, and no original writings from eyewitnesses about either men. It is very likely that both of these men were either myths or that they existed and became elevated to a god-like stature because they were so influential and inspiring.
Throughout the course of humanity a messiah has been promised multiple times by multiple religions. Some of them have claimed the messiah’s arrival and await another messiah to finish the work of the first, some are awaiting the return of a messiah so he can finish what he started. Messiahs serve multiple purposes and when you remove the religious dogma you come to the same purpose – HOPE. Life is a struggle and we all need hope. We all want and need to feel like good will ultimately triumph over evil and that is what messiahs do, they defeat evil. Whether it is Hades or Satan, the desired outcome is that evil will fail and good prevails. In my prior posts you have heard me talk of Balance and of Apotheosis. It is my belief that our Creator gave us the gift of Reason and that with this gift we can become closer to understanding our purpose. If we have to suspend our sense of Reason to believe in unnatural conceptions of our Creator than we really need take a second look at what is being presented.
Free-will establishes choices. Reason and Common Sense establish balance. When a person is able to elevate their conscience above the calamities and temptations of life, they conquer their own demons and overcome and defeat evil. They save themselves.
© Nelson Rose, The Quest for Light
The Quest for Light 