1 John 1:1 That which was from the
beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have
looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of
life.
Theology,
while saying that a special illumination has been vouchsafed to Christians and
(earlier) to Jews, also says that there is some divine illumination vouchsafed
to all men. The Divine light, we are told, 'lighteneth every man'. We should,
therefore, expect to find in the imagination of great Pagan teachers and
myth-makers some glimpse of that theme which we believe to be the very plot of
the whole cosmic story--the theme of incarnation, death, and rebirth. And the
differences between the Pagan Christs (Balder, Osiris, etc.) and the Christ
Himself is much what we should expect to find. The Pagan stories are all about
someone dying and rising, either every year, or else nobody knows where and
nobody knows when. The Christian story is about a historical personage, whose
execution can be dated pretty accurately, under a named Roman magistrate, and
with whom the society that He founded is in a continuous relation down to the
present day. It is not the difference between falsehood and truth. It is the
difference between a real event on the one hand and dim dreams or premonitions
of that same event on the other. It is like watching something come gradually
into focus; first it hangs in the clouds of myth and ritual, vast and vague,
then it condenses, grows hard and in a sense small, as a historical event in
first-century Palestine.
2 Peter 1:16 We did not follow cleverly
invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
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