Frank Lawton

The many Jesus-like figures of the ancient world

Early Christianity positively welcomed comparisons between Jesus and Socrates, Asclepius, Emperor Vespasian and Apollonius of Tyana, according to Catherine Nixey

Considered one of the most famous miracle-workers of his day, and with his divine birth, trial before the Romans and apparent resurrection, the 1st-century Greek philosopher Apollonius of Tyana bore striking similarities to Jesus. [Alamy] 
issue 09 March 2024

What people tend to forget about Jesus Christ is that he killed children. As a five-year-old, Jesus was toddling through a village when a small boy ran past, knocking his shoulder. Taking it like any five-year-old would, Jesus shouted after him ‘you shall not go further on your way’, at which point the boy fell down dead. Later, when the boy’s parents admonished Joseph and Mary for failing to raise their son properly, Jesus blinded them. Something to bear in mind next time you ask yourself: ‘What would Jesus do?’

Jesus smites teachers, sells a ‘twin’ into slavery, and has someone crucified in his stead

If this story is unfamiliar, that is because it doesn’t appear in any of the Bible’s traditional Gospels. It is recounted in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, a text composed around the mid-2nd century AD (and so around the same time as the four traditional Gospels, which are dated between 70-110 AD).

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