"The number three was of mystic significance in many parts 
of the
    East. The Dravidians of India sacrificed three victims to the 
Sun-god.
    In western as in eastern Asia, the number three would have its 
votaries
    in respect of trinitartian concepts as well as the primary 
notions of
    'the heavens, the earth, and the underworld.' Traditionally, 
the Syrian
    rite called for a royal victim. The substitution of a criminal 
for the
    king or kings son was repugnet, however, to the higher doctrine 
that
    the victim be unblemished. To solve this problem one of the 
malefactors
    was distinguished from the other criminals by a ritual of 
mock-crowning
    and robing in the spirit of 'sympathetic magic'. By parading 
him as
    king, and calling the others what indeed they were, it was 
possible to
    attain the semblence of a truly august sacrifice." 
_Pagan_Christs_, by
    J.M. Robertson page 45

        There is nothing in this mythos that did not originate in 
other
    cultures.

        "We can only conclude that the death ritual of the 
Christian creed
    was framed in a pagan environment and embodies some of the most
    widespread ideas of Pagan religion. the two aspects in which the
    historic Christ is typically presented to his worshipers, those 
of his
    infancy and death, are typically Pagan." _Pagan_Christs_ by J.M
    Roberts, page 52.

        What about the man Jesus then? Was he divine? Did he exist? 
Is/was
    he the Savior?

        Most, if not all, of the Christian Belief System is Pagan in
    origin.  It is indeed hard to force oneself to believe that 
Jesus is
    the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God when such titles were 
readily
    copied from Pagan doctrine. Perhaps the only item not borrowed 
from
    Pagan sources was the Messiah concept. That, of course, was 
taken from
    the Jewish hysteria of the time. In the siege of Jerusalem in 
72 C.E.
    there were some 18 Messiahs inside Jerusalem alone. Neither the 
God man
    Jesus nor the self proclaimed militant messiahs saved 
Jerusalem. Such
    was the measure of hysterical superstition upon the nation of 
Israel.

---
1:128/23)

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