Borrowed From Other Myths?
Argument:
- The story of the Virgin Birth was borrowed by the ancient Romans and Greeks, hence it was not a historical event.
Rebuttal:
- The evidence that the New Testament was written by contemporaries and eyewitnesses. Second-century dating theories have now been thoroughly discredited by archeological and manuscript evidence, allowing no time for legend development.
- Virgin Birth records do not show any of the standard literary marks of the myth genre
- Persons, places, and events of Christ's birth precise and historically substantiated. Luke in particular goes to great pains to note historical detail
- No Greek myth even remotely corresponds to the literal incarnation of a monotheistic God in human form (cf. John 1:1-3, 14) by way of a literal virgin birth (Matt. 1:18-25). The Greeks were polytheists, not monotheists
- Stories of Greek gods become human via miraculous events like a virgin birth postdated the time of Christ. Hence, if there is any influence it is from Christianity on mythology, not the reverse