Truth be told, how many "virgin" births are there in history?

Question

There are at least a few dozen instances of virgin births in history that I'm aware of, mostly of religious figures.

Eighteen hundred years before Christ, we find carved on one of the walls of the great temple of Luxor a picture of the annunciation, conception and birth of King Amunothph III, an almost exact copy of the annunciation, conception and birth of the Christian God.

Roman/Greek: Demeter and Persephone, Rhea and Zeus, Apollo

In Egypt, virgin mother Isis begat Horus

In Phrygia, Attis was born of the virgin Nama.

A nymph bathing in a river in China is touched by a lotus plant, and the divine Fohi is born.

In Siam, a wandering sunbeam caresses a girl in her teens, and the great and wonderful deliverer, Codom, is born.

In the life of Buddha we read that he descended on his mother Maya, "in likeness as the heavenly queen, and entered her womb," and was born from her right side, to save the world."

In Greece, the young god Apollo visits a fair maid of Athens, and a Plato is ushered into the world.

From Greece comes the virgin birth of Adonis, who was resurrected after being killed by a wild boar. Adonis was revered by the Phoenicians as a dying-and-rising god, and Athenians held Adonia, a yearly festival representing his death and resurrection, in midsummer.

From the Americas comes a remarkable story of the god-man Quetzalcoatl told by the Aztecs and Mayans. Not only did he have a virgin birth, but he was associated with the planet Venus, the morning star, as was Jesus. In addition, the religion built around him used the cross as a symbolic representation. Like the myths around Jesus, Quetzalcoatl said he would return to claim his earthly kingdom.

Mithra was a Persian god who was also a virgin birth, but was more than just a tribal god. Mithra was born in a cave and had twelve companions. Mithra's birthday was also on December 25th. Both religions celebrate the resurrection at Easter. Much of what we know about Mithracism today came from the Christians. The prophet Zoroaster was also born of a virgin.

Perseus and Hercules all experienced virgin births after being fathered by yet other gods. Horus, Mithra, Dionysus and Krishna were all born on December 25th., their births were announced by "stars", attended by 'wise men', involved humble birth locations, entailed the massacre of innocents and fleeing for safety from enemies, and so on and on.

A Roman savior Quirrnus was born of a virgin.

In Tibet, Indra was born of a virgin. He ascended into heaven after death.

In India, the god Krishna was born of the virgin Devaki.

Virgin births were claimed for many Egyptian pharaohs, Greek emperors and for Alexander the Great of Greece.

For a discussion of several aspects of the Christian virgin-birth story, including speculation on origins.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/virgin…

Not only the idea of a virgin mother, but all the other miraculous events, such as the stable cradle, the guiding star, the massacre of the children, the flight to Egypt, and the resurrection and bodily ascension toward the clouds, have not only been borrowed, but are even scarcely altered in the New Testament story of Jesus.

http://www.sonn.com/~perly/glk/files/Mai…
Comparisons of the story of Jesus Christ to stories of other religious figures

http://www.church-of-chaos.de/literature…
http://www.sonn.com/~perly/glk/files/Uns…
http://www.uc.summit.nj.uua.org/Sermons/…
http://www.crosscircle.com/CH_2m.htm

http://members.aol.com/tjzee/iss174.htm
A discussion of the virgin-birth story from a modern perspective

Apparently virgin births were quite common up until the advancement of medicine and science. How would you explain it??

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

It's pretty standard deity stuff. I don't blame them for giving it to Jesus - if I were to create a religious figure, I'd at least give him the virgin birth, the water-walking, and the healing ability (three rather common traits of mythological figures). Most people hadn't heard the other myths and wouldn't have spotted the plagiarism.

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

Thanks. I agree. At the moment, I feel so deceived by Christianity. I would have hoped they could have been a little more creative and original in their work.
At least it would have been a little more believable if they hadn't copied others.

Answer 2

I like the way you hung around long enough to put a thumbs down on all the answers you dont like.

Answer 3

At least 16 that were virgin births and cruficied saviors

Answer 4

religious was the best documentary eveeerrrrrr

Answer 5

there were none in actual reality all those you cited were mythological anecdotal accounts

Answer 6

Plenty in myth, none in reality.

Answer 7

Thank you for asking the question and no thanks for answering the same.

Answer 8

Just a bunch of stories that people make up to sell stuff.

Answer 9

Maybe none. Maybe all of them. It doesn't matter.

Answer 10

Only the virgin shark and lizard births have been proven.

Answer 11

lol. None.

Answer 12

wow that many. you get a star for doing your home work. and a big fat A+

Answer 13

Only one human virgin birth...Her name was Mary...and her son is Jesus Christ....

Answer 14

What you are speaking of is a single lie by Satan that has been replicated in different cultures throughout the ages - it is NOT "several different virgin births" but a single hoax repeated several times throughout different cultures.
After the Flood, people began to stray away from God, by building the Tower of Babel "just in case" God flooded the world again. Under leadership of Nimrod, a great hunter (who was the great-grandson of Noah), they began to worship the Sun instead. Because of this, his great-uncle Shem killed him, and dismembered him, for leading worship away from God. (Shem was on the ark, and witnessed God's hand personally). Nimrod had a wife named Semiramis. After he was killed, she claimed that he had "gone into the Sun", and now he was worshipped as a Sun-god. She found herself pregnant afterward, and claimed the Sun-god had impregnated her. Therefore she and her son, Tammuz, were worshipped as demi-gods. All false gods since that time have been just different names for these three people in the various cultures.
Names for Nimrod: The Lord of Heaven", Baal, El, Belus, Ninus, Zeus, Jupiter, Ra, Vishnu, Pan-ku, Teotl, Odin.
Names for Semiramis: "The Queen of Heaven", Ashtoreth, Astarte, Rhea, Ishtar, Beltis, Aphrodite, Cybele, Diana, Isis, Hathor, Isi, Devaki, Heng-o, Ma-Tsupo, Coattlique, Freyda, Frigg.
Names for Tammuz: "The Pagan Messiah", Sacchus, Hercules, Dionysus, Attis, Osiris, Horus, Krishna, Yi, Quetzalcoatl, Balder.

Answer 15

The virgin births you mention are mythology. There's been only one real virgin birth: our Lord Jesus Christ.

To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory for ever and ever. Jesus Christ is Lord.

Answer 16

Maybe there were prophesies of the birth of Messiah (Genesis 49:10) from a virgin (Isaiah 7:14) long before Jesus was born and some people used those prophesies just as an inspiration for creating poetry or give start to new religions or make up story to impress the crowd in order to control them.
Or all likenesses are counterfeits of the enemy in order to deceive.
Anyway, if the luck of uniqueness is really the thing bothering you then check Acts 4:12.
Somehow I think people are against God not because some mythology also have gods but because they love sin and God forbids it.

Answer 17

Technically it could be possible if the woman was the result of combined twins, one being male and one female. As a result of this she could theoretically self impregnate. Odds of this being possible though is so incredibly remote and if it was real I doubt they would be limited to one birth.

Answer 18

Just because the same idea existed in multiple religions, doesn't mean Christianity is false. If anything, those other religions had a conception of the Christian truth somehow. You must view it this way: Christianity is truth, and all similarities are derivations or reflections of that truth. There is Christian doctrine as to why Mary gave birth as a virgin, including her comparison to the Ark of the Covenant.

Furthermore, your own logic works against you: if every culture had a conception of such an idea, that is compelling reason why in some sense or rendition it would be true.
God bless and Merry Christmas

Answer 19

There is only 1, don't buy into the other stuff. God only needed one Virgin who was hand picked by God himself to accomplish what he set out to do. All the other so called virgin births are bogus as there is only one true Messiah and he still lives today, in the hearts of his people. Satan is always trying to destroy what God himself tried to do. Heed the Bible warning that there are false prophets, satan wants to kill you, steal everything God has for you and destroy your life.