Was the Sinking of the Titanic a Copycat Myth?

"Futility" was written before the Titanic was even designed, yet the similarities are uncanny. For instance, The names of the ships were synonymous: Titan, Titanic. Both ships sank in April in the North Atlantic. There were not enough lifeboats for all the passengers. The Titan was 800' long and the Titanic was 882'9" long. The Titan sailed at a speed of 25 knots, the Titanic 22.5 knots.

And That's not all! Both ships had three propellers. Both were described as unsinkable. Both carried less than half the amount of lifeboats needed for their passenger and crew capacity. Both hit an iceburg 400 nautical miles from Newfoundland. Both sank, and lost more than half of their passengers: 2200 from the Titanic and 2500 from the Titan. (Source: Wikipedia )

Now, I've said all that to say this: does the fact that a fictional book written before the actual historical account have any bearing on the fact that the actual account happened, regardless of the multitude of similarities between the fictional account and the actual account? The obvious answer is no, of course not, not even a little bit.

Did you know about the amazing similarities between Abraham Lincoln and John Franklin Kennedy? It boggles the mind, really, that the two men who lived a century apart had so much in common. The question is, do the similarities between the two in any way discount the facts surrounding the life and work of either man? No, of course not.

Let me tell you about someone else. This individual was born on December 25th. His mother was a virgin. His birth was announced by an angel, attended by shepherds and heralded by a star. At 30 years of age he was baptized in a river, and the one who baptized him was later beheaded.  He had 12 disciples, performed miracles, exorcised demons, raised someone from the dead, and even walked on water. I could keep going but you probably know who I am talking about already. That's right- Horus!

You thought I was talking about Jesus didn't you? The linked website, and others, make the claim of these similarities between Horus and Jesus. These claims were also made in the movie "Zeitgeist" (available on the internet) and in a book written by Achyrya S. (D.M. Murdock) called The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold. Similar claims are made of other mythological deities including Dionysus, Krishna, Mithras, and many others.

This article's purpose is not to contest the claims made about these similarities (that will be addressed in the next blog post). Here's my point: CS Lewis once famously said, "...you must show that a man is wrong before you start explaining why he is wrong." In other words, you have to start with the historical figure, Jesus of Nazareth, and show that the historical accounts are false, before you can make the case that the similarities shared by the account of Jesus and these mythological deities have any bearing on the subject. Just as the book Futility, written fourteen years prior, in no way negates the historical fact of the sinking of the Titanic, and the fact that Abraham Lincoln lived 100 years prior to JFK in no way negates the historical fact of the existence and presidency of JFK, the similarities between Jesus of Nazareth and these mythological deities have no bearing on the historical fact of Jesus's existence.

Dedication: This article is dedicated to Mr. Allah Tabul, who, in responding to one of my previous articles, made the following statement: "It would be like me asking you if you meant 'Jesus' or the Egyptian 'Amenhotep III' when speaking of Virgin Births, although there are more similarities between the far-more-ancient virgin-birth tale of Horus and the later birth of Jesus ... Actually, it's difficult to speak of any ancient virgin-birth/messiah stories with complete accuracy, as middle eastern history is full of them." Thank you, Mr. Tabul, because I had been wanting to tackle this subject and now you have given me a good reason to do so.