Inspired by religion discussion on Main

[sistermagpie]

> Carol responds:
> I'm not an expert, either, but most of what I can find on Horus states that he was a sun god who (like every other sun god) rose and set every evening, which could be regarded as a kind of figurative resurrection but lacks the actual physical death (murder or sacrifice) involved in the deaths of Osiris (Horus's father or brother, depending on which version of the myth you're looking at). A sun god, of course, is likely to be benevolent since life depends on the sun's warmth and light, but I don't think that setting and rising quite qualify as death and resurrection.

Magpie:
I believe what I had read was that Horus eventually incorporated or merged with sun gods or a sun god. But I also heard there was a separate story that was very like Jesus. But even then they weren't the same story. There were always differences. It's funny which ones pop out at us when we read. Like I probably wouldn't make any distinction between a god murdered and a personal sacrifice since I'd probably think of it more like a ritual with a certain level of agreement each time.

Carol: 
> I snipped the comment on the Aztecs, whose bloody and violent religion  involved the ritual sacrifice (not self-sacrifice) of human victims who were, of course, not resurrected.

Magpie:
I remember reading a some Aztec story about the gods deciding one of them had to sacrifice himself to be the sun? Don't know whether that ocunts as resurrection if he became the sun. 

Though as an aside I always think it's kind of interesting to have a life sacrifice when the sacrifice is immortal since that's not a life sacrifice.

-m