Christ Conspiracy_ The Greatest Story Ever Sold - Acharya S [51]
In addition, concerning the Indian "grave of Moses," the name "Mousa," or Moses, is common in Kashmir, as are graves. Along with the Moses and Jesus graves, there are also at least two tombs of the apostle "Thomas" in India.
In fact, over the millennia, the establishment of such revered tombs has been routine. Japan also lays claim to the tombs of both Moses and Jesus. The villagers of Shingo insist that Jesus and his brother were buried there, and they have the graves to prove it. As do the Indians and Tibetans with their nations, the Shingoese assert that Jesus was educated by religious masters in Japan during his "lost years." The Japanese tale goes further than the Indian and maintains that, after escaping crucifixion when his brother was mistakenly executed in his place, Jesus fled with the remains of his brother and with followers to Shingo, where he married a Japanese woman, fathered three daughters and lived to be 106. Although some locals will swear the story is true, it turns out that the Shingo graves are those of Christian missionaries dating from the 16th century.
This type of confusion between the gods and their messengers is behind many of the tales about this or that god or godman having been real, and having walked or lived here or there. Often the person who is preaching about the foreign or "alien" god is called by the same name as the god; hence, his exploits are confused with the mythology he is presenting. For example, a "priest of Apollo," becomes "priest Apollo" and may then be shortened to "Apollo." In cases of culture clash, an entire culture or place may be called by the name of a god. When there are migrations, tradition may be garbled such that it seems to be that of an individual rather than a whole culture. Confusion happens as well when a number of individuals hold the same name or title, as in Buddhism, where the exploits and sayings of many Buddhas, mythical and historical, are rolled into one.
The existence of "tombs" or other sacred sites proves little in itself, since it is a common practice to set up symbolic sites, the symbolism of which no doubt becomes lost to the masses. Sacred site-making is also great business-imagine owning the piece of property where God himself was born, walked and died! Providing an example of this type of profiteering, Fox states:
. . . just outside (Athens], they claimed, was the very cave in which the infant Zeus had been nursed. Claiming the infant Zeus, the city gained honour, visitors and a temple of particular design. The claim, naturally, was contested by other cities that had caves: Zeus's birthplace, like his tomb, became a topic of keen intercity rivalry ... 12
The island of Crete also laid claim to both Zeus's birth and death caves. At Delphi, Greece, there are purported graves of Dionysus and Apollo, and Osiris had his tomb at Sais in Egypt. Orpheus had his tomb in Thrace. There are also several places where the Virgin Mary rested and/or died, including Bethlehem, Ephesus and Gethsemane, the latter of which did not even exist at the time. Just recently a place in Nepal laid claim to being "Buddha's birthplace." Are we to suppose these deities were really born or buried in these places? The pillars of Hercules are celestial, yet they were given geographical location. Does this mean that Hercules was a real man? In the case of the various gods and their locations, the abstract is first, the historical second.
Again, sites where this god or that allegedly was born, walked, suffered, died, etc., are found around the world, revealing a common and unremarkable occurrence that is not monopolized by and did