Is there a Connection Between Jesus and Quetzalcoatl?

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I've been doing several posts in the past several months examining connections of ancient gods and legends to Jesus. I've been challenged by some twitter users pushing the notion that stories and teachings about Jesus' acts and teachings are stolen from past cultures. So far I have not been able to find a single connection. This post is no different focusing on the Aztec deity known as Quetzalcoatl (on the right).

I was told on twitter that Jesus is stolen from Quetzalcoatl because Quetzalcoatl was virgin born. I decided to research Quetzalcoatl because his name seemed familiar. Quetzalcoatl was deity from Aztec mythology. He was white and gave the Aztecs directions to live and promised to return someday. It was for this reason that when Hernando Cortez arrived in 1518, Cortez was mistaken for Quetzalcoatl. Unfortunately before Christian colonization there is no way to be sure how much the Quetzalcoatl stories have no Christian influence. To assert otherwise is to assume that separate cultures on opposite sides of the earth and millenniums apart came up with much the same story. No way, can anyone make that fly.

So one has to have influenced the other, right? There was no documented interaction between the Aztecs and Europe until after 1518 and considering that the Aztecs lost the culture war, it doesn't make sense to say that Christianity took anything from the Aztecs when Christianity had already been around for 1500 years.

Of course, the idea that a Jesus Christ-like figure who visited and ministered among the Aztecs is great for the Mormons who try to use it to prove the Book of Mormon. On the left is a picture Mormons use to illustrate the Book of Mormon. We also must point out that the Mormon texts do not mention the Aztecs and does not take place in Mexico or Central America, but in North America with no Archaeological evidence. Of course in comparing the Quetzalcoatl with Jesus we find precious little to match. For example Quetzalcoatl is white. Jesus is not white. He is Jewish. Quetzalcoatl was going to come back and rule over the Aztecs. Jesus will rule over the whole earth. Critics also push the similarity that both Quetzalcoatl and Jesus were tempted. However Quetzalcoatl gave in to temptation committing incest and becoming drunk but Jesus never gave in. They are in no way comparable. And one cannot even say such false claims substantiate the Book of Mormon either.

http://www.kingdavid8.com/Copycat/JesusQuetzalcoatl.html
http://text.farmsresearch.com/publications/jbms/?vol=11&num=1&id=298
http://perdurabo10.tripod.com/id1067.html