text: does anyone think the bible may have been misappropriated?   yes.   people have been traveling for centuries.some stories are common or at least give similar resonance in totally different religions.  buddhism was already quite wide spread when christianity evolved. buddhist described extraordinary dreams mahamaya had before buddha was born. christians got theory of virgin mother. buddha had a disciple amrapali who used to be a prostitute then became a nun when came in contact with buddha. what is that accepted story about magdalen?  christians adopted same type of managing style of church as buddhist vihar. the idea of celibate priests, nuns etc. earlier buddhist did not allowed females in monastries. some early buddhist schollars  were against it others thought women should be allowed.afterwards they were allowed to join as nuns but really not given important posts among high officials.  besides that christians had already inherited stories from their native sourses. from pagans to jew.  the idea of only true god and true belief has a jewish source as far as i know.  the missioneries in india have regularly made up stories or changed them a bit or simply borrowed local tales. im baar geets asam they replaced name of jesus with rama and krishna. in nahaland they replaced jesus with local hero and called him a victor. last year they made up stalls on krishna janmashtami(birth day) and depicted infact jesus in place of krishna.   it is said that lord shiva drank all the poison himself which came out of cosmic churn so that living world is saved.  when they are borrowing this much today to get mixed up and using deceit to get converts how can be anyone sure that they did not do it from the start.  i can perceive it from a limited knowledge. i am sure peole who have compared the other religious thoughts know it as a fact. they accept it openly or not. accept the concept of jesus for everybody what else is really original?