How often do we think about the origins of our religions? I was looking up some information of Gnostics and the early Christian church and came across one dude's pet project: The Pagan Origins of the Christian Myth. I found the site a fun read and wanted to share. So, is Christianity really that much different from the pagan mystery cults of the time of its origin? The pitch: You already know Christmas trees and Easter eggs were originally Pagan, and you probably know the seasonal timing of the two holidays is Pagan too. Mildly interesting. Not what you'll find here. What you'll discover at POCM is that ancient cultures around the Mediterranean shared standard ideas about Gods and their powers and place in the universe—and that Christianity simply adopted those ideas and applied them to Jesus. Ancient people knew godmen did miracles. The first Christians thought Jesus was a godman, so they told stories about Jesus doing miracles. They even had Him doing the same miracles as the other godmen. The core of Christianity—the worship of a miracle working, walking, talking godman who brings salvation—was also the core of other ancient religions that began at least a thousand years before Jesus. Heaven, hell, prophecy, daemon possession, sacrifice, initiation by baptism, communion with God through a holy meal, the Holy Spirit, monotheism, immortality of the soul, and many other "Christian" ideas all belonged to earlier, older Pagan faiths. They were simply part of ancient Mediterranean culture. Along with miracle working sons of God, born of a mortal woman, they were common elements of pre-Christian Pagan religion. Mithras had 'em. So did Dionysus, Attis, Osiris, and Orpheus. And more. And they had them generations—centuries— before Jesus was a twinkle in Saint Paul's eye.
Sorry about that. It is a long and interesting argument. Didn't wanna copy and paste 1/2 his site. Give a brotha some page hits.
The definition is wrong. There was never any such thing as Pagans practicing a single religion. In reality Paganism is the collection of various religions and beliefs held by various groups of people. wiki: To ask if Christianity is different doesn't really make sense. They share commonalities obviously, as do all religions. They share more than the average, since they effected and reacted to each other historically. But I don't think that Christianity is an upgraded form of one Pagan religion, no.
The site author discusses "pagan religions" and "pagan ideas," not a single pagan religion. I think the argument is that early Christianity was just another of the rural mystery cults that "caught on," not necessary an upgrade. Just the same. His whole point is pretty much what you just posted. Only he thinks Christianity does more than share commonalities. He thinks the level of idea borrowing classifies Christianity as just another pagan religion.
I wish I had more time to participate in this thread (I'm super busy now days). Real quickly though, I will say that organized religion is a sham but spirituality is where it's at. In order to get the most out of life and theology you need a heart, brain and courage. Only then can you go down the path of enlightenment and see past the humbug being projected and see the true God of love and compassion hidden behind the curtain. And no, by the way, that's not a coincidence: Spoiler http://vigilantcitizen.com/moviesandtv/the-occult-roots-of-the-wizard-of-oz/
Christianity gets picked on...there's plenty in Judaism and Islam influenced by pagan beliefs in their own time as well.
Most of those were part of Hebrew culture as well...where the concept of Messiah came from. Prophecy? How many books from prophets are there in the Old Testament, pre-dating Jesus? Sacrifice? See Abraham and Issac. Monotheism? Really? You'd have to strain to call that a pagan idea...in fact, anything short of monotheism is labelled as paganism by Jews, Christians and Muslims. All religions share some commonalities...there is clearly mystical quality to each. There are rituals in each. There is overlap in all of mankind's experience of trying to understand spirituality and the divine.
It seems like the things being focused here are all kind of satellite parts of Christianity. The little things that make up rituals, or traditions. None of it addresses what I feel is the main point of Christianity, and what it seemed to be the first to say. Love your enemy. If someone steals from you, give them more. Don't strike back when you are hit, etc. Having that as a central message isn't from a Pagan religion, it's the one thing that separates Christianity. If everyone followed that, what a great world we'd live in.
There's nothing thr separates xtians than any other religions. They all have good teachings which were actually written in by human beings, and don't be surprised, there are evil teachings as well.
Good post. To that point: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SvJFoOEOYpE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
This is a very good thread as it sheds light to the historicity of religion. Most believers don't even have a clue with regards to the origins of their religion, traditions and holy scriptures. I find it interesting that this is never taught in bible classes, churches, etc and the only reason (I think) is that it exposes the fact that most of what they hold dear about their belief is just an offshoot from previous religions and it is not as unique as they think it is. The "golden rule" is a good example that Christians have adopted as their own as justification as to why they believe that this ideology is preferable than the other religions. But the fact of the matter is that this concept was already coined from Confusionism, Hunduism, Budhism and the old testament.. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your kinsfolk. Love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD. —Leviticus 19:18[10], the "Great Commandment" You can trace a number of stories and traditions of Abrahamic religions to very early Egyptians and Africans.
While Christianity is the focal point of the author's argument, his point isn't that these ideas don't appear in Hebrew culture. His point is that these ideas were cultural and that pagan was a wide label used to describe what we're not considered by the Roman state to be official civic religions. The claim is not that monotheism originated in pagan religions. The claim is simply made about how much commonality there was between Mediterranean religions around the time Christianity arose. I give the author credit for not trying to make an argument about religion since the dawn of time and actually having the intellectual acuity to limit his claims within the bounds of the scholarship he bases it on. That scholarship focuses on historical Christianity. No other religious practice is unthreatened by this mode of analysis. I am sure he would argue the same analyses with other religions would demonstrate that the religions follow human conceptions of what legitimate religion looks like. We need only see the liberalization of nearly all religious spractice in the modern day to see how cultural ideas about what legitimizes a religion shape and change religions themselves.
I think this stuff is historically interesting, but theologically not the smoking gun some would like it to be. For people arguing that Christianity is false, they'd like to think this is strong evidence that the religion is false; but the believer can easily adopt all this information and still believe his religion to be true. Those precedents are foreshadowings by God, or the yearning of men for the Messiah, or false religions inspired by Satan to sow confusion. Don't bother prosletyzing to Christians with this; it's only useful for making the atheists think that the axioms of their own faith are robust. It might be different, but I don't think that's the main point of Christianity at all. The main point (in today's Church at least) is the innate sinfulness of man and his redemption through God's sacrifice. The love-your-enemy stuff is just outworkings of that idea.
Just out of curiosity, what would you consider the smoking gun that would make Christianity falsifiable?
