Beliefs that Christianity consumed

**The Monkey Man** · 10-03-2006, 07:02 PM

Any religoius savvy information needed here...

Post some of the bible stories you know of where christianity
stole the concept from an older religion

Here are some "Holiday examples"...

Easter
The Christian holiday of Easter commemorates the crucifixion of Christ, and his rise from the dead into heaven. Then where do all the symbolism of bunnies, and eggs come from? It's more than coincedence that the early Pagans had a holiday to mark the Spring Equinox, called Ostara, usually celebrated around March 21st. With the return of spring, came the birthing of the farm animals for the year. Which is why we see bunnies, chicks, eggs and little lambs as symbols for this holiday. Part of the Ostara mythology involved the return of various deities from the underworld (symbolic of the end of winter). So it's not surprising that this holiday got enmeshed with the Christian story of the ressurection of Christ.

Christmas
Even non-Pagans use the term "Yule" around the Christmas holidays. Yule is celebrated on the Winter Solstice (December 22nd), on the shortest day of the year. Since the days get longer from this point in the year, Yule is a celebration of the returning sun and the rebirth of the God who died at Hallowe'en. As with Easter, the Christian story of the birth of Jesus fits nicely with the Pagan mythology of a God reborn. Traditions such as wreaths and Yule logs are remnants of the original beliefs. Gifts were exchanged at Yule long before the Wise Men offered their gifts to the baby Jesus.

Groundhog Day
Well, it's not specifically Christian or celebrated as intensely as the two holidays just mentioned, Groundhog Day is still part of the modern-day year. Candlemas (or Imbolc) is celebrated on February 2nd. Because spring is just starting to show itself at this time of year, there were various superstitions about predicting the weather, and how long it would be until the end of winter. The original idea was to watch for a hedgehog, but as people immigrated to North America, the tradition changed to a ground hog to suit local wildlife.

Hallowe'en
Ok, everyone knows that Hallowe'en is a Pagan holiday, but there are many misconceptions surrounding what the holiday really means. Pagans call the day Samhain (SOW-en or sow-EEN). The old God dies on this day, and the Goddess mourns him until his rebirth at Yule. We use this day to honour and remember our loved ones who have passed on. In an effort to diffuse the interest in this heathen holiday, the Church created All Saint's Day (November 1) as a holy day to recognize all the Catholic saints. But it wasn't a powerful enough idea to wipe out the traditional Hallowe'en celebrattions. Ironically, many Christians do not approve of the celebration of Hallowe'en because of its Pagan origins, not realizing that almost all of the holidays they observe had Pagan beginnings.

Why are major Christian holidays layered on older Pagan festivals? The central reason is that as Christianity was struggling for acceptance in Europe, the country-folk would not give up their age-old traditions. By blending the old with the new, it was easier for the Church to convert the locals.

**DOMS** · 10-03-2006, 07:13 PM

You're obviously a Renaissance man.

Every thing you know seems to be from the 1500s.

**The Monkey Man** · 10-03-2006, 08:25 PM

What tales from the christian bible have you heard
originated from other, older, religions?

**DOMS** · 10-03-2006, 08:39 PM

Originally Posted by The Monkey Man

What tales from the christian bible have you heard
originated from other, older, religions?

You misunderstand.

Non of these are in the Bible, they're pagen holidays that Christian events were tied to. The Catholic church did this sort of thing a lot.

They incorporated Sun (as in the star) worshipers into their church. This can be seen in the use of halos behind the heads in various Christian paintings. They also incorporated the multi-deity worshiping Greeks by adding patron saints.

But you'll find none of that in the Bible.

**TJ Cline** · 10-03-2006, 08:51 PM

Zoroastrianism

Their theology has had a great impact on Judaism, Christianity and other later religions, in the beliefs surrounding God and Satan, the soul, heaven and hell, savior, resurrection , final judgment, etc.

An all powerful God Ahura Mazda who is the only deity worthy of being worshipped, and

An evil spirit of violence and death, Angra Mainyu, who opposes Ahura Mazda. The resulting cosmic conflict involves the entire universe, including humanity who is required to choose which to follow. Evil, and the Spirit of Evil, will be completely destroyed at the end of time. Dualism will come to an end and Goodness will be all in all.

After death, the urvan (soul) is allowed three days to meditate on his/her past life. The soul is then judged by a troika Mithra, Sraosha and Rashnu. If the good thoughts, words and deeds outweigh the bad, then the soul is taken into heaven. Otherwise, the soul is led to hell.

A Saoshyant (savior) will be born of a virgin, but of the lineage of the Prophet Zoroaster who will raise the dead and judge everyone in a final judgment.

**maniclion** · 10-04-2006, 05:23 AM

I heard that Jesus had disappeared for a while went to India, Tibet or maybe Afghanistan, learned a bit about Buddhism and brought some of it's teachings back like not hurting other living things like animals and other people, patience, non-violence and compassion, he was a vegitarian for the most part except for eating fish which back then wasn't really seen as an animal (mostly just mammals), some medicinal treatments which helped him perform some of his "miracles" and then used deep meditation to make it seem he had died on the cross then had his friends revive him with medicines from his Buddhist teachings, its also how he came up with the idea of reincarnation. Before then great people in the Bible just seemed to live for hundreds of years...

Some other facts:
Jesus life-history between the ages of 13-30 is missing. It is explained that Jesus was attending to his father’s livelihood during that period which seemed to be unlikely. Jesus was a wise and an active child and was given a high place in a temple before that missing-period. Why did he have to be in a low profile at the most active period of one’s lifetime ?
An account of Jesus’ expedition to Tibet and his subsequent practice of Samatha meditation was described by scholars. He was supposed to have obtained supernatural powers (Jhana and Abhina) and went back to Palestine to teach his skills.

Really if you look at the similarities it is uncanny...

**Vesuvius** · 10-04-2006, 05:40 AM

Many concepts in Xtianity were borrowed (stolen) from Zoroastrianism and other religions, also.

**The Monkey Man** · 10-04-2006, 05:42 AM

Originally Posted by ForemanRules

Zoroastrianism

Their theology has had a great impact on Judaism, Christianity and other later religions, in the beliefs surrounding God and Satan, the soul, heaven and hell, savior, resurrection , final judgment, etc.

An all powerful God Ahura Mazda who is the only deity worthy of being worshipped, and

An evil spirit of violence and death, Angra Mainyu, who opposes Ahura Mazda. The resulting cosmic conflict involves the entire universe, including humanity who is required to choose which to follow. Evil, and the Spirit of Evil, will be completely destroyed at the end of time. Dualism will come to an end and Goodness will be all in all.

After death, the urvan (soul) is allowed three days to meditate on his/her past life. The soul is then judged by a troika Mithra, Sraosha and Rashnu. If the good thoughts, words and deeds outweigh the bad, then the soul is taken into heaven. Otherwise, the soul is led to hell.

A Saoshyant (savior) will be born of a virgin, but of the lineage of the Prophet Zoroaster who will raise the dead and judge everyone in a final judgment.

So what peoples worshiped this zoroastrianism?

**The Monkey Man** · 10-04-2006, 06:05 AM

I also heard about the connection of the "Earth Mother"

To Mary the "Blessed Virgin Mother"

Anyone know who worshipped the Earth Mother
(Besides the berserker-bear guys from the movie)

**tucker01** · 10-04-2006, 07:35 AM

**I Are Baboon** · 10-04-2006, 07:37 AM

The only real holiday that should be observed and celebrated is Super Bowl Sunday. Every other holiday is a sack of poop.

**TJ Cline** · 10-04-2006, 07:42 AM

Originally Posted by The Monkey Man

So what peoples worshiped this zoroastrianism?

Google it

**The Monkey Man** · 10-04-2006, 07:54 AM

Originally Posted by ForemanRules

Google it

If I wanted to do that, I wouldn't have started this thread

Now cut and paste the name of those people! -

It will keep your mind off Alcohol and Tobacco

**TJ Cline** · 10-04-2006, 08:00 AM

Originally Posted by The Monkey Man

If I wanted to do that, I wouldn't have started this thread

Now cut and paste the name of those people! -

It will keep your mind off Alcohol and Tobacco

Zoroastrianism is the oldest of the revealed world-religions ( started around 1500 BC) , and it has probably had more influence on mankind, directly and indirectly, than any other single faith.

Zoroastrianism is a small religion today, with about 140,000 members.

**maniclion** · 10-04-2006, 03:08 PM

Zoroastrianism also brought the belief of angels and demons...

Demons are cool!

**Witchblade** · 10-04-2006, 03:38 PM

The Bible is the best selling fantasy book of all times.

The best part: it's all bullshit, it's boring, and they ripped it. Yet it's immensely popular.

I don't get it, why don't people worship Spiderman or the X-Men? Those are way better than Jesus and his mates. Who cares whether Jesus can walk on water. Magneto can hurl trains! And how about vampires? If you believe in God and Jesus, why not vampires? Why not drink real blood instead of wine. That would be way cooler.

**The Monkey Man** · 10-04-2006, 07:38 PM

Anyone know where the water and wine thing came from???

It was probably an excuse to get drunk -

**maniclion** · 10-04-2006, 07:45 PM

Originally Posted by The Monkey Man

Anyone know where the water and wine thing came from???

It was probably an excuse to get drunk -

I know the magic trick, he put wine in some ugs, put a water soluble lid over it, inside the jug and then filled each with a little water, when he knew the wine had become exposed and mixed with the water he poured it into everyones cups fooling them all...and this I know because Jesus told me so....

**The Monkey Man** · 10-04-2006, 07:49 PM

Originally Posted by maniclion

I know the magic trick, he put wine in some ugs, put a water soluble lid over it, inside the jug and then filled each with a little water, when he knew the wine had become exposed and mixed with the water he poured it into everyones cups fooling them all...and this I know because Jesus told me so....

No, I mean the wine became the symbol of blood
and the bread, of flesh

Who thinks of this crust?

**maniclion** · 10-04-2006, 08:09 PM

Originally Posted by The Monkey Man

No, I mean the wine became the symbol of blood
and the bread, of flesh

Who thinks of this crust?

I think it was the other way around, the blood became wine and flesh became bread...because it was pagan to drink the blood of your enemy and eat his heart.....or whatever else they feasted on....

**Little Wing** · 10-04-2006, 08:28 PM

sodomy was my idea. those bastards stole it then they turned around and said it was bad. fukkers.

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