🚀 go-pugleaf

How many Christians who never seem to look past the bible have any idea of
the religious environment at the time of the founding of Christianity? How
many know an almost identical religion already existed long before the
birth of Christ? In fact Christianity is not unique. 

In 6BC a mythical character called Mithra was the central figure in a
religion known as Mithraism. Briefly these are the main points of Mithraism
-

1. He was known as the good shepherd, the way & the light, the redeemer,
the saviour and the messiah.

2.He was born in a cave on 25th December visited by shepherds and magi.

3. He toured the countryside teaching and performing miracles accompanied
by 12 disciples. He cast out devils, returned sight to the blind and healed
the lame.

4.He was known as the lion and the lamb.

5.He held a last supper then was killed and buried in a rock tomb. He rose
after 3 days and ascended into heaven about the 21st March (Easter). 

6.His followers celebrated his resurrection and held Sunday services with a
Eucarist and 6 sacraments.

Sceptics say Christians took over Mithraic beliefs to influence pagans to
Jesus. St. Augustine stated Mithraic priests worshipped the same god as the
Christians. Most modern Christians know nothing about Mithraism and the
other pagan religions which so closely resembled Christianity. That is
partly because Christianity has become so prominent that the modern
Christian church has been able to bury it's beginnings with paganism. 

The early church members were only too well aware of paganism and it's
similarity to Christianity. We know they took over pagan feast days and
substituted Christian festivals. They tried to explain it away by saying
the devil predicted the rise of Christ and started the pagan religions to
undermine the coming Christianity. In turn the pagans who were not
completely stupid knew a lot of their ideas were myths not literally true
yet Christians turned around and said we know your religion is myth but our
Jesus really did have a virgin birth and rose from the dead. The pagans
regarded the Christians as arrogant and denigrating to their religions. No
doubt that had a lot to do with later Christian persecutions. 

1,000 years before Christianity Osiris the Egyptian God judged the dead in
the underworld and returned them to their earthly bodies. That is why
Egyptians mummified their dead to preserve them for the later life.

The ancients believed in God who was manifest in a number of gods, Osiris,
Mithra, Dionysis, Bacchus etc. Dionysis is credited with miracles one being
the turning of water into wine at a wedding feast long before Jesus. These
gods also gave people morals and principles for living as did Jesus. "Love
your enemies" was not a unique quote of Jesus but came from an early
religion. 

As an atheist I see it all as the slow development of the human race with
no divine intervention.

How can any Christian say they have the one eternal truth when Christianity
demonstrably is not unique?

Bob Howard.