what are some similarities between Christianity and other religions older than it?

Answer 1

Dear bloody Adalwolf: A great question!

1. Responsibility for your thoughts and behaviors.

2. Reward - when right thinking cleanses and purifies your
Mind.

3. The acknowledgement of a soul or spirit - that knows what
the human intellect does not know or see.

4. Something organized and deeply ordered in all things -
beyond our physical "eye sight."

5. Behavior toward one another decides our position in life.

6. The central god [and One God] is non-judgemental as
mankind works to transcend to higher levels of thought and
behavior.

7. Our physical self is not the truth about us. Death is not a
Truth. [Resurrection] or continued Life.

And so forth . . .

No matter how ancient the religion or discipline or how modern, there has only been one Teacher Who taught Socrates, Buddha, Confuscious, and Jesus, etc. : The Holy Spirit.

"God is moving by His spirit
Moving across the earth -
Sight and wonder - land of Movement
Moving over the earth."

Answer 2

The main tenant of Christianity is to give your life and surrender your will to Jesus Christ to live a life in His service to improve the world through speading the God word about Christ. When you 'ask Jesus into your heart' you are infused with the Holy Spirit which is more or less like a personal conscience.

In my *personal* practice (of Eclectic Paganism) I believe that my goal in life is to use my God-given talents in order to live in service of others. (and therefore God -- to be explained more later...) I believe that as creations of God, we all already contain the 'holy spirit'. I call it the 'divine spark' or 'god-nature'. I believe that I don't need to ASK for it because it's already there. I think that the act of asking for the Holy Spirit is more akin to an acknowledgement of the god-nature within us. In doing so we can no longer go about business as if we don't have responsibility to the well-being of the Earth and Her people. We understand that since we are all gods and goddesses in our own right that we need to take steps to be better people both for ourselves and to help others. Since we ALL contain this god-nature I am actually serving God by being in service of others.

"What you do to the least of these, you do also the Father." (New Testament.) It's all about the Golden Rule -- Do until others what you would have done unto you -- which in my spiritual path translates into: An Harm it None, Do What Ye Will.

Hope that helps!

Blessings and Light!

~RW

Answer 3

Actually many of the stories in the old testament , like the flood, garden of Eden, etc. came from myths of older religions.

The idea of a Messiah was also basic Jewish myth. Jesus and his disciples were all Jews but broke off when the temple wouldn't recognize him.

Answer 4

Christianity shares almost all its moral beliefs with Judaism (see: Ten Commandments), as well as the belief in one God who reveals himself to us. Both believe than man sins and needs a messiah, one to repair the breach between God and man; they differ on whether Jesus was that Messiah and on what the messiah's exact role would be.

Even "primitive" religions share with Christianity the concept that the world was created by someone mysterious and more powerful than we are.

Answer 5

Too many to list. Basically, its like this: Take all other pagan and Greek and Roman mythologies and package them nicely into one whole religion and VIOLA! You have Christianity....

Just look up Mithras, who was born on Dec. 25 to a virgin mother, died and was burried in a rock tomb and was ressurected after three days.... Sound like anyone familiar???

Answer 6

Actually MOST of it can be traced back to earlier belief systems. From the "great flood" to god appearing as a burning bush to the "garden of eden" most everything in the jewish traditioned religions can be found as parts of earlier beliefs.

Answer 7

I can give you links if you want, but there are far too many to list here. It will show you the "evolution" of religion as we know it.