Did Jesus steal hid ideas from Mithra of Persia?

Question

Mithra of Persia

--Mithra was born of a virgin on December 25 in a cave, and his birth was attended by shepherds bearing gifts.
--He was considered a great traveling teacher and master.
--He had 12 companions or disciples.
--Mithra’s followers were promised immortality.
--He performed miracles.
--As the “great bull of the Sun,” Mithra sacrificed himself for world peace.
--He was buried in atomb and after three days rose again.
--His resurrection was celebrated every year.
--He was called “the Good Shepherd” and identified with both the Lamb and the Lion.
--He was considered the “Way, the Truth and the Light,” and the “Logos,” [Word] “Redeemer,” “Savior” and “Messiah.”
--His sacred day was Sunday, the “Lord’s Day,” hundreds of years before the appearance of Christ.
--Mithra had his principal festival on what was later to become Easter.
--His religion had a eucharist or “Lord’s Supper,” at which Mithra said, “He who shall nto eat of my body nor drink of my blood so that he may be one with me and I with him, shall not be saved.”
--“His annual sacrifice is the Passover of the Magi, a symbolical atonement of pledge of moral and physical regeneration.”

Furthermore, the Vatican itself is built upon the papacy of Mithra, and the Christian hierarchy is nearly identical to the Mithraic version it replaced . . .
. . . Virtually all of the elements of the Catholic ritual, from miter to wafer to altar to doxology, are directly taken from earlier Pagan mystery religions.
Zoroaster/Zarathustra

Answer 1

Jesus didn't write the Bible, so no... the people who wrote it did. And it wasn't just Mithra... several gods of the time fit the "Savior God" formula.

Answer 2

Other than the Dec. 25st thing, this is pretty much bunk.

Most of the rest of this is essentially a modern made-up myth, usually disseminated by poorly researched pop-religion fans. Very little is truly known about the Mithraic religion. There are no scriptures, no sacred writings related to that religion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/mithras...

All that survives of Mithraism are some steles (small monoliths), and some early Christian writings that make scant reference to that religion... which were you to actually read them, show there to be very few parallels in terms of rites, belief, or practice.

http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/mithra...

So there's certainly no archaeological or historical basis for this "Jesus is Mithras" meme that the Internet has coughed up; not that the lack of historical support for it has stopped anyone.

As to the "papacy", "papa" means father, and "the pope" is simply something that refers to whoever is the bishop of the church in Rome. The Roman church's origins aren't particularly mysterious, and are detailed in the Bible's "Epistle to the Romans", "Acts", and the first letter of Clement...

Nothing to see here... move along.

Answer 3

Well now, let's not blame this on Jesus.. let's blame it on the Romans instead ;)
The Romans were famous for conquering and assimilating gods into their pantheon. Mithra worship was big in the Roman army.
There's no historical evidence that Jesus even existed.. it's wouldn't be fair to blame someone whose very existence is in question.
The gospels themselves weren't "written" until hundreds of years after the alleged death, burial and resurrection of Jesus..
Beside that point, what about Osiris? He's older than Mithra and had pretty much all of those same traits.

The god-man story is ancient.. the death/burial/resurrection story is ancient... and very pagan.

Most christians cling to their belief that Jesus is original out of "truthiness" (the quality by which a person claims to know something intuitively, instinctively, or "from the gut" without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or actual facts .. thank you, Stephen Colbert)

So, long answer short: Nope, Jesus didn't steal a thing ;)

Answer 4

No, Paul stole that stuff. Paul was from Tarsus. And Mithra was the "Main God" of Tarsus during Paul's time.

There are many elements taken from different Pagan religions and incorporated into Christianity.

Answer 5

Jesus was probably influenced by many religions existing at the time, but I think it more likely that his followers, the writers of the Christian scriptures and those who codified them, were responsible for embellishing his life story with ideas from other sources.

Answer 6

I wouldn't sat the Jesus stole them, as the rules and holidays of Christianity were, for the most part, agreed upon much later.

I personally feel that there is much overlap that was used to make conversion easier, but none of us will know for sure.

Answer 7

Doubt?

Answer 8

pretty much like Brian - I mean he was almost forgotten until they made that movie about his life......