Was Christianity stolen from pagan rituals?

Question

The "God" and the "Jesus" that Christians worship today are actually amalgams formed out of ancient pagan gods. The idea of a "virgin birth", "burial in a rock tomb", "resurrection after 3 days" and "eating of body and drinking of blood" had nothing to do with Jesus. All of the rituals in Christianity are completely man-made. Christianity is a snow ball that rolled over a dozen pagan religions. As the snowball grew, it freely attached pagan rituals in order to be more palatable to converts. You can find accounts like these in popular literature:

"The vestiges of pagan religion in Christian symbology are undeniable. Egyptian sun disks became the halos of Catholic saints. Pictograms of Isis nursing her miraculously conceived son Horus became the blueprint for our modern images of the Virgin Mary nursing Baby Jesus. And virtually all the elements of the Catholic ritual - the miter, the altar, the doxology, and communion, the act of "God-eating" - were taken directly from earlier pagan mystery religions."

"Nothing in Christianity is original. The pre-Christian God Mithras - called the Son of God and the Light of the World - was born on December 25, died, was buried in a rock tomb, and then resurrected in three days. By the way, December 25 is also the birthday or Osiris, Adonis, and Dionysus. The newborn Krishna was presented with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Even Christianity's weekly holy day was stolen from the pagans."

I would like to know what you think -Can you explain why this is not true?

Yeah it is pretty boring-but I'm at the end of my day at work and have like 40 minutes to kill and I'm soooo bored-

To bc christianity and catholocism are from the same belief

Answer 1

as a matter of fact yes they did transfer a lot of ideas from pagan to christianity to convert the pagans, for the simple fact that it made it easier for them to do just that. and not only the ideas you pointed out but what about the christmas tree it was a pagan idea, since when do pine trees grow so abundantly in the middle eastern area. the only thing that was original was the fact you could say that you are sorry and pray for forgiveness and be abstaind for punishment.

Answer 2

I haven't delved into this question much past what I already know about Christian holidays and practices being based off of old world pagan practices. The main reason they did that was to persuade the pagans that weren't that interested in the church when they came to 'convert'. A lot of the feeling came from the thought of 'well, it's around the same time as i celebrate *insert pagan holiday here* so I guess it's ok.'

Answer 3

Yes. If you've ever watched Catholic ritual or really looked at the structure of their pantheons of angels (and Demons, believe it or not) - they're basically Christian Pagans. Since the Catholic church was the church most modern Christianity sprang from, I think it's reasonable to say that Catholicism evolved from Paganism and all the Christian religions thereafter evolved from Catholicism.

Answer 4

I love how people use the word "stolen" in reference to an eclectic belief system. That should be your first clue.

Research all of the claims that you have just posted, and see if they are true. The earliest references to the Roman cult of Mithras, for example, actually post-date Christianity by several centuries. The only reason people believe that Mithras came first is that scholars mistakenly assumed that the Roman Mithras was identical to the Persian Mithras.

Otherwise, there are similarities between Christianity and the Mystery religions, but these similarities are common to Mystery religions in general (of which Christianity was a member), and could hardly be described as 'stealing.' You could, for example, accuse Christianity of stealing the idea of "prayer" from the cult of Tammuz. Why do people think that every element of Christianity has to be original?

Answer 5

Catholic doctrine (and by extension, Protestant doctrine) is a dirty snowball of Pagan doctrine and beliefs. But Christian doctrine and beliefs are not from Pagan sources. All those examples you mention, are Catholic, not Christian.

Actually, it is more likely the other way around. Since the true beliefs has been in existence from the beginning, as men fell away from the original truth, error crept in -- like in a game of "Telephone." Those erroneous beliefs developed into the Pagan beliefs.

Answer 6

This comes the Holman Christian Standard Bible

The Guilt of the Gentile World
18 For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse. 21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.
24 Therefore God delivered them over in the cravings of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. •Amen.

Answer 7

you have a hell of a lot to read there. but a lot of Christian things have come from Pagan Beliefs because when the Christians where trying to convert us Pagans they used some of our beliefs and our gods and turned them into Christian symbols to try and help us to Christianity easier.

Answer 8

It wasn't all stolen.

Paul added quite a bit of his own seasoning (i.e. original sin). Plus the author of Matthew borrowed pretty heavily from Jewish tradition, and John added his own salt of anti-semitism.

While the outline is fairly familiar, there certainly are some unique aspects of the Christian myth. Much to the dismay of fundies, I think it would best be said that it EVOLVED from prior belief systems through minor mutations added by the biblican authors.

Answer 9

I answer your question with a question.Is there any truly unique religion.Almost all religions have a supreme diety a great flood a heaven and a hell.So to quote several religions there is nothing new under the sun.

Answer 10

No, it evolved from Pagan religions, just as NeoPagan religions of today evolved from ancient Pagan religions. It's not about stealing, it's about taking what works and leaving what doesn't.