What religion did the Romans believe in before they accepted Christianity?

Answer 1

The Romans believed in Pagan gods.

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

Christianity only took off in Rome after Constantine, the Tyrant.

Answer 2

Paul was supposedly born and raised in the city of Tarsus, a region in SE Asia-Minor (now called Turkey) where Mithras was well known. Biblical scholars are now saying that Paul, the alleged author of 13 out of the 27 (maybe more) books of the New Testament, may have been influenced in his writings by this strong religion of Mithraism. We can see a profound kinship between Mithraism and Christianity.



In-as-much as Mithraism was so popular in Rome, it is no wonder why the pagan Emperor Constantine, who believed in the sun god, Mithras, designated a certain day of the week to him, Sunday, which means, “the day of the sun.”



The original "Christian" faith became a mix of pagan, Mithramic, Jeudeo/Christian teaching. This lead to the confusing mix of theology that we have today within the "Christian" community. This apostacy from the original simple and plain teachings of Christ was accelerated by the persecutions and killings of any who tried to support the "old" ways. Maybe this solves the mystery of the “ungodly” marriage between Mithraism and the cult of Jesus. As it turns out, it was all for political convenience! But, Christians think they are better than that today. In short: The "Christianity" they have today has almost no relationship, in doctrine or in way of life, to the "the original teachings of Jesus."



In my mind, there are two Jesus' teachings. Jesus the Jew and Jesus the Gentile, which by the way is really Paul's Jesus. And guess which one Christians follow? The ex-pagan Constantine liked Paul's Jesus over Jesus the Jew. Jesus and all the others upon whom this character is predicated are personifications of the sun, and the Gospel fable is merely a rehash of a mythological formula revolving around the movements of the sun through the heavens.

Additional Details

1 week ago
For instance, many of the world's crucified "god-men" have their traditional birthday on December 25. This is because the ancients recognized that (from an earth-centric perspective) the sun makes an annual descent southward until December 21 or 22, the winter solstice, when it stops moving southerly for three days and then starts to move northward again.

During this time, the ancients declared that "God's sun" had "died" for three days and was "born again" on December 25. The ancients realized quite abundantly that they needed the sun to return every day and that they would be in big trouble if the sun continued to move southward and did not stop and reverse its direction. Thus, these many different cultures celebrated the "sun of God's" birthday on December 25th.

1 week ago
http://jdstone.org/cr/files/mithraschris...
Danielle…
Religion & Spirituality


" I firmly believe Paul took the teachings of an Essene rabbi called Jesus and rearranged them to fit the Mithras mythology. There were many wannabe messiahs around the time of Jesus; the man who could establish a religion based on a "real" messiah would be a very powerful and respected man, which Paul apparently wanted to be.

The fact that Paul never met Jesus, and that Jesus never foretold Paul's appearance (unless it was included in his warning about deceivers that would fool "the very elect"), should be proof that Paul had no authority in real Christianity."

From Danielle

Answer 3

They were somewhat laissez-faire when it came to personal preferences, as long as you gave some attention to the state religion.

The oldest elements of the Roman religion were dieties associated with places and things, such as the household and hearth. Vesta, the goddess of the hearth, became part of the state religion quite early. The Vestal Virgins tended her official hearth.

The Roman religion was heavily influenced by the Greeks, so that native Roman dieties became identified with Greek gods: Jupiter/Zeus, Juno/Hera, Ceres/Demeter, Mercury/Hermes, etc.

After Augustus Caesar adopted the title of Pontifex Maximus (head priest) in 12 BCE, the heads of state became the leaders of the religion. As the Roman Empire expanded it adopted foreign religions by identifying their gods with Roman ones. Some of these foreign dieties were widely worshipped, such Mithras, Isis, and Cybele.

This situation was fine for all concerned, except for those who insisted on worshipping their own god and none other. The stubborness triggered the Jewish Diaspora, but the offshoot of Judaism known as Christianity ended up so popular that it took over the official Roman priestly apparatus.

Answer 4

They had 'borrowed' the ancient Greek gods and renamed them.
Thus the Greek Aphrodite became Venus.
Interestingly, the Greek government has recently legalised the worship of Zeus after all these years

Answer 5

several. One of the biggest was the goddess Astarte. This is basically the same foreign Goddess that many current religions worship.

Answer 6

They believed in gods and goddesses like Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Pluto, etc.

Answer 7

the Romans had a large number of gods they worshipped.

Answer 8

Mithra

Answer 9

I think they were pantheists-thats the term I heard. all of the roman and greek gods

Answer 10

"accepted"

I think you mean forced. Constantine forced christianity onto rome and banned all pagan practices.

Not quite the same thing, is it?