Open discussion of particular interest to me :)
2007-05-27 16:34:11 · 12 answers · asked by TJ 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
If you do not know an answer do not leave a comment, okay, thanks, you're cluttering up my question ;)
2007-05-27 16:49:30 · update #1
Check this link out and scroll down
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_Invictus
This is the ancient context. Scroll down to the Sol Invictus part.
I ask because I mostly go to catholic services and they will usually have suns behind their crucifices. (The churches I go to)
2007-05-27 17:07:52 · update #2
Make that the Sol invictus and christianity section
2007-05-27 17:09:09 · update #3
It's called marketing. The Romans worshipped the sun god, and they had a huge festival to mark the winter solstace, which they called "The Rebirth of the Sun."
When Romans started converting to Christianity, the Church decided to borrow the symbolism for Jesus' birth. They chose the Winter Solstace (or their best estimate of when it was) to celebrate the Birth of the Son, light in our darkness.
Halloween was similar: it was the Druid end of the year -- the death of the old year. With death the theme, the Church chose November 1st as "All Saints' Day" when they celebrate all those who died in Christ and went to heaven. So the night before became "All Hallows' Eve" or Halloween.
This enabled converts to keep their favorite traditions. After all, would you want to give up Christmas and Halloween now if you were to convert to another religion?
Some people think there is something wrong with borrowing Pagan traditions. I call it tolerance and openness.
2007-05-27 16:43:23 · answer #1 · answered by Freedom 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
You mean the halo? It was borrowed from the Egyptians by the Romans and then the Roman ruling class. A couple centuries later, after much debate, Christians began to use this iconography for symbols of Jesus. The early church made no such depictions because it was thought to be idolatry.
2007-05-27 16:39:37 · answer #2 · answered by Aspurtaime Dog Sneeze 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Jesus is the light of the world as is the sun
Luke 1
1:78
because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
1:79
to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace."
2007-05-27 17:29:48 · answer #3 · answered by tebone0315 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Sun represents light, light represents truth. Christians see Jesus (pbuh) as the truth.
2007-05-27 16:37:56 · answer #4 · answered by Ming Merc 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sun worship turned into son worship... but they overlooked part of it and still make the holy day SUNday...
2007-05-27 16:40:05 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
What? I've never seen the sun as a symbol for Jesus, what are you talking about.
2007-05-27 16:37:53 · answer #6 · answered by Esther 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Because of it's brightness and light
2007-05-27 16:39:14 · answer #7 · answered by Gifted 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Constantine mixed his religions up; he also thought the Christian God was a powerful war god (maybe he was reading the OT).
2007-05-27 16:36:36 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
New one for me. Not in my world.
2007-05-27 16:39:52 · answer #9 · answered by Fish <>< 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have never in my life heard of that..
2007-05-27 16:38:45 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋