Anyone notice christianity is a copycat religion?

Question

http://www.religioustolerance.org/asatru.htm
Go to the link and scroll down to the part about Origins and After death. Asatru or Norse-Paganism (whichever you prefer) was around before christianity. Ever heard the phrase, "write it in your own words"? Adam & Eve sound a lot like a spin off of Ask & Embla. Watch the christians will come up with some excuse for this.

My name is Xander, but all you know is my last name starts with a V. But as for the rest of the answers who are against what I said. Sorry I can't understand you since I just sent your religion into oblivion.

AI D: I could change that info if I wanted to.

Amon: I don't think so. I've already burned a copy of the bible.

Serena: You don't see it do you? You're blind.

Answer 1

If I remember correctly, Asatru has been around for about 8,000 as an organized religion. However, the beliefs are far older than that. Christianity used/borrowed/stole from many native religions. This was to make it easier to convert the native people. When this didn't work, they would then use political/economical/military pressures to enforce the conversion. I also saw a special on the History channel where the popes would send special instructions to church leaders to ensure conversions by any means needed.

Answer 2

I'm sure no one was copying anyone, nor do I think that anyone in Israel had ever heard the stories of the Asatru or Norse-Paganism religion being that it was so far away from the middle east. What I do think is that God did create the earth and the first people on it, so it is only natural that people who sprang from them, and populated the earth all over would have the same or similar stories. Ask & Embla are Adam and Eve, the first two people on earth. Muslims, Jews and Christians alike also believe in Adam and Eve. If you search hard enough I'm sure you'll find more similar accounts of the creation story from all over the world.

Blessed Be!

Answer 3

There is a difference between traditons and religion. Christianity is supposed to be the following of Christ's teachings. Since Christ's works are told in the New Testiment they are the new books of the Bible. Christ was a Jew so his teachings include the basics from the Jewish faith including the Old Testiment. That explains the Bible as a whole.
Christianity resembles many religions simply because there are universal truths there. Meaning what he taught is true world wide. Karma is about "reaping what you soe" etc... Most major religions follow a similar law, even Wicca with "harm none".
As far as the traditions mentioned like Easter and Christmas, yes they are from Pagan roots. This is because former Pagans became Christian and continued to have celebrations of faith. There needs to be more unity between the paths of faith and less finger pointing about who stole what a why. Let's face it, faith is a hodge-podge of beliefs and they are all valid as long as they are positive. Every religion has a story to tell and since it all comes from one God/Goddess, meaning the higer being of the universe, it would make sense that they would all have similarities. Sure Pagan holidays and festivales were and are used in Christianity, but it is borrowing since Pagans still celebrate them too, not stolen as people trying to cause trouble would have you believe.
My Two Cents,
Valerie

Answer 4

My 2 pence here...

Being that the Christians are a branch of reformed Judism that has now become it's own faith and the Judaic peoples adopted several beliefs from where they were at the time (Egypt, Babylon, Sumaria, Zoaraster, etc...) it is logical to believe that Christianity would do the same. In the Middle ages, the jesuits (travelling priests dedicated to spreading the word of God) often aquired pagan holy sites to build their churches so that people who were in the habit of going to that particular place would go there to worship and it was not uncommon for the resident clergy to blend christian beliefs in with the pagan ones to make the service more appealing to the populous. It wasn't until Pope Innocent II and Pope Gregory IX that the church would not longer tolerate such "blendings" and that the "pagan snakes" had to be driven out. Many of the old Gods and Goddesses couldn't be banished, so they became saints: like St. Bridget/Brigid, St. Ceraunus, and St. Cicilia (there are many more, but I want to keep this short as possible). the Church also made up "stories" to go with them.

Answer 5

Many religions share similar elements, because many religions are trying to do the same thing - to explain that which, at least to the ancients, was unexplainable. How did the world begin? Many religions present a creation myth to explain the origins of humankind. Many different cultures have a myth about a great flood as part of their lore. Christianity is likewise not the only religion to have an anthropomorphized god. Furthermore, it is widely known that many Christian holidays were co-opted from other religious traditions.

So what does all this mean? Well, I for one think that it's fascinating that people from all parts of the earth have told similar stories and used similar rituals to mark their experience of the divine. I think that all the world's faiths point to some very important truths about our origins and our destiny as a race.

Answer 6

I would have to agree with xander.The three oldest religion goes as so paganism witch dates back to the Druids. Then there is judiasim which was passed down to the jews from the babaylonians.and then came christianity which is the belief in one god and his son.these religons that came after the druids are all copycats and are not religions at all but just a way for people to control each other.take sin for instances the meaning to me is self imposed nonsense because it trys to say that if you do this then you are not going to go to heaven when you die.Everyone has there own life and has the freedom to make thie own choices and should not let what someone who is just like them except for one day of the week when they stand behind a pulpit declare that the life they are leading is wrong.I hope this helps someone

Answer 7

Eve wasn't "made" from a rib. She was taken from a "side" of Adam. "Side" here meaning she was a part of him --observe Shiva and Shakti, frequently denoted as equal halves of one being. If God created us all equal (and if you have any kind of feminine pride), there is no way that women were made out of a lesser part of a man. Created in God's own image, we were two sides of the same coin, divided. Which brings us to the flip side: God is half female. XD

And many gods were sacrificed to bring life back to crops, people, etc. It's a really old trend.

Lots of religions are way older than Christianity. And to convert others, that religion had to adapt and adopt. Or destroy. Lots of that went around....

Answer 8

OK.. dig this.. study the Wheel Of The Year, and study Wiccan beliefs drawn from older sources..then study the CELTS ( actually study them first ) and you'll SEE that the Xtians actually appropriated ( fancy way of saying STOLE ) the pagan holidays.. to further help with the process of converting people. JESUS was born in the SPRING People!... but the organized church FEARED the resurgence of strong pagan groups or kings again. because at one time in our long and varied history MOST of the WORLD was MATRIARCHAL. ( look it up ). The original "Saints" were actually re-named GODS and GODDESSES. it's always been easier to change,steal or force new beliefs on people than it has been to ask them. ( Look up what an Auto De Fe is ) Now lastly to finish up.. look up geography in Scotland,Ireland,Wales and England and UNDERSTAND how many churches and cathedrals are built on Pagan Holy sites and even Pagan temples.. they RAZED them drove off or KILLED the priests/druids/preistesses and built over them. Xtianity contains the most borrowed or stolen elements i have ever seen in ANY religion.... JUST SIMPLY LOOK. ( thanks for your time. ) if anymore discussion is needed just do it here OR stop by paganism:2 in yahoo chats and ask for the bartender.

Answer 9

How you can connect Ask and Embla to Adam and Eve is beyond me.According to the website:,"humanity is literally descended from the Gods. Three brothers, Odin, Vili, and Ve created people from two trees and gave them the names Ask and Embla. One deity, Rig visited the earth and established the social classes."

Compare that to the story of Adam and Eve:
God,the one God of the universe,created Adam.Adam was lonely,and so God put him into a deep sleep.While he was asleep,God took a rib out of him and created a woman.

So let's see:

Three brothers,Odin, Vili, and Ve,compared to:
One God,no brothers.

Created people from two trees,compared to:
Creating a man out of dust,and then using a rib from the man to create Eve.

Can you not see the obvious distinctions and differences between the two stories? This is not 'coming up withsome excuse',as you put it,but actually reading the text.

Answer 10

The story of Adam and Eve was written by JEWS. Judaism pre-dates Norse Paganism. So they adapted a common myth of human origins, what's your point?