Did Bible authors make Jesus into the "son of God" to attract the Pagan gentiles who worshipped Mithra?

Question

Mithra was born on December 25th....

Jesus was NOT.

Mithra died for the sins of his followers...... a concept which is pagan in nature and UNHEARD of in Abrahmic religions.


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Answer 1

Nicely said. He was also, if I am not mistaken, born of a virgin, and the blood he spilled cleansed and fueled the world (although it was a bull's blood, not his own). He was so widely worshipped because Alexander the Great spread that religion throughout the known world and if Constantine hadn't decided he could only unite his empire under Christianity, everyone who is Christian today would be worshipping the bull-slayer. Most of his temples and traditions were either destroyed or usurped, becoming today's pagan-seeming holiday celebrations. Obviously, December 25th is Christmas only because Mithras was born on that day. The bible even claims Jesus was born in the summer.

Answer 2

Unlikely.

Five factors come to mind that seem to rule it out, tempting as the idea is as an intellectual consideration and one which has been kicking around for awhile, most notably in the work of Acharya S. (The Christ Conspiracy).

1. Biblical authors were so many and varied, and living at different times and in different places, it would have taken one hell of a well coordinated conspiracy and,

2. would have been relatively pointless anyway, because few people could even read back then, and the source material was in several languages to boot. Consequently, there were precious few Bibles with the New Testament -as a collective work- in circulation; point being that the Bible as THEN collected would have been a poor way to target that market. In fact, the first time EVER that the original source material was translated directly into one target language (French) to make a complete Bible was 1966 (the Jerusalem Bible). Prior to that, everything was a translation of a translation of a ...you get the drift.

3. Jesus, as Messiah, was thought at the time to be of particular Jewish interest, and the idea of admitting non-Jews (Gentiles) to the faith took awhile to catch on. Paul, in particular, had much to do with that. The Jews, of course, didn't have the time of day for followers of Mithraic persuasion. And so, even if some of the literature of the NT did have a few bells and whistles borrowed from other cultures and belief systems of the day -it would have been preaching to the wrong choir in any event.

4. The deeper you drill into similarities between Mithraism and Christianity, the more the similarities either disappear or become irrelevant. Example: the Dec 25th parallel disappears because the date of Jesus' birth is NEVER mentioned in New Testament at all -that is a latter-day idea, and by latter, I mean way after Mthras was a major player on the religious scene.

5. Such Mithraic scholarship as exists today -and there's not much- doesn't point to many parallels either. The concept is a popular notion propogated mainly by a few people such as Acharya. At the very least, there is such disagreement among the people who study Mithraism it is hard to tease out just WHAT they are saying.

So for now, the jury is "very" out on this question.

All that said, it should come as no surprise that the religions, moral systems and philosophies of any age and place would reflect in some ways the systems with which they cooperated or competed because they all contributed to the cultures from which they emerged and in which they were embebbed.

And as for Mithra dying ...the legend says he did not die at all. Go figure.

Answer 3

That's a very popular theory among students of the 'historic' Jesus.

There's a theory that Jesus never claimed to be the son of God, born of a virgin, resurrected or any of that stuff. He was just a preacher (a Rabbi actually) who traveled the countryside teaching people, he tried to reform Judaism from the inside and was murdered by the powerful Jews who ran the Temple.

The theory goes that after Jesus's death there were two factions. One wanted to create a new religion--Christianity--based on miracles and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. The other wanted to recognize Jesus as simply a teacher and reformer. And the latter group were the ones who actually walked and talked with him, while the new group was led by people like Paul, who never knew him.

Actually in the first 3 centuries Christianity was very diverse. Different groups of Christians believed all kinds of strange things. The biggest argument was over whether Jesus was a god or a man or both. -Both- won out.

And as you point out, it's interesting to look back to pagan religions and see that there were many 'crucified saviors', gods or deities who gave man a great gift and were punished. Hare Krishna and Prometheus are good examples. Of course a real Christian might see that as 'foreshadowing', and it could make sense in that light.

But clearly early Christianity borrowed a huge amount from pagan religions--Christmas trees and Easter eggs and the eucharist, etc. etc. Did you know 'Easter' is the name of a pagan goddess of Spring?

Answer 4

No, December 25th was chosen only because there was already a pagan festival on that day and the Christians wanted to turn the celebration in a different direction. No one actually taught or thought that Jesus was born on December 25th.

The early church put a lot of thought and effort into how they might take over pagan festivals that were ingrained in the culture and turn them into something good.

Answer 5

God is the Bible's author. Jesus is His Son. The Bible makes no reference to 12/25 as Jesus' birth; that's a man-made date. Not very familiar with Mithra, but I know Jesus was the only one to ever live that was worthy to die for anyone's sin. According to the Bible, He did just that.

Answer 6

Many theorize that the pagans who accepted Christ gradually put some of their own thoughts into it. They liked their gods in human form.

Apollo was called " the good Shepard". Easter is the beginning of new life, as is the Resurrection. To this day these elements of paganisn are found in western culture.

Here's a good book on the subject.

Answer 7

As the one fella said, STOP , in the name of Jesus Christ, stop with the delusion. God is God and Jesus is God, the son of God, and the Holy Spirit is also God.
NO jesus was not born on Dec. Noone says He was, that was a day ppl picked to honor His birth, but when true Chritians see that it is all from paganism, as are most holidays, we must not touch any of it. We celebrate the birth, death, live and resurrection of Jesus every day, for therin lie our blessed hope. This person Mitrha has no more to do with God that easter or the satan SANTA of Christmas.
Thats all pagan stuff, and no I am not JW, I am full gospel Christian, belieiging in all of the Bible and that we must love Him enough to be saved. absolutely.
The Bible is the inspirted word of God and it was written as He told it to men, as truth. God didt write something to go along with or against anything else. He wrote what it true, and you can eitehr believe it or not.
But God says anyone bringing God to you without the teachings of Jesus is false relgion , is as antichrist, and we are to flee from it and Run to HIM and His Holy Bible, His word. His love letter to us. amen.
God doesnt run this world by the believs of others. Tho He does love us all the same, and yes He wants the pagans to give up their bleievs and run to Him also, as He loves us all so much. But its a choice. Either we turn to Him and we love Him enough to obey or we are lost
This Mithra chic has nothing to do wiht anything, other than to instill more false beliefs. Be careful what you speak, we are all held accountible for each and every word that proceeds from our mouth.

Answer 8

There's no reason to single out Mithra. That was a common trope in pagan religions of the day.

Answer 9

No.

The death of the messiah was foretold in the old testament. So therefore, it is heard of. Abraham almost had to sacrifice his own son, so what do you mean unheard of?

Yes, he was not born Dec 25th. Big deal.

Answer 10

You get it all!! BRAVO!!!!
It is why it caused the great Schism... Some part of the Roman empire did not agree with this, as their pagan religions was different from the rest of Europe.