Do you realize the character of Jesus was borrowed from an earlier myth?
Mithras, a Zoroastrian sun god who gained special popularity in the Roman empire just before Christianity:
Was born of a virgin on December 25th, in a cave, attended by shepherds
Was considered a great traveling teacher and master
Had 12 companions or disciples
Promised his followers immortality
Performed miracles
Sacrificed himself for world peace
Was buried in a tomb and after three days rose again
Was celebrated each year at the time of His resurrection (later to become Easter)
Was called "the Good Shepherd"
Was identified with both the Lamb and the Lion
Was considered to be the "Way, the Truth and the Light," and the "Logos," "Redeemer," "Savior" and "Messiah."
Celebrated Sunday as His sacred day (also known as the "Lord's Day,")
Celebrated a Eucharist or "Lord's Supper"
Isn't this a pretty big coincidence??
Believers, doesn't this make you think twice about the validity of the bible?
2007-07-20 17:20:42 · 39 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
It's all true people, Google it instead of getting all bent.
2007-07-20 17:35:37 · update #1
As a Gnostic I’ve studied this and it’s certain that Christianity borrowed heavily from Zoroastrianism. Mithras predates Gnostics and Gnostics predate Christianity.
In fact the “Magi” or wise men from the east were certainly Zoroastrians and in all likelihood were added to the story after the fact in an effort to credibly receive validation from the Zoroastrian faith.
From Gnostic philosophy one comes to see that nothing physical is in fact divine. Therefore the literal physical events are secondary to the spiritual events. Since all spiritual things are outside of our spatial reality and outside time spiritually inspired prophecy can and does foretell future events. A spiritual event will create echoes of itself throughout history, the bigger the event the stronger the echoes.
The concept of the savior God is common in most cultures. A few would be Anhur, Heracles, Hercules, Horus, Houyi, Mithras , Odin, Susanoo, and Zeus. All have similarities to the story of Jesus one way or another. For example Odin was tied upside down on the one tree in a form of crucifixion, after nine days without food or water he received a revelation “from a Word to a Word I was led to a Word” which led to written language. Even the symbology associated with “Word” indicates a revelation from something beyond Odin just as Jesus the “Word” received knowledge from the invisible “Father.”
The story of Jesus is simply the strongest echo of the spiritual event known as “Christ” the second strongest was Mithras the third Melchesidec etc. The physical manifestation is extreme and secondary to the personal manifestation where people come to understand the Christ principle from any source that is understandable to their experience and ability to comprehend.
Christianity is intended to be a simplification because everyone should be able to understand love. But people desire a God of war and confrontation, wielding domination, judgment, and punishment. Men desiring to worship Mars have ever found ways to bend the teachings of Jesus until he has become Mars. A rose by any other name smells as sweet. Any outside observer has to look at Christianity and wonder how it went from “Love your enemies” and “Turn the other cheek” to “Those that aren’t with us are against us” and “an eye for an eye”
I hope people will again understand what John meant by “If we know nothing else we know that God is love.” It is the standard we must test all our assumptions of what God expects from us against. If we agree that God is love then we know when given two choices to choose the more loving of the two. I have so much more to say but …
God love you all.
Blessed Be!
2007-07-20 18:59:54 · answer #1 · answered by ♥Gnostic♥ 4 · 4⤊ 2⤋
You know what I never see from Christians who are trying to "persuade" others to believe as they do with endless bible verses? Few can give a sincere reason why they believe. They quote verses to death, as you point out, but rarely do you hear anyone say why they personally believe this to be true. You cannot "decide" to believe something or not--you either do or you don't. WHY do you believe other than "because this book says I should"? Do you pray and find that Jesus answers? Have you had a vision or an experience that convinced you? That might not necessarily convert someone, but at least there would be some substance. The trouble with the Bible-worshipping/Bible-is-equal-to-God thought is that it's fairly recent. Until 200 years ago or so, the majority of the world was illiterate. People did not have their own bibles in their homes, because they couldn't read them. Even in the Medieval times, the nobles and even kings were not always able to read--they had a scribe to do that same as they had a cook to prepare their food. You can get anyone to quote some words, but the only people I consider to be true followers of Christ are the ones who actually live it. And they are NEVER the ones who are telling you that you will roast in hell if you don't listen to them.
2016-04-01 04:42:26 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
From your description, I agree with you that there are some resemblance between Jesus and this sun god but from the sources provided, it seems that the accounts weren't reliable.
Is Jesus borrowed from an earlier myth? If the divine nature and the acts of Jesus were fakes and all these were fabrication by himself or his early church disciples, would people throw their lives away for a lie that they themselves made up? Did proclaiming Jesus give these people wealth, honour and glory? Many of these people were stoned, jailed or crucified. I'm a thinking individual so I definitely won't die for a lie. I believe that the people in the past would also, at the very least, have that level of capacity to treasure their lives. Would you die for a lie? Therefore, Jesus is authentic and not borrowed.
About the validity, if the bible is the word of God then everything in it must be true. A single falsehood in it would validate that the bible to be is false. We have entered a new millennium and yet, till this day, no one has been successful in proving or finding one solid point that was not questionable in their attempt to overthrow the bible. Have you succeeded in doing so through this question that you have posted? If not, then the bible is valid.
The question isn't so much of who is real and who is not and if the divinity of Jesus is a borrowed idea of another source. I think there is a need to refine this question. Questions of this sort require the inquirer to be personal. If not you will be on an endless journey of reproducing millions of questions without finding an answer that satisfies you.
I feel that your intention of this question is to stumble the faith of my brothers and sisters in Christ and not trying to find answers or invoking reflection within yourself. I hope that at the end of the day, you ask yourself, "Did Jesus really came, died and rose again so that I may be saved?"
2007-07-21 00:24:15 · answer #3 · answered by chow j 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Jesus was not unique. There were many Gods who died and came back, had a virgin mommy, and a birthday near the Winter Solstice. (I'm not a Christian, but I studied the Mithraic Mysteries quite a bit.) The problem is that Jesus' birthday really wasn't in winter, but it's celebrated then because Christianity absorbed a lot of Pagan traditions. If the Mithraic Mysteries allowed women to participate, Mithras would have beat out Jesus. The religion flourished in the 1st century CE, along with Christianity, but it began to die out at the end of the 4th century.
Anyway, Mithras was a Roman God, who originated from Persia. He wasn't a Zoroastrian God. Ahura Mazda was the Zoroastrian God, who killed a bull like Mithras.
As for the idea that the Romans copied of the Christians is absurd. While Mithraism became popular about the same time as Christianity, it's origins are older than Jesus. The early Christians were quite secretive, and so there were many misconceptions that the Romans had - like the Christians drowned babies (baptism) and ate people (communion).
2007-07-20 17:34:27 · answer #4 · answered by Mrs. Pears 5 · 5⤊ 1⤋
It looks like Christians are answering you now doesn't it. Mithras is said to be born from a COSMIC EGG Not of Holy Spirit/woman but cosmic egg. Wow! See crystalinks.com for verification of the above. It's interesting that Mithras has the word myth in it's spelling. Myth, as in not real, fictitious story, imaginary. As many have pointed out, the Old Testament of the Bible was written a LONG time before the birth of Jesus. Jesus was foretold in the Old Testament. Read Psalm 22 v1,7,14,15,1617,18. This was written well before the time of Christ. Now read Luke 23:v.33,36, sound familiar? Also Mark 15 v29, 33. I think this speaks for itself.
2007-07-20 18:16:24 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Mithras was very popular among Roman soldiers in particular, that much I do know. Are there any websites or anything to back up what you're saying? There are too many coincidences, and I'm curious...
BTW, the current belief according to some astronomers and historians is that Jesus may have been born in April actually.
2007-07-20 17:30:48 · answer #6 · answered by ? 4 · 4⤊ 1⤋
Thats all fine and dandy. But all Christians know that Jesus wasnt born on December 25,we know He was born on or about September 29,5 BC, we just celebrate CHRIST mass on December 25th
2007-07-21 04:16:37 · answer #7 · answered by tebone0315 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The messianic prophecies fulfilled by Jesus predate the origins of Mithras. Also, Mithras became popular after Jesus, which gives evidence that the story was changed as it was influenced by the messiah Jesus. I encourage you to keep seeking and not be fooled by cunningly devised fables. Don't miss out on the greatest thing that could ever happen to you. I want to see you in the Kingdom. You are precious in God's sight but He will not force His love on you.
Have you ever read the genealogy between Adam and Noah in Genesis 5? The translation of the names spells out the gospel.
Adam: Man
Seth: Appointed
Enosh: Mortal
Kenan: Sorrow;
Mahalalel: The Blessed God
Jared: Shall come down
Enoch: Teaching
Methuselah: His death shall bring
Lamech: The Despairing
Noah: Rest
2007-07-20 17:28:50 · answer #8 · answered by wassupmang 5 · 1⤊ 5⤋
The character of THE LORD JESUS CHRIST was a first hand witness account of the four gospel writers and also St Paul who said he personally saw THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. Thus, they must have a resemblance of past histories but they were not copied from them. On one hand, satan the ruler of this world deceives the whole humanity and confuses men and divides and conquer them. Satan is the invisible participant of all human affairs and his roles is to deceive mankind. Thus, be careful of satan's deceptions.
2007-07-20 18:21:54 · answer #9 · answered by Prophet John of the Omega 5 · 1⤊ 2⤋
It would be a coincidence, if 90% of it weren't internet rumor. Study up on Christianity, Mithras, and the ancient Mystery religions. This list confuses several ancient Deities, and makes up other information from scratch.
Nostradamus did not predict 911, Mr. Rogers was not a Navy Seal, and Jesus was not a copy of Mithras.
2007-07-20 17:26:26 · answer #10 · answered by NONAME 7 · 4⤊ 4⤋