Why is Christianity littered with Pagan symbology?

Question

I mean God told us not to worship Pagan Gods and here we are using Pagan symbology to worship God.

Christmas trees, the fish symbol, eggs, stars, crosses, the robes of priests, baptism, marriage, paintings and icons, the praying position, the position of arms raised to give thanks, the last word of the bible Amen (roots in Egyptian Gods), Sunday (day of worship is the day of the sun), the chalice, The trinity, Christmas (falls on the a day of celebration of many Pagan Gods from rome to Scandanavia and is also the winter solstice), holly, mistletoe, being born of a virgin (Attis).

Is Christianity just Paganism in disguise? Is it just a streamlined version of worship where we worship all the Gods in one? Instead of worshipping Monday to Friday we can do it all on Sundays and a few special holidays.

MILES P that doesn't explain why we have to use Pagan symbols and not Christian Symbols. I'm finding it very difficult to think of a Christian symbol that doesn't have roots in Paganism.

Kieth, your argument suggests that we basicaly bribed most of the world into becoming Christians, but Christians yesterday (see my other questions) argue that God was already known to them!!! God is innately known to us all.

Answer 1

That these ancient myths and customs gradually became an integral part of the Christian religion is not surprising, although it forms one of the mostinteresting and unusual chapters in the development of religions. We may assume, even though he contradicts us, that what makes the Christian shudder is his own abysmal inconsistency, which he has spent nearly two thousand years in furious contentions trying to explain away. It was the avowed purpose of the early Christians to break down nature worship, which in a profligate age, had degenerated into licentious rites as indecent as they were corrupting. By their implacable persistency, the Christians succeeded in closing the temples and destroying the gods. Their mistake in not being able to dissociate a degenerate form of worship from the object worshipped, has dogged them ever since. The Church itself soon saw that neither religions nor human beings can separate themselves from God's highest revelation to man and live; that to be in tune with the Infinite one must be subtly, mystically in tune with nature which throbs and vibrates to the harmonies of Life.

Take for instants the Pentagram
The pentagram is one of the most widely used religious symbols in the world and has been used by Wiccans, Pagans, Israelites, Christians, magicians amongst others. But what is its origin. A pentagram is a five-pointed star with one point aligned upwards (when surrounded by a circle, it's known as a 'pentacle') and its name derives from the Greek words "penta", meaning five and the word "gamma", meaning letter.During the time of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament), the pentacle was the first and most important of the Seven Seals- an amulet whose seven seals represented the seven secret names of God. And each point of the pentagram represents the five books of the Pentateuch- the first books of the Hebrew Scriptures. Christians traditionally interpreted the pentagram as the five crucifixion wounds of Christ (two on the hands, two on the feet and one on the side) and it was used to represent the star that led the Three Wise Men to baby Jesus. However, in later Christianity, this folk symbol of security became associated with evil for the first time. Christians believed the pentagram represented a goat's head or the devil and called it "Witch's foot."
The religion of Wicca is loosely based on that of the Celts and, even today, the pentagram and pentacle are its main symbols. Wiccans use the pentagram symbol to cast and banish their healing circles, to bless themselves and others by tracing the shape on their bodies and often wear the pentacle or pentagram on pieces of jewellery. Some Wiccans interpret the five points as the five elements- earth, air, water, fire and spirit, while others interpret them as the four directions and the spirit.
It is Human nature to incorporate interpretive the Divine in many sacred items.The choice is yours what you want to gain from this in spirit.
Awen/|\Omness

Answer 2

Pagan Symbology

Answer 3

The answers to this is quite simple. One Paganism preceeded Christianity for thousands of years. Once Christianity took hold they decided that everyone had to be Christian. The Church of Rome was more about political control than real Christianity and one of the easiest ways to get everyone incorporated into the system was to incorporate pagan practices into the Christian church and set Christian festivals at the same time of year as Pagan ones, hence Yule became Christmas and it became an 'historical fact' that the Virgin Mary gave birth to the new born Jesus at the same time of year as the Pagan God was reborn of the Goddess. Easter with its symbols of death and rebirth was placed at the same time of year as the Pagan festival of Ostara which also celebrates the idea of rebirth and so on. All of the pagan symbols associated with the pagan festivals were incorporated into the Christian church at the same time. Of course a lot of the new congregation also had leanings towards paganism and practised these aspects of the faith more than they did the Christianity.

Paganism had to be quashed so therefore incorporat it after all Christianity has always been about one thing keeping the proles where you want them by telling them they must accept their lot in life in order to gain heaven.

Answer 4

The answer is very simple. In order for the Christians to convert Pagans over to Christianity. They had to go at it
by winning over the hearts and minds of the pagan people. They took some of the Pagan holidays and beliefs and Incorporated them into Christianity. Thus it was much easier to convert them since some of their former beliefs and symbols were associated with the new religion. We have retained those symbols and beliefs to this day. It was a give = win situation for the Christians. Give a little, win over a lot.
Hope this helps

Answer 5

Taking all sorts of stuff from random sources and using them as symbols for whatever they mean to you (as opposed to what they might mean to others) sounds a bit like Chaos Magic - that idea's spread a bit over the years, so not too uncommon. I thin there's an element of that in a lot of people's practices. That said, there's a certain amount of respect that needs to be given to certain symbols and rites. Some things are very sacred, and very powerful, and quite a few Pagans have been more than happy to snap up whatever they can get their hands on with little thought to what sort of impact it might have. The devil's in the details, so to speak, and ignoring those details can cause a lot of friction, either with the gods, or with their human followers. Let me use a non-Pagan example that a lot of people might be familiar with - Catholic Communion. You're not supposed to take the wafer if you're not Catholic, and haven't gone to confession recently. If a non-Catholic came along and wanted to use some sort of bread in a religious ceremony, that's fine - but if they wanted to use Communion wafers, and *call* it Communion, I'd fully expect Catholics to be up in arms. Same thing with other religions. Some things might be small, or might not be enough to get riled over - but there's other things that are pretty major. My recommendation, before appropriating anything, is to do some research and speak with a practitioner or three if possible.

Answer 6

Societies and culture are never brand new. Always past influences will spice rites and ideas.

Differently than people usually think, nothing happens from one day to another. Middle East conflicts are buried in many centuries of facts and influences. Same happen to the Jew persecution and xenophobic behaviour from few countries in Western Europe.

Christianism is mainly based on Hebrew culture and had influences as modern society had being developed. Hebrew had strong influences from Egyptians and more ancient tribes in eastern Middle East.

There is a word for that: syncretism. As Christian empire expanded, a lot of images and rites were being absorbed and more and more pagan symbols were being adapted.

Another interesting thing is what Marx said: History repeats itself.
And nothing is keep immutable.

Answer 7

Many religions combine and end up woth some sort of mixed symbology.

Basically, Christians had a hard time converting the northern europeans 1,500 years ago. Rather than telling them they were wrong and the bible is correct, the laid christianity over the top of the pagan beliefs. They said things like....winter solstice is actually celebratring the birth of Christ. It was easier to lead them into chuch this way and slowly change the beliefs over a few generations that dismissing entriely the current beliefs.

Answer 8

Christianity is built on the combination of Vesta and Isis, and incorporates most,but not all, of the jewish laws. Therefore it must follow that the original symbols were in fact pagan. Even some of the modern RC traditions date back to the temple of Vesta. Such as celebrate priests and nuns. In order to expand thier cult they just took in any pagan religion that they came in contact with and assimilated their feasts and symbols.

Answer 9

Yes, it is. The first responder has given you the best answer. I would just like to add why christianity usurped paganism. In paganism, male and female roles were complimentary and equal. Women were healers and had alot of power in communities.

When leaders recognized the power of religion to control people and profit, they focused on creating "one" religion and forcing everyone to join or die. Paganism was co-opted in order to make the transition more palatable and reduce the resistence of the pagans. Especially women were villanized, and the witch hunts taught women and men not to seek equity or protest.

There never was a christ, or if there was an actual man, he was nothing of what you find in the bible. Just as interesting, there is a book called "Jesus and Buddha" Take a look at it, because every "red letter" quote from Jesus in the bible, was spoken (word for word) by the Buddha 600 years earlier.

There is nothing orignal in the bible... nothing. It's all rehashed mythology.

Answer 10

“There is strong reason to believe that St. Paul fabricated the belief system of Christianity from Zoroastrian mythology. In order to hide Paul’s plaigerism… Christians burned the library of Alexandria in 390 A.D. Books in that library kept Mithra’s original story of what Pauline Doctrine is an almost exact copy. (George Sarton , Introduction to History of Sciences) ,

Although Nontrinitarian beliefs continued to multiply, and among some people (such as the Lombards in the West) it was dominant for hundreds of years afterward, the Trinitarians gained the immense power of the Roman Empire. Nontrinitarians typically argue that the primitive beliefs of the Christianity were systematically suppressed (often to the point of death), and that the historical record, perhaps also including the Scriptures of the New Testament, was altered as a consequence.

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

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