Opinion from Christians who acknowledge pagan origins...?

Question

Although there are some that refuse to believe or accept it, there are some who do acknowledge that Christianity has many beliefs and practices with pagan origins. For those that DO acknowledge this, does it affect your faith in any way? Does it affect the way you practice your faith?

I ask because I just discovered from another question that there are some Christians who do not worship on Sunday, but rather on Saturday. Origins being that Constantine made Sunday the official day of worship for Christians (who judging my his history, had some pretty confusing and conflicting beliefs).

By the way, I like long answers, so don't hold out on me! :-D

Ike :-(
Pleeeeeeeez?

John, while you were Christian, were you aware of and acknowledged its origins?

Oremus, actually, he did:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_I_of_the_Roman_Empire#Constantine.27s_legal_legacy
(see bottom of list)

I'll clarify a bit; I don't mean pagan origins as being the root of Christianity or where Christianity stemmed. I am refering to the rituals and holidays that were originally pagan, such as Sunday worship, Christmas trees, Easter origins and so forth. Seeing that so much of Christian practices originated in pagan practices, does that affect how you follow the religion? For example, do you refuse to worship on Sunday rather than Saturday? Do you avoid Christmas trees and a winter celebration of the birth of Jesus (who was not born in the winter)? Etcetera.
I'm not looking to blame anyone, but looking for the opinions of the Christians who do realize some of the pagan origins and whether or not it affects their faith or if they work in any way to avoid those things with pagan origins and attempt to stick with something closer to the original ways of Christianity...well as original as they can.

Prabhakar: not completely on topic, as you noted, but very interesting to know. Thank you for your answer!

Answer 1

Yes, it does. I refuse to take part in anything that has a pagan origin and when I did the research I was absolutely amazed at the amount of paganism that is behind the holidays and some church doctrines. i.e.:

Christmas (coincides with the pagan Roman festival marking the ‘birthday of the unconquered sun).

Easter (The Catholic Encyclopedia says: “The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility)

New Years (The Romans dedicated this day to Janus, the god of gates, doors, and beginnings.)

Halloween: (The Celts had festivals for two major gods—a sun god and a god of the dead which coincides with Halloween. )

Other holidays of the world honor famous men. Still others honor and exalt nations or worldly organizations. But the Bible warns against giving worshipful honors to humans, or trusting in human organizations to accomplish what only God can do.

Then there are the doctrins that have pagan origen:
Hell fire: ( "Early evidence of the fiery aspect of Christendom’s hell is found in the religion of ancient Egypt" according to The Book of the Dead. Depictions of hell portrayed in Catholic churches in Italy have been traced to Etruscan roots)

Immortality of the soul: (The New Encyclopædia Britannica says: “From the middle of the 2nd century AD Christians who had some training in Greek philosophy began to feel the need to express their faith in its terms, both for their own intellectual satisfaction and in order to convert educated pagans. The philosophy that suited them best was Platonism.” So, as the Britannica says, “the early Christian philosophers adopted the Greek concept of the soul’s immortality.” Even Pope John Paul II acknowledged that the immortal-soul doctrine incorporates “theories of certain schools of Greek philosophy.”)

Incidentaly, even the idea of Sunday being the Sabbath had pagan origins (“The retention of the old Pagan name of ‘Dies Solis,’ or ‘Sunday,’ for the weekly Christian festival, is, in great measure, owing to the union of Pagan and [so-called] Christian sentiment with which the first day of the week was recommended by Constantine [in an edict in 321 C.E.] to his subjects, Pagan and Christian alike, as the ‘venerable day of the Sun.’ . . . It was his mode of harmonizing the discordant religions of the Empire under one common institution.”—Lectures on the History of the Eastern Church)

Exodus 31:15,17 says “The sons of Israel must keep the sabbath, so as to carry out the sabbath during their generations. It is a covenant to time indefinite. Between me and the sons of Israel it is a sign to time indefinite.” (Notice that sabbath observance was a sign between God and Israel; this would not be the case if everyone else were also obligated to keep the Sabbath.)

Ephesians 2:14,15  For he (Christ) is our peace, he who made the two parties one and destroyed the wall in between that fenced them off. By means of his flesh he abolished the enmity, the Law of commandments consisting in decrees..."

So it was the Isrealites who were under the Mosaic Law and since those laws were abolished with the death of Christ, then Christians today aren't required to observe the Sabbath.

Answer 2

Pagan practices had many "feast days."
If Christianity share some feast days with the pagans, it does not mean (necessarily) that our roots are in paganism.
That said, however, some things do carry between the two belief systems ("THE TWO BABYLONS" by Alexander Hysloff is a good resource.)
To "reclaim" a holiday in the name of Christ is a Godly thing!

As for Constantine, Christians were already in the habit of meeting on Sundays as far back as John 20:12 and Acts 20:7. They met on Sundays to commemorate the Resurrection. Interestingly, for most first century Christians, Sabbath was still on Saturday, and Sunday was a work day.
Constantine may have made it official to differentiate from the Sabbath of the Jews, but the Church was already in the habit of Sunday meetings.
Exodus 31:13 states clearly that Sabbath was a token sign between God and the Israelites.
Saturday remains Sabbath for the Jews, and most Christians meet on Sunday.
Jehovah's Witnesses are not a Christian denomination, and Seventh Day Adventists are a fringe element of the church, having their roots in a false prophet. Adventists are considered a cult by many Christians.

Answer 3

I find that your question is directed to Christins. If so you better ignore my answer for I am not a Christian.

I am a Hindu. However, not only mine but the experience of all knowing Hindues is that these labels do not count for much.As the Archbishop of Canterbury had once remarked that Mahatma Gahdi was the greatest Christian alive of the time. Now Mahatmaji is (or ratherwas) a devout Hindu(actually he was a Jain but as I said for us Hindues these walls do not count for much) Even Charvak who was professed atheist is honored as a 'rishi' and every Hindu way of thinking (the Darshans) begin with attempts to refute Charvak's atheist arguments.I find some quotes from the Bible a verbatim copy of Upnishadic thougts(e.g. Words was the First.Word was God)As the recent book shows Christ has been to India before he started preaching(In fact there is a 'kabr'in Kashmir where Christ is supposed to have been interred and is held sacred.discounting the doctrine that he resurrected) Hindu religions also has borrowed from other religions. I,therefore,f eel that there should not be anything amiss if Christianity doing it. Sometimes when I went through some literature of the Seventh Day Adventist I smile.They look almost comic in their insistence on that doctrine. Comparatively I find the Islamic faith maligned for its orthodoxy which cosidered all the days a blessed and can undertake or start any work on any day under the doctrine"All days of of the Allah'

Please do not read this answer

If you do, please do not curse me for meddling in matters Christian. I personally feel that Mother Terressa who may be raised to Sainthood by the Pope was the Greatest Hindu/Baudha/Jains that ever trod this earth.

Answer 4

It doesn't bother me. Early Christian missionaries tried to accommodate the cultures of the people they preached to by incorporating some of the indigenous celebrations into Christianity. Thus the evergreens from the pagan Norse Yule became Christmas trees and symbols of eternal life, and the revelry of Christmas was inherited from the Roman Saturnalia, a Winter Solstice festival. The pagan Celtic Samhain, on which the spirits of the dead were thought to walk the earth, became Halloween and All Saints' Day--two rather different aspects of the same original festival! (The Orthodox Church, which is strongest in parts of the world where Samhain was never celebrated, commemorates All Saints on the Sunday after Pentecost, in late spring or early summer, as the end of the Easter season.) It seems to me that the early missionaries were sensitive enough to make such adjustments rather than try to sweep all the previous practices away and label them demonic. After all, when Paul spoke on the Areopagus (Mars' Hill) in Athens, he pointed to the altar to the Unknown God and told the Athenians that they'd been worshipping his god all along without knowing it. And in Indo-European Muslim countries, such as Iran and Afghanistan, there's a spring festival with roots in pre-Muslim time that's not celebrated in other Muslim countries.

As for the Sabbath, Paul wrote in Romans 14:5-6, "Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord."

In short, it seems that what matters is Whom we're worshipping, not necessarily how.

Answer 5

Knowing that Christianity has taken many of the religious holidays as their own. Easter, Christmas to name two that come to mind. Christians did this for a very simple reason, they took control of the people and made it illegal to worship any other gods but the One Christian God. What they found out was that the pagans continued to worship their pagan gods even if it meant going to jail or death. What the Christians did was to make the Christian holidays fall on the same days as the pagan holidays and forced the pagan to relearn who it was that they were worshiping and in the course of time the pagan god was replaced by God. It was easier for the Christians to change the dates of Christ's Birth and demise on the cross.

Answer 6

My faith is in God and not in religion. Christianity's roots are not in paganism- many of the practices and obserances of Christians today are what it rooted in paganism.
I choose to weigh everything I do and believe against the word of God. I am not willing to do something just because that was the way I was raised or because that is what all the other Christians are doing.
I ask questions and if I am going to take part in something I want to know why and where it came from.
Unfortunately most christians don't ask and have no answer for why they continue to participate in what is not Biblically based or Biblically sound. Others know the origins but are intent on clinging to the traditions of man.

My faith in God and my walk after Jesus are not changed by others interpretations or false practices


Sorry, I unserstand what you are asking now.

I believe that the laws that most people claim to be Jewish laws were laws ordained by God at the time of Creation. Jesus never said we were free from the law- the law was never meant for salvation.

I obeserve a Saturday Sabbath but I believe it is important to seperate God's instructions for Sabbath from the Jewish traditions and added laws for Sabbath.

I do not observe Christmas as "Jesus' birthday" and I do not bring a tree into my house- I observe the God ordained feasts that are true celebrations of Jesus. I don't completely ban Christmas though, it is as good a time as any to share the true gospel message (not Jesus in the manger but resurected, seated at the right hand of the Father, our redeemer, intercessor, and friend.) I take the opportunity to misister the love of Jesus by adopting a family and sharing a meal with those around me who do not have families close by.
Though I believe it is extremely important for Christians to know and understand the roots of their beliefs and practices and I believe it is of the utmost importance for the Christian to understand that the instructions of God are not null and void- but it is just as important to take every opportunity to minister the love of God - ultimately it is for God to judge the hearts of men and why they chose not to obey His laws or observe His feasts

Answer 7

IT TAKES A LONG TIME friend to show all the traditions that have been allowed into the church and accepted as if GOD HIMSELF ordained this,, in mathew 15 is just one .. when u set aside GODS LAW FOR A TRADITION NO matter how sincere u may be its still wrong! WHY IS THIS SO>>
fair question. lets say that its pitch black and u cant se ewhere u are going it appears u are heaed in the right direction but someone whispers stop , u turn around and see noone u continue again u hear stop u look around noth. ing u keep going this time u hear it again this time louder STOP!! and then u see someone just ahead of u that has a flash light u were just about to step into a large pit..
u believed sincerely in your mind the path you were on was correct but when light was shown in your direction u then saw a big pit . would all the sincerity that you believed of stopped u from falling into that pit if you had continued?. A CHRISTIAN HAS THE BIBLE TO LIGHT their path
GODS laws show us the dangerous path of wrong thinking and that it leads to death. IS it GODS FAULT then if we continue on the wrong path despite the light that shows us our path is wrong?? if we take the map he has given and pick and chose what we will believe and what we will cut out how does that affect our belief that he alone knows the right direction for us totake,,
yes too the fact that many traditions that were pagan of origin have been made into christian celebrations , easter was a high pagan festive occassion that dealt with newness of life celebrated with drunkenness and sexual orgies . the catholic church wanted toreach pagans so it stated that this holiday represented the ressurection of christ to its followers in order for pagans to be accepted a compromise was reached just as idol worshipping was outlawed they now can become acceptable by making the god jupiter into peter the goodeess of fertility is now the virgin mary .
i give u a link u choose what to do with it yourself ---------- i want add one thing its sign the sabbth of creation not for just isreal were we not all created was the sabbth then only for the jews to believe and obey? are gentiles free to obey the other 9 commandments and choose to worship on the venerable day of the sun thus giving honor and glory to another??
Does this actually make sence?? GOD states we are his BY RITE of creation we blong to him !! Are we then free to worship whatever and who ever and how ever and whenever we please then?? IS this sound thinking? AT CREATION was adam a jew?? marriage also was given at creation is this then only for jews then?? wait YES WAIT!! IF THE SAABTH was to be for the jews only then marriage also given at creation is also for the jews only for both of these institutions were given before man sinned. WE are not free to se aside the 4th commandment without throwing out marriage also if that be the case ;; for both marraige and the 7th day sabbath were given to mankind at the beginning of creation, its only logical that you either except both or reject both u cant do either or ...... bro murray

Answer 8

There are many many pagan influences on the churches of today.
Christianity, with all its denominations, has adapted some of the pagan ceremonies, and has dogmatically avoided other pagan beliefs.
It has not affected the amount of faith I have, for God has given us His written word, a doctrine of salvation that frees us from the religions and customs of mankind. He has also proclaimed His word to be the truth, and not to change His word.
Knowing that, then our afterlife is dependent on those things that He makes clear to us by His word. He knew mankind would choose to manufacture conditions for salvation.
My faith is in God, because He gave an unconditional promise of salvation, a salvation independent on man's observance of the law's of the old testament. He, in fact, say no one was "justified by the law''.
So with that little bit said, God has given us freedom from the bondage and customs of men, pagan or non-pagan, well meaning or deluded.
My faith rests in Him, and not the traditions of men.

Answer 9

Christians have to be careful how they worship. Because we know that Satan will infiltrate The Church, we must watch for areas where he has compromised God's Word.

For instance, we are told to remember Christ's death and resurrection...nothing said remember His birth...

As for Saturday or Sunday worship, Constantine did make Sunday the official day of worship. However, true Christians worship everyday, so it doesn't matter. Our church bodies getting together for worship and fellowship is what counts most to God, I believe.

Answer 10

True Christians don't practice any of these pagan beliefs. and those who profess to be Christians that do are false whether intentional or unintentional.
This also includes all professed Christian holidays.
Saturday was the seventh day under the Mosaic Law code, but Christians are no longer bound by that law.