does no one realise we are celebrating the birth of mithra?

Question

no big deal realy, just thought i would let you know.

born 25 dec, to a virgin, in a stable,600bc, oh and his resurrection is celebrated at easter. sorry to burst your bubble. .

i celebrate christmas like everyone else, i am describing the way that the early christian church used a mixture of belief systems to apeal to as many people as possible. and that in that area of the world. some of the of man-gods, were of similar origins.

Answer 1

You might be but we are not.

Mithraism is a pagan religion consisting mainly of the cult of the ancient Indo-Iranian Sun-god Mithra.

The similarity between Mithra and Christ struck even early observers, such as Justin, Tertullian, and other Church Fathers spoke of in their writings.

In recent times, some have suggested Christianity is but an adaptation of Mithraism. Against these erroneous and unscientific speculations, consider the following:

+ Christ was (and is):
. + A real historical person
. + Recently born in a well known town of Judea
. + Crucified under a known Roman governor
+ Mithra was
. + An abstraction
. + A personification not even of the sun but of the diffused daylight
. + supposed to have happened before the creation of the human race

Our knowledge regarding Mithraism is imperfect and is mostly guesswork. Our only sources are:
+ About 600 brief inscriptions
+ About 300 often fragmentary, almost identical monuments
+ A few casual references in the Fathers or Acts of the Martyrs
+ A brief document against Mithraism, which the Armenian Eznig about 450 probably copied from Theodore of Mopsuestia (d. 428) who lived when Mithraism was almost a thing of the past

Some apparent similarities exist. However, in a number of details it is quite probable that Mithraism was the borrower from Christianity. Tertullian about 200 could say: "we are but of yesterday, yet your whole world is full of us.”

It is natural to suppose that Mithraism, which filled the whole world, should have been copied at least in some details by another religion, which was quite popular during the third century.

Moreover, the resemblances pointed out are superficial and external. Similarity in words and names is nothing; it is the sense that matters.

During these centuries, Christianity was coining its own technical terms, and naturally took names, terms, and expressions current in that day; and so did Mithraism. Nevertheless, under identical terms each system thought its own thoughts.
+ Mediatory
. + Mithra is called a mediator only in a cosmogonic sense
. + Christ, being God and man, is by nature the Mediator between God and man.
+ Eucharist
. + The idea of a sacred banquet is as old as the human race and existed at all ages and amongst all peoples
+ Salvation
. + Mithra saved the world by sacrificing a bull
. + Christ by sacrificing Himself.

Differences:
+ How born:
. + Christ was born of a Virgin
. + Mithra was born from the rock.
+ Where born:
. + Christ was born in a cave
. + Mithra was born under a tree near a river

Much as been made of the presence of adoring shepherds; but their existence on Mithraic sculptures has not been proven, and considering that man had not yet appeared, it is an anachronism to suppose their presence.

The small Mithraic congregations were like Masonic lodges for a few and for men only and even those mostly of one class, the military; a religion that excludes the half of the human race bears no comparison to the religion of Christ.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10402a.htm

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

Load of cobblers. There is absolutely no historical evidence that anyone ever celebrated the birth of the Roman Mithra at all, least of all on the 25th December.

If you find web sites saying this they are simply propagating neo-pagan myths. You will not find a reference on them to any genuine evidence.

PS Same goes for the Easter story. Complete nonsense. Try asking the historians at any university. They could do with a good laugh.

PS Some people may well think they are out of the "heard" by reading garbage. They are out of the herd of the wise and into the heard of the gullible.

PS The Christian church did not use a mixture of belief systems. That was what the Romans did before - took the Greek system and then mixed in bits and pieces from all over the place. Christianity ditched all that.

Answer 3

Your argument holds no value since the examples you gave concerning Christ were all predicted in the old testament. There is no need for Christians to take anything from Mirtha, since the Old testament supports Christ independently. By the way, Many of the books of the old testament were written well before man created Mirtha.

Answer 4

Merry Mithramas

Answer 5

You are?

That's interesting.

I am celebrating.... well TODAY I celebrated the birth of little boy named Sam, who is my Sunday School class. Sweet kid, it was nice to celebrate with him.

And as to the additional comments. Its no surprise to me that Satan tries to counterfeit the work of God, how else would Satan cause the confusion in the world today?

Answer 6

no we're not.

the magical baby born at the winter solstice goes back way before jesus.

but he goes back way before mithra too.

vergil's fourth eclogue isn't about jesus or mithra (one new fangled deity, one who had not even been born in vergil's time).

it is an old story even with vergil.

it was always an old story.

Answer 7

Sheep like to be part of the heard and believe what the heard believes. They rarely stray from the heard and learn other things. some of us don't want to be sheep and we have read other materials and came to the same conclusion as you. good luck with trying to make the sheep stray from the heard!

Answer 8

Sorry, but evidence shows that Jesus was born within a Jewish bloodline.

Answer 9

thats in a godzila film mithra

Answer 10

Does celebration include drinking yourself unconscious or eating a week's supply of food in one meal?

If so, awesome