ateista << There is almost nothing in Christianty which is truly “new”. The halo around the saint’s heads was borrowed from the Egyptian sun-worshippers. Christmas was borrowed from the pagan winter solstice celebrations - the renewal of nature (though Christmas is off by a few days). Virgin birth was borrowed from other old religions. >>
The halo comes not from the Egyptians, but from the Greeks/Romans. The use of halos in Christian iconography is simply the Church recognizing the usefulness of an artistic motif. (See my
The Da Vinci Code Fraud article)
Here are your differences. What the pagan myths teach:
– central to the mysteries was the annual vegetation cycle where life is renewed each spring and died each fall; the cults found symbolic and spiritual significance in the natural process of growth, death, decay, and rebirth;
– many mystery religions involved secret ceremonies, sometimes in connection with an initiation rite, with esoteric knowledge revealed to the participant;
– a basic element was a myth in which the deity dies or “disappears” (and then “returns” or “revives” or “reappears” or is “restored”) and otherwise triumphs over enemies;
– unlike the early Christians, the mysteries had little use for correct doctrine, dogma, or belief; they were primarily concerned with the emotional state of their followers and appealed to the imagination;
– the immediate goal was a mystical or religious experience in order to achieve union with their god, or otherwise some kind of “salvation” of the soul or immortality or deification.
What Christians believe about Christ in contrast to the pagan gods:
– none of the so-called “savior-gods” died for someone else; Jesus Christ the Son of God died in place of His creatures (1 Cor 15:3-4; Romans 5:6-8; 1 John 2:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Tim 2:4-6) which is unique to Christianity;
– only Jesus died on the cross for sin, the pagan gods are never claimed to die for sins; they were not crucified (there are in fact NO “crucified saviors” other than Jesus) but died violently by other means (self-emasculation; hunting accident; ripped apart by wild boars or the Titans or crazed women or jealous brothers; etc);
– Jesus died once for all (Heb 7:27; 9:25-28; 10:10-14); many of the pagan gods were vegetation deities whose repeated death and “rebirth” depicted the annual cycle of nature; it is a mythical drama with no historical ties;
– the early Christian church believed its proclamation of Jesus’ one-time death upon the cross and bodily resurrection is grounded upon what actually happened in history (“we are witnesses of these things” cf. Acts 1:1-4; 1:8; 2:32; 3:15; 5:32; 10:39-41; Luke 1:1-4; 24:48; 1 John 1:1-3; 2 Peter 1:16).
– unlike the pagan gods, Jesus dies voluntarily (John 10:10-18; Phil 2:5-11);
– Jesus’ death was not a defeat but a triumph (1 Cor 15:54-58; Col 2:14-15; 2 Tim 1:10; cf. September 14 is the “Feast of the Triumph of the Cross” or the “Exaltation of the Cross,” the “Elevation of the Cross,” etc; the liturgy of the Cross is a triumphant liturgy).
A summary of Ronald Nash The Gospel and the Greeks (2003) concluding section:
– The arguments of the “syncretist case” illustrates the logical fallacy of first cause: mere coincidence or similarity does not prove dependence or causal connection;
– Many alleged similarities between Christianity and the mystery religions are either exaggerated or simply false; there are no other crucified and resurrected saviors besides Jesus Christ;
– The chronology is wrong: almost all of our sources of information for supposed Christian “parallels” with pagan religions are very late (i.e. post-Christian); these include Adonis (2nd to 5th century AD); Attis (5th century AD); Mithras (late 1st century AD and beyond); the “crucified” Orpheus amulet (3rd or 4th century AD, but probably a fake); the “resurrection and ascension” of Krishna (the complete text known from the 1st century AD); this is too late for the New Testament writers themselves to have been influenced by such accounts;
– the full development of the mystery religions occurred in the 2nd century and later (with the exception of the Greek Dionysos) and we must distinguish between the different forms of the cults; the later forms are not necessarily present in the earlier forms;
– The apostles would not have borrowed from the pagan religions since their training and background was in Judaism (Phil 3:5); they rejected the alien speculations of syncretism and gnosticism (Col 2:7-8; 1 Tim 4:1-5; 1 John 4:1-6);
– any genuine parallels that exist reflect an ascendant Christian influence on the dying pagan systems; furthermore, since Jesus, His apostles, and many of their first disciples were all Jews, Christianity’s doctrinal roots, rituals, and liturgy lay in Judaism not paganism;
– Christianity is a monotheistic religion (one God) and an exclusive faith (John 14:6; Acts 4:12) with a definite body of doctrine (the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation of Christ, the sacraments, one revelation from God through Christ to His apostles passed on through Scripture and Tradition, an apostolic succession and hierarchy of bishops to safeguard that doctrine, etc);
– The religion of the apostles and their successors was grounded in events that actually happened in history at a particular place and time (the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth); the mysticism and mythology of the mystery cults was essentially non-historical.
From my
Pagan Parallel “Saviors” Examined
Also my
All About Horus: An Egyptian Copy of Christ?
Phil P
Whether or not you change your mind is not the point. You have gone to where this man wouldn’t dare to go. And you’re daring to dialogue. Kudos to you, my friend.