Catholics come from pagans?

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Hi I was wondering if this was true some people say that some catholic things they got from the pagans like the last rites,rosary etc and it was made up the the RCC so did some things come from the pagans ?
Thanks for your help 🙂
 
=Chuck1;8436107]Hi I was wondering if this was true some people say that some catholic things they got from the pagans like the last rites,rosary etc and it was made up the the RCC so did some things come from the pagans ?
Thanks for your help 🙂
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NOPE!

When presented with these nonsense claims: ask and “your evidence of this is?”[Make them prove it with hard evidence], and go from there.👍
 
Catholicism “borrowed” superficial customs from pre-christian societies to ease their transition. However, most pagan cultures were actually heavily influenced by Catholicism, and not visa-versa.
 
Chuck1 said:
Hi I was wondering if this was true some people say that some catholic things they got from the pagans like the last rites,rosary etc and it was made up the the RCC so did some things come from the pagans ?
Thanks for your help 🙂
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We all come from pagans. We are born pagans, then baptized into Christ 😉

As for practices, there can only be so many things to do in the world. Those who wish to make up anti-Catholic propaganda would find fault at anything. If we do something else other than these things they are complaining against, they’ll link it to some other thing in an effort to discredit the Church.
 
There are 2 lines of thought on this.

The first one is: Catholicism has customs and traditions found in Judaism. That cannot be denied, but remember that the Gentiles (non Jewish) converted and joined the church as well. It is very likely that some pagan traditions were modified towards Christianity brought into the Church over the years Christians are human and the Church in her wisdom has accepted these things that have been adapted to be in line with the Church. Namely many of the things you mentioned.

The second line of thought for the more fundamental types:

Satan is wily and while not omniscient has limited ability to know what will come and so he introduced to the pagans things that would be later identified as Christian so as to confuse the people and keep them from the truth. If you look through literature and history you will see many events that seem to happen before they happened in Christianity. There are stories of floods and virgin births that supposedly happened long before the flood in the Bible and the birth of our Savior. It is highly likely that it is just Satan throwing things out there to confuse us and keep us from the Lord.

I personally believe it’s a little bit of both.
 
I think that to some extent “pagan” gets applied to any and all customs established before societies or cultures become Christianized. Things like giving each other a wedding ring are not “Christian” per se. If you want to call it pagan, okay, but it’s not sinful or dangerous, either.
 
JHow said:
I think that to some extent “pagan” gets applied to any and all customs established before societies or cultures become Christianized. Things like giving each other a wedding ring are not “Christian” per se. If you want to call it pagan, okay, but it’s not sinful or dangerous, either.
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Good point. If people who are pagan can be baptized and become Christian, why cannot be practices be baptized and become Christian? Christ sought to renew, not to create.
 
I find it sickening. I mean, when you’re Pagan, other Pagans seem like great people and everything they do is great.

Then ya come back to the church and see upside-down crosses, Pagan rosaries and lots of things that mock Catholicism, and it’s just like…ewwwww.

Not that all intend to mock Catholicism, but I think “they know not what they do.”
 
So is it yes or no then , what would Jesus say about using pagan/ adapted things in the scared church ? Or not ?
 
To be frank, all religions in the world does have some custom that’s similar to each other
 
TradionalWay said:
To be frank, all religions in the world does have some custom that’s similar to each other
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Very true, but this reality is often misinterpreted.

Many say “see all the religions have things in common” and jump to the conclusion that the Catholic faith is nothing special, merely one among many.

This is false.

The reality is that all faiths contain some elements of truth, some more or less than others, because all faiths trace their roots back to the same source. We are all descendants of Adam and all peoples had knowledge of God’s revelation. Following the destruction of the Tower of Babel, humanity was scattered and languages were confused. Each group of people had some knowledge of the truth, but it was corrupted by sin.

Pax and God Bless.
 
Some Catholic and Christian practices predate the time of Christ, or the evangelization of a specific part of the world, and converts from these pre-Christian indigenous religions retained some customs, giving them a Christian connotation. So the customs became Christianized, and accepted by the Church. Some of the more popular ones became widespread. That doesn’t mean that the customs remain “pagan.”

One custom that immediately comes to mind are quite a few of the popular practices associated with Christmas (Christmas tree, the celebration of Christ’s nativity near the time of the winter solstice, holly used in decoration, and so forth.) The December date corresponded with the ancient Roman feast of Saturnalia. From what I learned, early Christian converts started celebrating the birth of Christ when their Roman polytheistic neighbors were celebrating the winter solstice. The Church fathers approved, and the practice caught on, incorporating, eventually, other elements (the exchange of gifts in commemoration of the gifts brought to Jesus by the Magi) with more Biblical overtones. Some Germanic/Nordic people who used to bring pine trees indoors found that they gave the evergreen the connotation of eternal life, and voila! Over a period of several centuries, you have Christmas, complete with trees, gifts, and so forth.

Some rather dour Christians determined that all Christmas practices such as feasting, etc, because of the roots in pre-Christian times, were offensive to God: The Pilgrims “celebrated” Christmas by studying Scripture. That’s it. Christmas celebrations were actually outlawed in some colonial communities. Even today, there are a few denominations that forbid the observance of Christmas.

Rather joyless, isn’t it?

Permitting some customs to continue to exist adds much to the joy and expressiveness of our faith. That seems like the church leadership in old times knew what they were doing in terms of engaging people more fully in the practice of our religion.

Be careful about intellectually mixing up pre-Christian indigenous religious expressions with the modern forms of paganism. They are decidedly not the same thing.
 
Thanks for all your answers and I looked up the links but I still can’t find a straight answers is Catholicism and the things we do more pagan than christen or was it pagan in the first place? What would god say ?
 
=Chuck1;8438430]Thanks for all your answers and I looked up the links but I still can’t find a straight answers is Catholicism and the things we do more pagan than christen or was it pagan in the first place? What would god say ?
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Being as clear as can be: NO! Catholism and Christianity are NOT founded on any pagan practices.

The foundation for this frabrications lies in the act of offering sacrifieces to “gods.” [plural]… Informed and practicing Jews DID NOT offer to “gods” BUT to the One and only TRUE GOD. Period!

In the same way that Catholics and Christians offer sacrifice; pray too and worship only the One True God [Triune in being].

What precisely makes YOU put any belief in this lie? If you can be more specific; so then can I.👍

God Bless you,
Pat
 
Hi thanks for answering I get it now , I didn’t have any belief in it but people keep saying it to me so I wanna know what to say , thanks again everyone
 
This question of pagan influences on Christianity, including Catholicism, often has come to my attention.
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 These are three of the areas which have caused me to wonder.

 Mary - all the veneration of Mary, and doctrines that seem so similar to various goddesses of ancient time. Queen of Heaven, for example, Immaculate Conception. Assumption. Sinless life. Doesn't the Bible say "all have sinned and fallen short...."?

  Transubstantiation - the teaching that bread and wine become the actual body and blood of Christ. Certain religions,such as Mithraism had somewhat similar ideas. Eucharistic adoration appears to be pushed again by the Church. Hm. Could this be where Christianity and paganism come very close to one another?

   Saints - in reading it seems that at least some of the saints were 'baptized community heroes and heroines' that predated Christianity. The notion that they can somehow influence God when we pray to them for assistance has puzzled me. Like they are demigods and goddesses to have powers separate from God. I never understood, for example, how St. Anthony of Padua helps us find lost items. Etc. Seems that most of the women saints were virgins??? That strikes me as not Christian where family is so properly emphasized.

   My favorite aspects of the Church are the comfort it provides believers, the ways in which it reaches out to those in need, the selfless service of priests and nuns, its schools and hospitals, and the gospel of love that is at its core. Doctrines that can serve as strait jackets for our minds are secondary. We are 'saved' by following the example of Christ as best we can, together with a simple faith in Him, rather than reciting creeds, receiving communion, etc. See Matt. 25:31ff again. 

  But God bless everybody - of every creed, color, culture and country. Let us make religion a bridge rather than a barrier.
 
There is SOME truth to that statement, but it is primarily false.

There is absolutely NO evidence of exactly when Jesus was born. The Gospels would indicate that it was at a time OTHER than winter, but the actual time of year is NOT known.

In the early days of Christianity, there was a winter festival that was widely celebrated by most “religions”, including by early Christians. So, the Church chose to set Christmas, the celebration of the birth of Christ, at that time, to eliminate the pagan celebration.

But rosaries, etc are used by MANY religions. They are not sacraments, they are merely used to count the decades of the rosary. You could easily do exactly the same thing with your fingers (and I do when I say the Rosary in bed).

Mary is in no way treated as a “Goddess”. Only those that are completely u familiar with the Catholic Church would make such a charge.

Many of these things remind me of the extreme stories I was told in my maternal grandfather’s church (he was the minister) before I was first sent to a Catholic boarding school. I was fed a litany of tales about the pope being the Devil Incarnate on earth; that all Nuns had to have babies that were sacrificed at “Black Masses”, etc., etc.

We had people come to our church that claimed to be former Nuns and Priests, and they told those, and much more lurid tales. it was all false of course, but i did not know that then.

When my mother informed me that I was going into a Catholic Boarding School (1 hours notice), I was terrified. I literally thought she was turning me over to the devil. It took less than 3 days to learn that everything i had been taught about Catholics was false (and I was only 9 years old at the time).

I have had many Protestants (including family members) try to tell me all kinds of things about Catholics and the Catholic Church. I don’t try to convert them, I just laugh and say, “You obviously are brain washed, and know absolutely nothing accurate about the Catholic Church”. If you would ever like to learn the truth, please visit with a Priest, and learn the truth.
 
All of the accusations against the Catholic Church of being a mixture of Christianity and Paganism arose with heretical or schismatic sects which broke away from the Church many years later. All accusations have been refuted, but as is the case with anything else, no proof is good enough for some. Someone mentioned a wedding ring formally being a Pagan symbol. This is true. A few years ago a Presbyterian minister was talking with me and he accused the Church of incorporating paganist rituals, symbols and practices. He said that the Church had demolished or half demolished statues of pagan gods and replaced them with figures of Jesus and Mary, which he thought offered proof of his theory. I pointed out to him how illogical his argument was. The Church had replaced Pagan gods with the True God. He then said something like; “well I wouldn’t have anything remotely smelling of paganism associated with my Christian Faith” - I then pointed out the fact that he wore a wedding ring, and old pagan symbol.

He then came back with a reply like: “well that used to be used by pagans, but Christians have rid it of its pagan symbolism and meaning and it is used in a Christ centred context expressing the permanence of Marriage willed by the Lord” - I said to him “you would make a good Catholic apologist, because you have just refuted your own accusations and explained how pagan symbols can be turned into Christian ones”. He was left with no other answer, but turned to talking about how his children would not be allowed those “Pagan Easter eggs”.

I guess this is the problem we face. People say “you cannot prove there is a God” - yes we can, but you will probably accept no proof we can offer. The same applies to anti-Catholics, misinformed and hardened in their attitude so that no refutation or argument, no matter how convincing, will be enough. If nothing else, this just goes to prove that you cant convert people with purely intellectual arguments, logic and Scripture etc. The Grace of God must be present, and He alone knows to whom He will give it.
 
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