I understand that, but what I’ve been googling and trying to find out is if Christianity was copied from MITRA.
nope not at all like our God
Mithra’s birthday was December 25 and that was grafted onto Christianity during the 3rd or 4th centuries. While Jesus was born of a women, the birth of Mithra is in no way similar. There’s nothing at all about a manger, three magi, etc. Some claimed Mithra was born of a virgin; he wasn’t born of a women at all. According to scholars,
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In Mithraic Studies it stated that Mithras was born as an adult from solid rock, "wearing his Phrygian cap, issues forth from the rocky mass. As yet only his bare torso is visible. In each hand he raises aloft a lighted torch and, as an unusual detail, red flames shoot out all around him... (Wiki)
also mithraism went extinct before the 400’s ad
" It seems likely to have originated in Asia Minor (Turkey) that was once under Persian control until Alexander the Great. Greek philosophy and culture was the main influence in Christianity. (All the of Gospels were written in Greek, and Paul, a Hellenized Jew, was from Tarsus in Asia Minor. Most of the Church Fathers were Greeks or cultural Greeks.)
Mithraism was an initiatory order, passed from initiate to initiate, like the Eleusinian Mysteries. (Gnosticism and Christianity did this at first, but were written down.) It was not based on a body of scripture, and hence very little written documentary evidence survives. the lower nobility appeared to be the most plentiful followers of Mithraism. Recently revealed discrepancies such as these suggest that Mithraic beliefs were (contra the older supposition) not internally consistent and monolithic and varied at every location. This is the problem with secretive “religions” lacking a written scripture.
We just don’t know much. No Mithraic scripture or first-hand written account of its highly secret rituals survives, except perhaps a 4th century papyrus, thought to be “atypical.” It likely drew from other traditions or modified them. " Jesus also did not butchered any sacred bull.
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Many Christian bashers attempt to meld the Christian Trinity with Mithra, but this is false. To quote,
In Zoroastrianism, Mithra is a member of the trinity of ahuras, protectors of asha/arta, "truth" or "[that which is] right". Mithra's standard appellation is "of wide pastures" suggesting omnipresence. As preserver of covenants, Mithra is also protector and keeper of all aspects of interpersonal relationships, such as friendship and love. Related to his position as protector of truth, Mithra is a judge (ratu), ensuring that individuals who break promises or are not righteous (artavan) are not admitted to paradise.
The original Mithra had nothing to do with God the Father of Judaism/Christianity nor was the original Mithra God at all. The syncretistic’ Greeks/Romans had an annoying habit of hijacking other “gods” and making them their own.
There were so many evolving cults and religions one could always find something in common with Christianity somewhere. Greeks and Romans alike grafted old gods into their new gods. Christianity and it’s sister Gnosticism arose from Judaism because of the impact of Hellenism, the merging of Greek philosophy and culture with other religions such as Zoroastrianism. Judaism and Zoroastrianism seemed to have transformed each other during earlier periods. Christianity has more in common with Gnosticism by far than Mithraism.
The claims that Jesus, Mithra, and Sol Evictus are all the same is false. Any similarity with things such as holidays and saints was a product of later Christian syncretism with pagan deities. They will seem similar because they evolved from the same general culture. It’s just as likely these religions borrowed from Christianity as the other way around.
"The scholars are almost totally agreed. Christianity did not borrow from Mithraism. The claimed parallels are mostly invented, and Mithraism came on the scene too late. The “evidence” for the claims is mostly based on outdated authors whose views have long since been overturned by historians. But the claims get repeated on the internet, and they seem to have authority (until they are examined).
[The late Prof Gary Lease of the University of California:
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"After almost 100 years of unremitting labor, the conclusion appears inescapable that neither Mithraism nor Christianity proved to be an obvious and direct influence upon the other"](http://www.is-there-a-god.info/belief/jesus-and-mithras.shtml#)
God bless
