On the “Pagan” Origins of Christianity

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Consider the fate of the pagan religions.

Catholics overran pagan cities, towns and lands, bought and occupied pagan buildings and temples, altered pagan art, music and literature, absorbed and replaced pagan harvest festivals and religious feasts, and, above all, won over and converted the pagan people themselves. In doing so, Catholics brought all things under the dominion of the one true God, Jesus Christ.

Isn’t that what He wanted us to do (cf. Mt 28:19)?

Scripture sanctions this practice. The Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was on the same day as a Canaanite vintage festival that it supplanted, much as Christmas coincided with the festival of Sol Invictus that non-Christians were celebrating.

This is the same principle that Protestant churches use today when they replace the celebration of Halloween with “Reformation Day” or “harvest festival” celebrations. It is an attempt to provide a wholesome alternative celebration to a popular but unwholesome one.

Anti-Catholics who accuse Christmas of having “pagan origins” fail to recognize that it is precisely anti-pagan in origin.
 
Randy_Carson said:
Anti-Catholics who accuse Christmas of having “pagan origins” fail to recognize that it is precisely anti-pagan in origin.
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People who make that claim generally don’t even have a passing familiarity with history >_>

Good write-up though ^^
 
Gen 1:14 And God said: Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day and the night,* and let them be for signs, and for seasons and for days and years:

Pagan religions had lost their way worshiping the creation rather than the creator, Christianity corrected this error and brought the worship of pagans back to the worship of the creator.
 
Matt_Guitar_Man said:
Gen 1:14 And God said: Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day and the night,* and let them be for signs, and for seasons and for days and years:

Pagan religions had lost their way worshiping the creation rather than the creator, Christianity corrected this error and brought the worship of pagans back to the worship of the creator.
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wrong. Paganism is the worship of many gods and goddesses not the earth.
 
Royal_Christian said:
wrong. Paganism is the worship of many gods and goddesses not the earth.
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Firstly there is more to creation than the earth. Secondly if I am not mistaken pagan religions began with Animism ( Nature spirits ), and the representation and transference of these spirits (gods ) to celestial bodies was a progression of this practice.
 
Also just to add, spirits are part of creation as well, which is one of the reasons why we don’t worship angles or any other spirits ( gods, goddesses )
 
According to our religion the Judeo/Christian tradition it was Abram who latter became Abraham who was first given the revelation that this practice of worshiping the creation in the form of multiple gods was error and this is why he left Ur ( Mesopotamia ) if one reads the Epic of Gilgamesh which we now know is a much older writing than Genesis nearly all the stories from Genesis can be found there. For example in the story of the Flood the Mesopotamia version represents Noah his wife and his children as gods where in the Bible they are people.
This blur between Heaven (gods) and Earth (people) persisted right up until the coming of the Messiah and those who reject Christ still do not clearly define the separation.
The Christian incarnation of the Deity is the only version of divine incarnation that clearly defines the Divine and the Temporal (Heavenly and Earthly) all other versions such as Krishna etc blur this separation and continue the error practised by those in Mesopotamia that Abram left behind.

As far as opponents of the Catholic Church trying to say that Catholicism has pagan origins because we celebrate Christmas on the same day as the festival of Sol Invictus which is December 25th or the northern hemisphere winter equinox signifying the return of the Sun. Which humane beings have been doing as Genesis tells us almost since time begun they are completely ignorant not only of Scripture & Christianity but also of the origins of mans religions. Christians and the Catholic Church under direct instructions from God have corrected these festivals of the times and seasons and have brought them back to the true worship of God, The Church has merely continued the work God started through Abraham.
 
Matt_Guitar_Man said:
Gen 1:14 And God said: Let there be lights made in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day and the night,* and let them be for signs, and for seasons and for days and years:

Pagan religions had lost their way worshiping the creation rather than the creator, Christianity corrected this error and brought the worship of pagans back to the worship of the creator.
Click to expand...
Wrong,

“The mountain is the creation which the Gentiles worship, but Jerusalem is the creator whom the Jews serve. You then who are spiritual should worship neither the creation nor the Craftsman, but the Father of Truth.”
  • Heracleon, On the commentary of Gospel of John
Christianity corrected the error which both the Jews and the Gentiles made i.e you should worship neither the creation nor the creator, but the Father of Truth.
 
Randy_Carson said:
Consider the fate of the pagan religions.

Catholics overran pagan cities, towns and lands, bought and occupied pagan buildings and temples, altered pagan art, music and literature, absorbed and replaced pagan harvest festivals and religious feasts, and, above all, won over and converted the pagan people themselves. In doing so, Catholics brought all things under the dominion of the one true God, Jesus Christ.

Isn’t that what He wanted us to do (cf. Mt 28:19)?

Scripture sanctions this practice. The Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was on the same day as a Canaanite vintage festival that it supplanted, much as Christmas coincided with the festival of Sol Invictus that non-Christians were celebrating.

This is the same principle that Protestant churches use today when they replace the celebration of Halloween with “Reformation Day” or “harvest festival” celebrations. It is an attempt to provide a wholesome alternative celebration to a popular but unwholesome one.

Anti-Catholics who accuse Christmas of having “pagan origins” fail to recognize that it is precisely anti-pagan in origin.
Click to expand...
Tertullian (A.D. 160-220) wrote:

We began just yesterday, and already we fill the world and all your places: the cities, the islands, the towns, the municipalities, the councils, even the army camps, the tribunals, the assemblies, the palace, the senate, and the forum. We have left you only your temples! (Tertullian, Apology, 37.4)
 
I can’t wait to start RCIA… I’m still learning about this diverse world even though I’ve been on a spiritual journey for 20+ years. It seems like there are hybrid religions everywhere, where you have a religion with tell tale signs of other religions / spiritual beliefs in there too. I see it in Christianity too and you especially find it in New Age movement where gurus sell books and videos that are clearly not Christian but they refer to spirit guides with Christian / Hebrew names (Abraham is popular). Also some of the New Age gurus create oracle and tarot decks and assign Christian/Buddhist/Hindu themes to them, like say they assign angels or goddesses to each card but if you’re smart you can tell that the angel is not represented in the way Christians were taught (Christians say St Michael can’t be everywhere at once but New Agers disagree. Same angel, hybrid traits, part Christian, part New Age).

I’m sorry for rambling but I confess that I do think of Christianity as a bit of a hybrid religion with some aspects of paganism in it and I see it in a lot of religions but it is the truth at the core of the religion that you have to grasp and I think we need to be careful to get it right.

Sorry for rambling.
 
Cinderbella said:
I can’t wait to start RCIA… I’m still learning about this diverse world even though I’ve been on a spiritual journey for 20+ years. It seems like there are hybrid religions everywhere, where you have a religion with tell tale signs of other religions / spiritual beliefs in there too. I see it in Christianity too and you especially find it in New Age movement where gurus sell books and videos that are clearly not Christian but they refer to spirit guides with Christian / Hebrew names (Abraham is popular). Also some of the New Age gurus create oracle and tarot decks and assign Christian/Buddhist/Hindu themes to them, like say they assign angels or goddesses to each card but if you’re smart you can tell that the angel is not represented in the way Christians were taught (Christians say St Michael can’t be everywhere at once but New Agers disagree. Same angel, hybrid traits, part Christian, part New Age).

I’m sorry for rambling but I confess that I do think of Christianity as a bit of a hybrid religion with some aspects of paganism in it and I see it in a lot of religions but it is the truth at the core of the religion that you have to grasp and I think we need to be careful to get it right.

Sorry for rambling.
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Hello & welcome to CAF, I wish you all the best on your faith journey! You will love RCIA & don’t forget to ask as many questions 🙂
 
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