Let me answer that...

Western Christianity has MAJOR pagan overlays. The Mithras mystery cult is the basis for much of modern Christianity. As most of Jesus' actual teaching were erased from, altered, or simply not included in the bible, we are left with a religion that reflects little of what Christ originally taught (and a lot of what Paul taught, and later what Constantine re-made by combining Christianity and Roman paganism to create a state religion...)

An interesting bit I found on the web:




Quote:

There are some things that the majority of Christians do agree on regarding Jesus:-

* He was born of a virgin by immaculate conception.
* He was born in a stable.
* We celebrate his birth on Dec 25th
* He was visited by wise men bearing gifts
* He had 12 disciples
* He was called the Messiah
* He made a Contract (or Covenant) with Man confirming an older contract with God.
* He celebrated a last supper with his disciples before his death
* He died to atone for the sins of man
* He was resurrected on a Sunday
* He ascended into Heaven to rejoin his Father
* He will return to pass judgment on mankind
* On judgment day, the dead will arise and be judged
* He will send sinners to Hell
* He will send the faithfull to Heaven
* On judgment day there will be a final conflict between evil and good.
* The forces of evil will be destroyed and the saved will live in paradise forever.
* He is part of a holy Trinity that took human form
* He is depicted as having a halo
* His followers drink wine and eat bread which represent his blood and flesh.
* His followers are baptised

I think it's fair to say that all Christians would recognise their own belief system.

Now lets look at a much older Persian god; Mithras. The earliest known examples of Mithras worship date back 4000 years to the Persian empires. Mithras was the son of Ahura-Mazda the god of the heavens.

Mithras and Ahura-Mazda were a strong influence on early Babylonian beliefs. Along came the Zoroastrians in the 6th century BC who absorbed Mithras and Ahura-Mazda into their own culture where Ahura-Mazda became the supreme god of goodness and the god Ahriman became the god of Evil.

Soon after this Zorastrian/Babylonian takeover in about 580BC, The Babylonians were holding the Jews in captivity. The Jews were Henotheists at this time but became heavily influenced by the concept of one god of goodness and one god of evil.

In about 350BC Mithras was sent by the Father God down to Earth to confirm his contract with Man.


* Mithras was born of a virgin by immaculate conception.
- He was born of Anahita, an immaculate virgin mother
* Mithras was born in a stable.
* We celebrate his birth on Dec 25th
* Mithras was visited by wise men bearing gifts
* Mithras had 12 disciples
* He was called the Messiah
- Mithras was also the god of Darius, conqueror of Babylon, He was called "Messiah" or Christos by Jews during their Captivity.
* Mithras made a Contract (or Covenant) with Man confirming an older contract with God
- The Persian word Mithras literally means "Contract"
* Mithras celebrated a last supper with his disciples before his death
* Mithras died to atone for the sins of man
* Mithras was resurrected on a Sunday
* Mithras ascended into Heaven to rejoin his Father
* Mithras will return to pass judgment on mankind
- He was known as the judger of souls
* On judgment day, the dead will arise and be judged by Mithras
* Mithras will send sinners to Hell
* Mithras will send the faithfull to Heaven
* On judgment day there will be a final conflict between evil and good.
* The forces of evil will be destroyed and the saved will live in paradise forever.
* Mithras is part of a holy Trinity that took human form
* Mithras is depicted as having a halo
* Mithras followers drink wine and eat bread which represent his blood and flesh.
* Mithras followers are baptised

That's a whole lot of remarkable coincidences all from hundreds of years before Jesus was born.

The Holy book of Zoroastrian was called the Avesta of Zarathustra (Zoraster is the Greek word for the Persian "Zarathustra"). The Jews were well aware of this book.

Mithras Worship declined with the arrival of the Roman Empire and the strong Zoroastrian philosophy of "one true god".
Mithras worship increased again and became very popular in late Roman Culture... when did this happen? Yes.. The first Century AD. Another remarkable coincidence.

From what race did the mythical Jesus allegedly come from? Jews!.... who had already been influenced by The Mithras Cult and adopted many other Zoroastrian beliefs.

Who convened the Great Christian Council of Nicea in 325AD? The Roman Emperor Constantine. And who did he Worship before his conversion? Mithras!!!

The large number of similarities between the Persian/Zorastrian God Mithras and the Judeo/Christian Jesus are just too many to be mere coincidence. The two stories are just too much alike... even down to gifts brought by the wise men to the stable for the infant Mithras, born of a virgin, the son of God, saviour of mankind who died to save us from evil.

It is blindingly obvious that Christianity is just a plagiarisation of the earlier Persian Cult of Mithras. There is nothing original in the Christian belief system. It was all copied.

Christianity has always practiced this art of absorbing other peoples beliefs and calling them their own.... Easter from the pagan festival of Eastre... High Mass, Sunday Sabbath, Holly and Ivy, Decorating trees, Monotheism, The Eucharist. ... etc.

The bread disks that the Mithras worshipers ate during their Mass to symbolise the flesh of their God was marked with a cross... hundreds of years before it became a Christian symbol.

And finally, During the Roman revival of the Mithras Cult, where was the cult centred?...... On Vatican Hill in Rome!!!

End Quote




The author of this goes on to slam Christianty, which I won't do, however he does make his points with historical facts. He says "Christianity is a false religion with no doctrine of its own. All of it's dogma, it's rituals, it's Key characters, It's very foundation is stolen."

That is a certainly overstated in my opinion and unsympathetic to the 'good' found in Christianity, however the facts are the facts.

So, you be the judge...

;0)

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