Mithras = Christianity? (Jesus, priests, rituals, morals, virgin)

[crystalonyx]

"
This religion, cloaked in mystery and secrecy, has captivated the imaginations of scholars for generations. Many facts discovered sheds vital light on the cultural dynamics that led to the rise of Christianity. The National Geographic Society’s book “Great Religions of the World,” page 309 writes; “By Jesus’ time, East and West had mingled here for three centuries. Down columns of boulevards walked Roman soldiers loyal to the Persian god Mithras.” Mithras was a Persian deity. He was also the most widely venerated god in the Roman Empire at the time of Jesus. The Catholic Encyclopedia as well as the early Church Fathers found this religion of Mithras very disturbing, as there are so many similarities between the two religions, as follows:

1) Hundreds of years before Jesus, according to the Mithraic religion, three Wise Men of Persia came to visit the baby savior-god Mithra, bring him gifts of gold, myrrh and frankincense.
2) Mithra was born on December 25 as told in the “Great Religions of the World”, page 330; “…it was the winter solstice celebrated by ancients as the birthday of Mithraism’s sun god”.c
3) According to Mithraism, before Mithra died on a cross, he celebrated a “Last Supper with his twelve disciples, who represented the twelve signs of the zodiac.
4) After the death of Mithra, his body was laid to rest in a rock tomb.
5) Mithra had a celibate priesthood.
6) Mithra ascended into heaven during the spring (Passover) equinox (the time when the sun crosses the equator making night and day of equal length). "
When the Christ myth was new Mithras and Mithraism were already ancient. Worshiped for centuries as God's Messenger of Truth, Mithras was long revered by the Persians and the Indians (Zoroastrianism) before his faith found it's way to Rome where His mysteries flourished in the second century AD. Every year in Rome, in the middle of winter, the Son of God was born one more, putting an end to darkness. Every year at first minute of December 25th the temple of Mithras was lit with candles, priests in in white garments celebrated the birth of the Son of God and boys burned incense. Mithras was born in a cave, on December 25th, of a virgin mother. He came from heaven to be born as a man, to redeem men from their sin. He was know as "Savior," "Son of God," "Redeemer," and "Lamb of God." With twelve disciples he traveled far and wide as a teacher and illuminator of men. He was buried in a tomb from which he rose again from the dead -- an event celebrated yearly with much rejoicing. His followers kept the Sabbath holy, holding sacramental feasts in remembrance of Him. The sacred meal of bread and water, or bread and wine, was symbolic of the body and blood of the sacred bull.

Baptism in the blood of the bull (taurobolum) – early Baptism "washed in the blood of the Lamb" – late Baptism by water [recorded by the Christian author Tertullian Mithraic rituals brought about the transformation and Salvation of His adherents --an ascent of the soul of the adherent into the realm of the divine.

Yes, the ex-pagan Constantine and Paul were quit aware of all of this and it was that much easier to bring the pagan Gentile people into this new religion called Christianity. Contrary to popular belief, the ancients were not an ignorant and superstitious lot who actually believed their deities to be literal characters. This has been part of the conspiracy to make the ancients appear as if they were truly the dark and dumb rabble that was in need of the "light of Jesus." The reality is that the ancients were no less advanced in their morals and spiritual practices, and in many cases were far more advanced, than the Christians in their own morality, which in its very attempt at historicity, is in actuality a degradation of the ancient myths."



MITHRAS = CHRISTIANITY

[angellous_evangellous]

No, Mithras is not Christianity.

Most of the "similarities" in the OP are not in early Christianity (like the birthday of Christ and boys burning incense at an altar), and many other things attributed to Mithras are simply falsified, like Mithra dying on a cross and his followers keeping the Sabbath holy.

It's a hodge-podge of late Christianity and falsified Mithras.

*yawn*

[crystalonyx]

Originally Posted by angellous_evangellous

No, Mithras is not Christianity.

Most of the "similarities" in the OP are not in early Christianity (like the birthday of Christ and boys burning incense at an altar), and many other things attributed to Mithras are simply falsified, like Mithra dying on a cross and his followers keeping the Sabbath holy.

It's a hodge-podge of late Christianity and falsified Mithras.

*yawn*

Yawn....

[angellous_evangellous]

Originally Posted by crystalonyx

Yawn....

HA!

It's sort of stylish for sophomoric authors - usually not scholars - to draw parallels between Mithras (and other mystery religions) and Christianity. The only scholars that play up the parallels between the two religions are not classicists, biblical scholars, or archaeologists, historians, or otherwise experts in the ancient world, but are English professors or other dabblers trying to make a buck on other people who don't know anything about ancient life.

Yes, there are parallels in Christianity and the Hellenistic world that it came from. There is no reason to be intellectually dishonest about it - unless, of course, one is peddling garbage.

[crystalonyx]

Originally Posted by angellous_evangellous

HA!

It's sort of stylish for sophomoric authors - usually not scholars - to draw parallels between Mithras (and other mystery religions) and Christianity. The only scholars that play up the parallels between the two religions are not classicists, biblical scholars, or archaeologists, historians, or otherwise experts in the ancient world, but are English professors or other dabblers trying to make a buck on other people who don't know anything about ancient life.

Yes, there are parallels in Christianity and the Hellenistic world that it came from. There is no reason to be intellectually dishonest about it - unless, of course, one is peddling garbage.

So all other religions are lies, but yours is the truth, I get it.

[angellous_evangellous]

Originally Posted by crystalonyx

So all other religions are lies, but yours is the truth, I get it.

No, I didn't say that.

I am simply addressing the OP.

[Kcnorwood]

While I agree that Christianty is more or less a copy of Pagansim after doing my own research Mithraism is not where it came from. However Mithraism does come into play here & there it's only a small part of it. For me at least Christianty is a mixture of all Pagan Gods not just one, that way it would be harder for those who are looking for proof to find it.

[crystalonyx]

"Most of the "similarities" in the OP are not in early Christianity (like the birthday of Christ and boys burning incense at an altar), and many other things attributed to Mithras are simply falsified, like Mithra dying on a cross and his followers keeping the Sabbath holy."

Looks like lies to me.

[angellous_evangellous]

Originally Posted by crystalonyx

Looks like lies to me.

Critical thinking would go a long way here.

Correcting the dribble in the OP is an act of mercy, not personal criticism.

[Willamena]

I'm no scholar, but I have read that the Roman "mystery" cult of Mithras (that is claimed to resemble Christian mythology) is independent of the Mithra who was a part of the Zoroastrian pantheism, and is largely a Roman invention. Even the Great Wiki indicates this: If the Roman religion was an outgrowth of an Iranian one, there would have to be evidence of Mithraic-like practices attested in Greater Iran. However, that is not the case: No mithraea have been found there, and the Mithraic myth of the tauroctony does not conclusively match the Zoroastrian legend of the slaying of Gayomart, in which Mithra does not play any role at all. The historians of antiquity, otherwise expansive in their descriptions of Iranian religious practices, hardly mention Mithra at all.
Mithraic Mysteries - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia