Christianity and Paganism

[syo]

So Pagans can quote the whole Nicene Creed honestly? Because I don't know how you came to that conclusion?

The Nicene Creed is exactly what separates Christians from Pagans.

 

[Wildswanderer]

The Nicene Creed is exactly what separates Christians from Pagans.

Well that's a whole lot more than one thing.

 

[stanberger]

In this case, I would say that a major point of distinction between Christianity (and most modern religions) and pre-Christian religions is the importance given to orthodoxy vs. orthopraxy.

In Christianity, having the correct belief is of tantamount importance, and this primacy of belief colors a lot of how people raised in Christian cultures approach religion. In pre-Christian societies, individual beliefs were of secondary importance compared to the importance of correct practice, observing traditions and rituals etc.

jesus ' worship OUR LORD THE ONE GOD ONLY church christian core belief ' god is trinity trigod. 3 in 1. 2 coequal godheads ' this is foreign to Jesus

 

[stanberger]

The Nicene Creed is exactly what separates Christians from Pagans.

nicea creed makes christianity pagan

 

[Wildswanderer]

I mean cmon folks sun day worship was the day Rome worshipped the sun god. on sun day

Only they don't worship the same God. We worship the one who made the sun and everything else.

 

[Wildswanderer]

nicea creed makes christianity pagan

How?

 

[Windwalker]

1 is not 3. and 3 is not 1. the nicea 325ad vote for trinity veered the church away from monotheism dd in sun day worship. the day Rome worshipped the sun god on sun day as the sabbath for christianity and today you see why christianity is in steep decline

Those are the reasons it's in steep decline? Confusing theology? I thought it was because they failed to love their neighbor as themselves, not because the nature and being of God is hard to understand using logic and reason. You honestly think having "correct doctrine" really matters to love? I certainly don't.

You think God requires correct theology on the part of the person in order for them to be able to love one another? That seems more a problem in thinking than the Trinity doctrine, or Sunday church worship. It kind of reduces God down to a gumball machine, that you need the correct currency to get your gumball. Of course, that does seem a lot easier than having to be a loving person. No real sacrifice necessary if you got the right beliefs!

 

[Kooky]

Not to mention the local laws (tossing virgins in volcanoes as needed, etc). Maybe that was considered a tradition or ritual?

The pre-Christians were rather serious about their traditions, in a way that speaks a little bit of survivor's bias: The more ancient a practice, the more "correct" it would be, since the cultures practicing it were still around (and so, by extension, would have enjoyed divine protection).

I'd argue that was one reason why the Greeks were so severely into Astronomy/Astrology (traditions originally practiced in Egypt and Mesopotamia that were already ancient by the time of Alexander's conquests) or the Romans so readily adopted Haruspicy from the Etruscans (who, after all, had been practicing this particular form of soothsaying for centuries before the Romans conquered them).

So yea, you'd get some pretty wacky stuff that probably stuck around because people used to do it for a long time.

 

[Kooky]

The Nicene Creed is exactly what separates Christians from Pagans.

Not really, Arianism (which the Nicene council had condemned as heresy) continued to thrive among the Germanic peoples, and many prominent Ostrogothic and Visigothic kings were Arian Christians.

 

[IndigoChild5559]

In my opinion,
finally, I think I found the only difference Christianity and Paganism have.

In my opinion, Christianity says ''God and creation are separate''.

And in my opinion, Paganism says ''God and creation are different''.

That's it.

Yes, the animistic form of paganism believes that nature is imbued with the divine, and Christianity does not.

Another difference is that Paganism experiences the divine as fragmented (many gods) and Christianity experiences the divine as being united (one God).

 

[Bree]

In my opinion,
finally, I think I found the only difference Christianity and Paganism have.

In my opinion, Christianity says ''God and creation are separate''.

And in my opinion, Paganism says ''God and creation are different''.

That's it.

Christianity is the worship of the Creator.

Paganism is the worship of the creation itself.

Thats how i' see it. People worshiped the Son, moon, stars, trees, elephants, snakes, lighting, thunder, sex etc etc etc. They performed rituals to these things as if those things were conscious.

 

[stanberger]

Christianity is the worship of the Creator.

Paganism is the worship of the creation itself.

Thats how i' see it. People worshiped the Son, moon, stars, trees, elephants, snakes, lighting, thunder, sex etc etc etc. They performed rituals to these things as if those things were conscious.

christians worship man/god trinity. not the creator

 

[Bree]

christians worship man/god trinity. not the creator

not all chistians worship the trinity nor do all christians believe the trinity is an accuate explanation of who the Creator is... and not all christians believe that Jesus is God.

The creator is Jehovah.

 

[stanberger]

not all chistians worship the trinity nor do all christians believe the trinity is an accuate explanation of who the Creator is... and not all christians believe that Jesus is God.

The creator is Jehovah.

not all chistians worship the trinity nor do all christians believe the trinity is an accuate explanation of who the Creator is... and not all christians believe that Jesus is God.

The creator is Jehovah.

ok. you're correct. unitarean christians don't take Jesus as god. but they are only 11 million out of 2 billion so called christians ....even quran never uses the term christianity. not once. it says nasareans ' followers of Essa from Nazareth. who taught monotheism only ' they will get there reward

 

[PearlSeeker]

In my opinion,
finally, I think I found the only difference Christianity and Paganism have.

In my opinion, Christianity says ''God and creation are separate''.

And in my opinion, Paganism says ''God and creation are different''.

That's it.

Isn't "Paganism" an umbrella term that covers all non-Abrahamic religions? As such it's too diverse to be compared to Christianity.

 

[joelr]

Christianity is based more on monotheism, while Paganism is based more on Polytheism. Christianity is an integral religion; all the parts are one in God, while Paganism is more of a differential religion; One is defined as many.

Christainity is a monolatry - one supreme God with lesser divinities or aspects of that God. Hinduism is the same, the supreme God is Brahman and other Gods are aspects of the one God. Similar to angels or saints.

The three aspects of God, in Christianity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit represent the (x,y,z) axis used to represent a 3-D grid; integration of elements. Paganism breaks down their concept of God into many 2-D planes, with each aspect of reality, having its own unique god or goddess; limited plane that defines with its own 2-D cause and affect, niche.

That isn't what Hinduism does. Other Gods are actual aspects of Brahman. There is also a Hindu trinity, it's a common concept in religions.
"Trimūrti (/trɪˈmʊərti/;[1] Sanskrit: त्रिमूर्ति trimūrti, "three forms" or "trinity") is the triple deity of supreme divinity in Hinduism,[2][3][4][5] in which the cosmic functions of creation, maintenance, and destruction are personified as a triad of deities, typically Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer,[6][7] though individual denominations may vary from that particular line-up. According to many of the major and revered holy texts in hinduism, it is considered that both Trimurti and Tridevi are created by the principal forms Mahadevi Parashakti Durga and Sadasiva.[

The Christian paradox of God being both a unity and a trinity, which which is often confused as monotheism and polytheism, can be understood using the concept of contemporary computer processors. A single modern processor can have more than one core. In the case of the trinity, the one processor; God, has three cores; father, son, holy spirit, with each of these cores assigned to the same or different tasks, while remaining integrated into 3-D. The Pagan gods have more autonomy and do not always integrate or work as one. They remain more differential or 2-D. The two party approach of politics is more Pagan; remain more differential.

The 3-D approach was more advanced and would absorb the 2-D approaches of the Pagans. St Patrick, who drove out the snakes from Ireland, was a metaphor for Christianity overcoming the 2-D nature of Paganism, and replacing it with their modern 3-D approach; multi-core.

Can you source this? This sounds completely wrong? Early Judaism was polytheistic, Ashera was Yahwehs consort. Ashera figurines were found at an early Israelite village did.
But the concept of a supreme God with other divinities being an aspect of that God is not new to Christianity?
I don't think angels, devils or any of the supernatural beings in the OT and Revelation are considered "part of God?

The term Holy Spirit has two words, compared to father and son, which are one word. The sign of the cross has Father and Son touching one thing each; forehead and heart, respectively. The Holy Spirit touches the left and right shoulders. The Holy Spirit has two purposes in the 3-D nature of affect, cause and affect, cause, affect and cause. It is the casual source of the original affect, leading to St Patrick's faith. It is also the final cause leading to conversion into Christianity; alpha and omega. The 3-D approach was mind expanding and is still beyond the modern education. Nothing works in isolation since even immediate things are attached to past and future via layers of additional causes and additional affects.

Where is this 3-D concept in scripture?
Late Paganism or Hellenism is what Christianity is? Hellenism started spreading around other religions in 300BC and was the origin of:

national God upgraded to supreme God
humans have souls that need redemption and can get to an afterlife, bad souls go to hell
savior Gods who resurrect and get baptized members into an afterlife and other similar concepts, those are all pagan.


-
only in Hellenistic times (after c. 330 BCE) did Jews begin to adopt the Greek idea that it would be a place of punishment for misdeeds, and that the righteous would enjoy an afterlife in heaven.
Later Jewish thinkers, adopting ideas from Greek philosophy, concluded that God's Wisdom, Word and Spirit penetrated all things and gave them unity.[11] Christianity in turn adopted these ideas and identified Jesus with the Logos (Word): "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God"
Steve Parrish is professor emeritus of Old Testament

During the period of the Second Temple (
515 BC – 70 AD), the Hebrew people lived under the rule of first the Persian Achaemenid Empire, then the Greek kingdoms of the Diadochi, and finally the Roman Empire.[47] Their culture was profoundly influenced by those of the peoples who ruled them.[47] Consequently, their views on existence after death were profoundly shaped by the ideas of the Persians, Greeks, and Romans.[48][49] The idea of the immortality of the soul is derived from Greek philosophy[49] and the idea of the resurrection of the dead is derived from Persian cosmology.[49] By the early first century AD, these two seemingly incompatible ideas were often conflated by Hebrew thinkers.[49] The Hebrews also inherited from the Persians, Greeks, and Romans the idea that the human soul originates in the divine realm and seeks to return there.[47] The idea that a human soul belongs in Heaven and that Earth is merely a temporary abode in which the soul is tested to prove its worthiness became increasingly popular during the Hellenistic period (323 – 31 BC).[40] Gradually, some Hebrews began to adopt the idea of Heaven as the eternal home of the righteous dead.[
E.P. Sanders