G
Georges
Guest
Is it possible that Paul (or his intellectual descendents) borrowed from the Mystery Religion of Mithraism in creating their own brand of Christianity? If Paul was all things to all people, did he use Mithraic concepts to promote Christian ideas? Read the following, then do the research to verify, and…….think for yourself. How many practices that are described below as practiced in Mithraism can be found in today’s Christian Church? How did this happen? What can be done about it?
Who is Mithras?
Mithras was the central savior god of Mithraism, a syncretic Hellenistic mystery religion of male initiates that developed in the Eastern Mediterranean in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC and was practiced in the Roman Empire from the 1st century BC to the 5th century AD.
…The Romanized Greek Plutarch says that in 67 BC a large band of pirates in Ciliciaâ€â€on the southeast coast of Anatolia were practicing "secret rites" of Mithras.
The name Mithras is the Greek masculine form of Mitra, the Persian god who was the mediator between Ahura Mazda and the earth, the guarantor of human contracts, although in Mithraism much was added to the original elements of Mitra.
What is Mithraism?
Mithraism was a Mystery Cult found throughout the Roman Empire before the birth of Christ. Mithraism was Christianity’s main competitor as a religion in the Roman Empire up until the time of Constantine. Its central belief is of a dying and resurrected savior of mankind. Christianity is not the only religion that has a dying and resurrected savior of mankind. Below is a list of other religions in history that have the same concept.
Proposed life-death-rebirth deities
•Akkadian mythology
o Tammuz
o Ishtar
•Dacian mythology
Zalmoxis
•Egyptian mythology
o Isis
o Osiris
•Greek mythology
o Adonis
o Cronus
o Cybele
o Dionysus
o Orpheus
o Persephone
•Hindu mythology
o Trimurti
Brahma
Vishnu
Siva
•Persian mythology
o Mithras
•Phrygian mythology
o Attis
•Roman mythology
o Aeneas
o Bacchus
o Proserpina
•Sumerian mythology
o Damuzi
o Inanna
The Apostle Paul was a citizen of Tarsus….one of the hubs of the Mystery Religion.
"It was in Tarsus that the Mysteries of Mithras had originated, so it would have been unthinkable that Paul would have been unaware of the remarkable similarities we have already explored between Christian doctrines and the teachings of Mithraism. [Footnote:] Tarsus was the capital of Cilicia, where, according to Plutarch [46-125CE], the Mithraic Mysteries were being practiced as early as 67BCE"
"Jesus Mysteries" by Freke & Gandy [more info], p199
Excerpts regarding Mithraism as found in http://www.wikipedia.com:
…Mithraism is best documented in the form it had acquired in the later Roman Empire. It was an initiatory 'mystery religion,' passed from initiate to initiate, like the Eleusinian Mysteries...
…Some commentators surmise that the Mithraists worshipped Mithras as the mediator between Man and the supreme God of the upper and nether world. Other commentators, inspired by James Frazer's theories, have additionally labeled Mithras a mystery religion with a life-death-rebirth deity, comparable to Isis, the resurrected Jesus or the Persephone/Demeter cult of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
From the http://www.wikipedia.com article on “Mithraism†is this excerpt on its “similarities to Christianityâ€Â:
…Similarities to Christianity,
..According to Martin A. Larson, in The Story of Christian Origins (1977), Mithraism and Christianity derived from the same sources, originally from the savior cult of Osiris. Mithraism, an established but exclusive sect devoted to social justice, was assimilated by state-sponsored Christianity before being disposed of in name.
Contrasting with their general religious environment, both Christianity and Mithraism prided themselves in brotherhood and organized their members as church congregations. Both religions purified themselves through baptism, and each participated in a similar type of sacrament, bread and wine. Mithra was born in a cave; a cave is likewise the setting for the nativity of Jesus in the widely-read and influential Gospel of James, though not canonical, is the earliest surviving document attesting the veneration of Mary and claiming her continuing virginity. Both nativities were celebrated on December 25th, and each savior was visited by shepherds and Magi. Both Mithraism and Christianity considered Sunday their holy day, despite early Christianity observing the Jewish Sabbath for centuries. Many have noted that the title of Pope (father) is found in Mithraic doctrine and seemingly prohibited in Christian doctrine. The words Peter (rock) and mass (sacrament) have original significance in Mithraism.
…Mithraism and early Christianity considered abstinence, celibacy, and self-control to be among their highest virtues. Both had similar beliefs about the world, destiny, heaven and hell, and the immortality of the soul.
…Both awaited the last judgment and resurrection of the dead. Christ and Mithra were both referred to directly as the "Logos" (Larson 184).
…When inducted into the degree of Leo, he was purified with honey, and baptised, not with water, but with fire, as John the Baptist declared that his successor would baptise. After this second baptism, initiates were considered "participants," and they received the sacrament of bread and wine commemorating Mithra's banquet at the conclusion of his labors (Larson 190).
…They venerated Jesus in Mithraic sun-god fashion, calling him Light of the World or Son (Sun) of Righteousness. Christians also claimed their savior's death was marked by a solar eclipse. Sunday became the primary day of worship, the seven-day week having already been imported as part of the Mithraic cosmology of planetary influences.
…Mithra’s birthday was adopted by Christians in the 4th century A.D. as the birth of Christ (J. Smith 146). Some claimed Mithra's mother was a mortal virgin. Others said Mithra had no mother, but was miraculously born of a female rock, or the petra genetix, conceived by God's lightning (de Riencourt 135). Mithra's birth was witnessed by shepherds and by Magi bearing gifts to his sacred birth-cave of the Rock (J. Smith 146). Mithra's image was buried in a rock tomb, a sacred cave that represented his Mother's womb. This was ritualistically removed each year, and he was said to live again. Mithra’s triumph and ascension to heaven were celebrated during the spring equinox, as during Easter, when the sun rises toward its apogee.
…Mithra performed miracles of raising the dead, healing the sick, making the blind see, the lame walk, and casting out devils. As a Peter, son of the petra (rock), he carried the “keys†to the kingdom of heaven, as St. Peter is said to have the keys to the gates of Heaven (H. Smith 129). Before returning to heaven, Mithra had his Last Supper with his twelve disciples, who represented the twelve signs of the zodiac. In memory, his worshipers partook of a sacramental meal of bread marked with a cross (Hooke 89, Cumont 160). This was one of seven Mithraic sacraments, the models for the Christian seven sacraments (James 250). It was called mized and in Latin missa and in English mass.
…Christian bishops in Rome pre-empted even the Mithraic high priest's title of Pater Patrum, which became Papa, or Pope (H. Smith 252). Mithraism entered into many doctrines of Manichean Christianity and continued to influence its old rival for over a thousand years (Cumont, Oriental 154)). The Mithraic festival of Epiphany, marking the arrival of sun-priests or Magi at the Savior's birthplace, was adopted by the Christian church only as late as 813 A.D. (Brewster 55).
…It is fairly probable that Christianity emphasized common features that attracted Mithra followers, perhaps the crucifix appealed to those Mithra followers who had crosses already branded on their foreheads. In art, the halo was a well-known depiction of Mithra, a true sun god, but which also depicts Christ in a similar way…
My comment below...
Personally, I think Satan is very clever, saturating the world with the other dying and rising savior religions to confuse the real event of the dying and raising of Jesus. I personally think that Paul while growing up in Tarsus was influenced by these Mystery Religions that were very close in parallel with the death and resurrection of Jesus. I also think that Paul used that information fusing it with Judaism to form his theology which has evolved into modern Christianity. Why do I say that? Because Pauline Christianity bears no resemblence to the Christianity (as a sect of Judaism) as practiced by the Church at Jerusalem. Paul may have started out innocently enough, but through the first 4 centuries, the Pauline Church turned into a Frankenstein’s monster….a little paganism here….a little paganism there…..what a mess.
The answer is easy……lets get back to the religious practice of the Disciples at the Church in Jerusalem….Messianic Judaism…..
Sources on Mithraism quoted above are found in the http://www.wikipedia.com article on "Mithraism".
Who is Mithras?
Mithras was the central savior god of Mithraism, a syncretic Hellenistic mystery religion of male initiates that developed in the Eastern Mediterranean in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC and was practiced in the Roman Empire from the 1st century BC to the 5th century AD.
…The Romanized Greek Plutarch says that in 67 BC a large band of pirates in Ciliciaâ€â€on the southeast coast of Anatolia were practicing "secret rites" of Mithras.
The name Mithras is the Greek masculine form of Mitra, the Persian god who was the mediator between Ahura Mazda and the earth, the guarantor of human contracts, although in Mithraism much was added to the original elements of Mitra.
What is Mithraism?
Mithraism was a Mystery Cult found throughout the Roman Empire before the birth of Christ. Mithraism was Christianity’s main competitor as a religion in the Roman Empire up until the time of Constantine. Its central belief is of a dying and resurrected savior of mankind. Christianity is not the only religion that has a dying and resurrected savior of mankind. Below is a list of other religions in history that have the same concept.
Proposed life-death-rebirth deities
•Akkadian mythology
o Tammuz
o Ishtar
•Dacian mythology
Zalmoxis
•Egyptian mythology
o Isis
o Osiris
•Greek mythology
o Adonis
o Cronus
o Cybele
o Dionysus
o Orpheus
o Persephone
•Hindu mythology
o Trimurti
Brahma
Vishnu
Siva
•Persian mythology
o Mithras
•Phrygian mythology
o Attis
•Roman mythology
o Aeneas
o Bacchus
o Proserpina
•Sumerian mythology
o Damuzi
o Inanna
The Apostle Paul was a citizen of Tarsus….one of the hubs of the Mystery Religion.
"It was in Tarsus that the Mysteries of Mithras had originated, so it would have been unthinkable that Paul would have been unaware of the remarkable similarities we have already explored between Christian doctrines and the teachings of Mithraism. [Footnote:] Tarsus was the capital of Cilicia, where, according to Plutarch [46-125CE], the Mithraic Mysteries were being practiced as early as 67BCE"
"Jesus Mysteries" by Freke & Gandy [more info], p199
Excerpts regarding Mithraism as found in http://www.wikipedia.com:
…Mithraism is best documented in the form it had acquired in the later Roman Empire. It was an initiatory 'mystery religion,' passed from initiate to initiate, like the Eleusinian Mysteries...
…Some commentators surmise that the Mithraists worshipped Mithras as the mediator between Man and the supreme God of the upper and nether world. Other commentators, inspired by James Frazer's theories, have additionally labeled Mithras a mystery religion with a life-death-rebirth deity, comparable to Isis, the resurrected Jesus or the Persephone/Demeter cult of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
From the http://www.wikipedia.com article on “Mithraism†is this excerpt on its “similarities to Christianityâ€Â:
…Similarities to Christianity,
..According to Martin A. Larson, in The Story of Christian Origins (1977), Mithraism and Christianity derived from the same sources, originally from the savior cult of Osiris. Mithraism, an established but exclusive sect devoted to social justice, was assimilated by state-sponsored Christianity before being disposed of in name.
Contrasting with their general religious environment, both Christianity and Mithraism prided themselves in brotherhood and organized their members as church congregations. Both religions purified themselves through baptism, and each participated in a similar type of sacrament, bread and wine. Mithra was born in a cave; a cave is likewise the setting for the nativity of Jesus in the widely-read and influential Gospel of James, though not canonical, is the earliest surviving document attesting the veneration of Mary and claiming her continuing virginity. Both nativities were celebrated on December 25th, and each savior was visited by shepherds and Magi. Both Mithraism and Christianity considered Sunday their holy day, despite early Christianity observing the Jewish Sabbath for centuries. Many have noted that the title of Pope (father) is found in Mithraic doctrine and seemingly prohibited in Christian doctrine. The words Peter (rock) and mass (sacrament) have original significance in Mithraism.
…Mithraism and early Christianity considered abstinence, celibacy, and self-control to be among their highest virtues. Both had similar beliefs about the world, destiny, heaven and hell, and the immortality of the soul.
…Both awaited the last judgment and resurrection of the dead. Christ and Mithra were both referred to directly as the "Logos" (Larson 184).
…When inducted into the degree of Leo, he was purified with honey, and baptised, not with water, but with fire, as John the Baptist declared that his successor would baptise. After this second baptism, initiates were considered "participants," and they received the sacrament of bread and wine commemorating Mithra's banquet at the conclusion of his labors (Larson 190).
…They venerated Jesus in Mithraic sun-god fashion, calling him Light of the World or Son (Sun) of Righteousness. Christians also claimed their savior's death was marked by a solar eclipse. Sunday became the primary day of worship, the seven-day week having already been imported as part of the Mithraic cosmology of planetary influences.
…Mithra’s birthday was adopted by Christians in the 4th century A.D. as the birth of Christ (J. Smith 146). Some claimed Mithra's mother was a mortal virgin. Others said Mithra had no mother, but was miraculously born of a female rock, or the petra genetix, conceived by God's lightning (de Riencourt 135). Mithra's birth was witnessed by shepherds and by Magi bearing gifts to his sacred birth-cave of the Rock (J. Smith 146). Mithra's image was buried in a rock tomb, a sacred cave that represented his Mother's womb. This was ritualistically removed each year, and he was said to live again. Mithra’s triumph and ascension to heaven were celebrated during the spring equinox, as during Easter, when the sun rises toward its apogee.
…Mithra performed miracles of raising the dead, healing the sick, making the blind see, the lame walk, and casting out devils. As a Peter, son of the petra (rock), he carried the “keys†to the kingdom of heaven, as St. Peter is said to have the keys to the gates of Heaven (H. Smith 129). Before returning to heaven, Mithra had his Last Supper with his twelve disciples, who represented the twelve signs of the zodiac. In memory, his worshipers partook of a sacramental meal of bread marked with a cross (Hooke 89, Cumont 160). This was one of seven Mithraic sacraments, the models for the Christian seven sacraments (James 250). It was called mized and in Latin missa and in English mass.
…Christian bishops in Rome pre-empted even the Mithraic high priest's title of Pater Patrum, which became Papa, or Pope (H. Smith 252). Mithraism entered into many doctrines of Manichean Christianity and continued to influence its old rival for over a thousand years (Cumont, Oriental 154)). The Mithraic festival of Epiphany, marking the arrival of sun-priests or Magi at the Savior's birthplace, was adopted by the Christian church only as late as 813 A.D. (Brewster 55).
…It is fairly probable that Christianity emphasized common features that attracted Mithra followers, perhaps the crucifix appealed to those Mithra followers who had crosses already branded on their foreheads. In art, the halo was a well-known depiction of Mithra, a true sun god, but which also depicts Christ in a similar way…
My comment below...
Personally, I think Satan is very clever, saturating the world with the other dying and rising savior religions to confuse the real event of the dying and raising of Jesus. I personally think that Paul while growing up in Tarsus was influenced by these Mystery Religions that were very close in parallel with the death and resurrection of Jesus. I also think that Paul used that information fusing it with Judaism to form his theology which has evolved into modern Christianity. Why do I say that? Because Pauline Christianity bears no resemblence to the Christianity (as a sect of Judaism) as practiced by the Church at Jerusalem. Paul may have started out innocently enough, but through the first 4 centuries, the Pauline Church turned into a Frankenstein’s monster….a little paganism here….a little paganism there…..what a mess.
The answer is easy……lets get back to the religious practice of the Disciples at the Church in Jerusalem….Messianic Judaism…..
Sources on Mithraism quoted above are found in the http://www.wikipedia.com article on "Mithraism".
