FinallyFree Posted November 29, 2010 Share Posted November 29, 2010 Thanks to the History Channel, I have known for several years that Christian Holidays, such as Easter and Christmas, have many pagan elements. It was recently pointed out to me that Christianity itself has many pagan elements. I did some research on the internet and found the website http://www.pocm.info/index.html that explores many of these similarities. Does anyone know of any other websites that point out these similarities? Does anyone have any thoughts on this subject matter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eugene39 Posted November 29, 2010 Share Posted November 29, 2010 My local library had a book named Christianity: the origins of a pagan religion / Philippe Walter ; translated by Jon E. Graham. He mentioned a lot of Christian holidays I had never heard of, and ended up reading about Christmas and Easter, and found it quite enlightening. Also found the study of mithraism to be very interesting, since apparently Christianity formed from a merger between it and Judaism. Will definitely check out the website you mentioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinallyFree Posted November 30, 2010 Author Share Posted November 30, 2010 My local library had a book named Christianity: the origins of a pagan religion / Philippe Walter ; translated by Jon E. Graham. He mentioned a lot of Christian holidays I had never heard of, and ended up reading about Christmas and Easter, and found it quite enlightening. Also found the study of mithraism to be very interesting, since apparently Christianity formed from a merger between it and Judaism. Will definitely check out the website you mentioned. I'll definitely check out the library here in town to see if they have that book. I want to show these ideas to some hard-core christians in my life, not as a way of proving them wrong or trying to make them change - but just as a way to illustrate how uneducated they are about their religion -as I once was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinallyFree Posted December 1, 2010 Author Share Posted December 1, 2010 Are there any pagans out there that might be able to shed some light on the subject? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phanta Posted December 1, 2010 Share Posted December 1, 2010 Did you know that the Puritans of New England felt that Christmas was largely idolatry, and tried to ban it? Interesting article about this on a Christian web site, with sources: Cotton Mather's Dilemma Phanta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinallyFree Posted December 2, 2010 Author Share Posted December 2, 2010 Did you know that the Puritans of New England felt that Christmas was largely idolatry, and tried to ban it? Interesting article about this on a Christian web site, with sources: Cotton Mather's Dilemma Phanta Wow - that is very interesting. Thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 The Catholic Encyclopedia and Christmas: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03724b.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinallyFree Posted December 2, 2010 Author Share Posted December 2, 2010 The Catholic Encyclopedia and Christmas: http://www.newadvent...then/03724b.htm That is very packed with information, thank you for posting. My brain hurts after reading it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 That is very packed with information, thank you for posting. My brain hurts after reading it! The short version: No one knows when the heck Jesus was born, and Christmas is just a tradition. What they don't admit (at least I couldn't see it there) is that the time was most likely picked for the purpose to replace the pagan celebrations. There were many different kinds of pagan (and other religious) festivities during winter solstice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinallyFree Posted December 2, 2010 Author Share Posted December 2, 2010 That is very packed with information, thank you for posting. My brain hurts after reading it! The short version: No one knows when the heck Jesus was born, and Christmas is just a tradition. What they don't admit (at least I couldn't see it there) is that the time was most likely picked for the purpose to replace the pagan celebrations. There were many different kinds of pagan (and other religious) festivities during winter solstice. Thank you for the summary - that was very helpful!! I find it interesting to know that the things I regarded as absolute truth are no more than fairy tales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SleeplessGhost Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 I always thought it was well known by apostates like us that most Christian traditions come from other religions. Have you ever seen Jim Gaffigan? He has a good sketch on the holidays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyjj Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 Also found the study of mithraism to be very interesting, since apparently Christianity formed from a merger between it and Judaism I don't think that it is really true. I think its probably more reasonable to say that Christianity and Mithraism express common themes and that the early Christians tried very hard to bolt their religion onto Judaism.... An interesting book on the subject is The Jesus Mysteries: Was The Original Jesus A Pagan God? Timothy Freke[/url] Timothy Freke › Visit Amazon's Timothy Freke Page Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author Are you an Author? Learn about Author Central Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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