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The Paganisation of Christianity
- Thread starter ronki23
- Start date
All in my opinion: pagan festivals do not exist, nothing Christians have ever done is rooted in paganism, some who claim Christ are more authentic (authoritative) than others.
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What?
Yes, 'there are others' and one can research them at www.jw.org.
Those so-called Christian festivals are part of ' Christendom' (so-called Christian as Jesus said at Matthew 7:21-23)
'Christendom''s apostasy developed 'after' 1st-century Christianity ended - Acts of the Apostles 20:29-30
amorphous_constellation
Well-Known Member
One example of it is the concept of the logos. Pagan philosophers talked about it, but it is in Christianity. Therefore, a line is drawn to something that came before, something that wasn't Christian, and there you see a root. If said there wasn't, just imagine I took a major concept from Hinduism, started a religion, and said my religion was where it originated
Christians don't claim the logos concept originated with them.
amorphous_constellation
Well-Known Member
If so, then that's one place where we can say, I suppose, that Christianity has one root (of how many roots?) in the Pagan world
This doesn't bother most serious Christians to whom I've spoken. They openly acknowledge and even seem to appreciate this. The whole 'it's Pagan' thing is a complex conversation, but one must acknowledge, as many Christians do, that Christianity was born in a Romano-Hellenic world and incorporated some of its concepts into what was essentially a messianic Jewish cult.
All of them?
amorphous_constellation
Well-Known Member
Of course, indeed it is a little complicated. A couple other things might be the idea of a god having a divine child, and then the general dualism of spirit and matter
The rabbit and egg are Pagan fertility symbols. Why do you think good little Christian kids go on Easter Egg hunts? Do you think it's to honor the Pagan goddess Eostra?
No.
This has been debunked time and time and time again.
It is an argument that betrays ignorance of the origins of Easter (called Pascha elsewhere in the world, after the Jewish word Pesach). The so-called goddess is likely an invention too.
Easter is based on the Jewish holiday Pesach in which lambs are slaughtered (which Christianity associates with Jesus dying on the cross), and celebrates Jesus' resurrection. The egg as a symbol goes back into antiquity and has long been associated with resurrection, new life, for obvious reasons that transcend religious boundaries.
Easter even used to be calculated to coincide with the Pesach holiday until the Christians divorced themselves from Judaism.
It's not Pagan to use an universal symbol, i.e, an egg. It's a cross-cultural practice.
It's pretty obvious it's about Jesus rising from the dead and not some made up Germanic goddess that, even had she existed, would have not been remotely heard of in the Mediterranean world that birthed Christianity .
The more likely etymology of Easter is 'east' i.e, where the sun rises - thus 'dawn', and from here you see the link to the idea of rising and resurrection.
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These are all falsehoods.
"The most likely “historical Eostre” is a localized goddess worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons in present day county Kent in Southeastern England"
Was There Really a Spring Goddess Called Eostre?
Yeah, there are various understandings but I'm feeling a bit polemical and I've never bought the Eostre thing.
I think it does a disservice to both Christians and Pagans to be all 'that's Pagan'.
amorphous_constellation
Well-Known Member
well, it might come down to if you believe Bede, the Christian, or if you think he made up the stuff about it. No one has to believe him, but I don't see a particular reason not to believe him
He's the primary source and I believe he just made a mistake.
Really? I've been at some excellent ones... You mean to tell me now those were a figment of my imagination?
Guess they must have put something fairly strong in the drinks... funny, you think my memories of them would be more affected.
