Pagan Origins of the Christ Myth

I happened to be working on putting up some Pagan-Christmas stuff in my group site and came across this:

http://www.pocm.info/

introduces you to Christianity's origins in ancient Pagan religion. You'll discover the evidence, the scholarship, and the reasoning behind this eye opening understanding of western intellectual history.

You already know Christmas trees and Easter eggs were originally Pagan, and you probably know the seasonal timing of the two holidays is Pagan too. Mildly interesting. Not what you'll find here. What you'll discover at POCM is that ancient cultures around the Mediterranean shared standard ideas about Gods and their powers and place in the universe—and that Christianity simply adopted those ideas and applied them to Jesus. Ancient people knew godmen did miracles. The first Christians thought Jesus was a godman, so they told stories about Jesus doing miracles. They even had Him doing the same miracles as the other godmen.


The core of Christianity—the worship of a miracle working, walking, talking godman who brings salvation—was also the core of other ancient religions that began at least a thousand years before Jesus.



Heaven, hell, prophecy, daemon possession, sacrifice, initiation by baptism, communion with God through a holy meal, the Holy Spirit, monotheism, immortality of the soul, and many other "Christian" ideas all belonged to earlier, older Pagan faiths. They were simply part of ancient Mediterranean culture. Along with miracle working sons of God, born of a mortal woman, they were common elements of pre-Christian Pagan religion. Mithras had 'em. So did Dionysus, Attis, Osiris, and Orpheus. And more.



And they had them generations—centuries— before Jesus was a twinkle in Saint Paul's eye.

thanks for putting that out there.

If Jesus be a myth, the message is still not lost. It only would serve to show us all, metaphysically, that there is some truth to be grasped in the story that spanned so many belief systems and centuries. When I was taking a class in metaphysical, biblical healing.. I asked the instructor what he thought about Jesus being a myth. And he replied, "I believe that Jesus was a true historical figure. But if I am wrong, it wouldn't make a difference. Because the spiritual truths contained in the story are still truth, and metaphysical prayer works."

I couldn't agree more.

[psychoslice]

Great stuff Kapitan_Prien, this is becoming more and more known throughout the Christian arena, yes Christianity must change or die.

[Amilius777]

I like how there is a lot of anti-Christian stuff on these spiritual forums and no one tends to report it. But any other religion can not be offended.

Anyways.

I go with the Edgar Cayce information along with Paul Solomon, Douglas Cottrell, Jon Peniel, and Ross Peterson.

All Christianity is Paganism yes. But Jesus was the fulfillment of both the Pagan Son Gods and the Jewish Messiah. The One God, or the Universal Consciousness was bringing these two sides into oneness and balance. By sending such a Man who was the Son of God born like all other pagan stories, virgin birth, dying on the Cross (which is in all pagan traditions), resurrecting, etc. But at the same time, he was the Christ, the anointed one who reached Christ Consciousness for the Hebrew People.

I feel like the Pagan Oracles and Mystics wrote these stories of Osirius, Mithras, the God in Wicca, Zeus, and all these "Sun" Gods or God-Men and they are all same because they were foreseeing the coming of Christ. If you pray to Mithras, you pray to Christ. If you pray for the God in Wicca, you pray to Christ. If you pray to Buddha, you pray to the Christ, if you pray to Osirius, you pray to the Christ. And of course Judaism was receiving this God-Man and they were chosen to bring him forth/birth him. I feel like the war on the Jews by the Roman, Greek, and Egyptians in the Old Testament was an "unconscious" rebellion/jealousy that God chose them through Abraham to bring forth the God-Man and not them because he proved to fully believe in the true "One" God, the One Universal Consciousness/Spirit.

And it not only refers to the Coming of Jesus, but it refers to the one Christ Consciousness, the spirit of Christ. This is the principle behind the God-Man, the nature that made him the Son. So either pagan or Christian they follow the same Consciousness IF they are following it the right way. Making Jesus into a worship idol is wrong in my opinion. I believe he was The Christ, but in no way should we worship any Man. Even if he is the Son of God. Technically we shouldn't even worship God because it separates us from Him/Her and makes God into a Ruler over all of us as pawns, instead of engaging with Him/Her as a parent and companion.

[Chrysaetos]

In Ancient Antiquity many people have been called Son of God. Jesus certainly wasn't the first one.

I think Jesus was just a wise rebel who had a distaste for religious authorities. He didn't came to ''save'' North America, South America, Africa, East Asia, Australia, and Europe. His imperialistic followers did that. Jesus was just a local hero, and his words were spread by hearsay. Only few people could read, and the gospels were written down decades after he lived. Of course, it's inevitable cultural myths come in play to unite with older stories.

@Amilius777:
Most people on these forums are from western countries, so Christianity is more discussed than Taoism.

Originally Posted by Amilius777

I like how there is a lot of anti-Christian stuff on these spiritual forums and no one tends to report it. But any other religion can not be offended.

I have wondered about the way in which christianity is attacked and downplayed in our world. There is much controversy surrounding muhammad and the religion he founded, (which is fine, I'm not personally putting anyone down.) There are many myths in the hindu religion.. And although Buddha was a very wise and good man, he said on his death bed that he had failed in finding the way to God.

It is also interesting to note that the Bible is the only "Holy Book" that does contain accurate historical as well as scientific fact where it touches on such information. As one quick example, it is the only ancient book that says that the earth is a sphere and is hung on nothing in the heavens. All of the other books say that the earth is flat, or balanced on the backs of cosmic elephants or some such thing.

I also find it to be food for thought that Jesus himself said that in the latter days, all men would hate him, and mock those who followed him. And that has certainly come to pass as far as I can tell. Other holy books are allowed in most schools, hindus and muslims can pray in schools and other places, as well as try to get converts to their religion... but the Bible, Christians and their religion is banned hard core. They are ther laughing stock of society and the brunt of many insults. Then there is all of the attacks on Christ.. They say he was a myth, that he was a homosexual, a political rebel and all sorts of things. Yet all other religions are seldom if ever talked about in such a way. Other religions can speak harshly of christianity, and no one says a word. But if a christian makes one peep about not agreeing with someone elses views, everyone yells bigot.

It makes one wonder, what is really going on behind the spiritual scenes of reality as we know it. As much as I subscribe to the metaphysical point of view, I cannot help but take notice of these things and ponder them in a serious manner.

[Chrysaetos]

You have to look at history and culture to get answers to those questions. Christianity was created during a time when civilisation was pretty well developed (Ancient Rome, Greek philosophy). It built upon these pillars. Think about neoplatonism, Greek idea of hell, saviours.

But we know what Christianity in power brought to us: no rational enquiry, no philosophy allowed, no other religions allowed, taboo on physiology, faith healing. Christianity has always, and still does, attack everyone. But when it gets ''attacked'' back, it cries out loud. Why is there so much ''attack'' on Christianity? Because most people who are on the internet, are from western countries. Most people that even have the time to discuss religion, are usually from the west as well. The western countries have to deal with Christianity much more. And don't worry about Islam, it is heavily criticized, if not more, here in Europe.

The core of Christianity—the worship of a miracle working, walking, talking godman who brings salvation—was also the core of other ancient religions that began at least a thousand years before Jesus.


Yes! And if you look deeper you'll also find that virtually every religion with an avatar at its core has a whole host of the exact same attributes...! These avatars must all be born of a virgin or exhibit some form of divine birth. They take on their mission at the age of 30. They are all sacrificed at the age of 33. They all rise from the dead to ascend into some sort of heavenly realms. It's astonishing how many aspects of the christ story are identical to those of these other avatars! I am not saying the man Jesus did not exist... I think he very likely did, or possibly even more than one man whose life deeds/accomplishments became mythogized into the life of one man. Perhaps he was glorified and deified in order to present the symbollic content of an avatar. I think it quite possible that it's less important whether or not a man named Jesus attained Christ Consciousness in the span of a single lifetime and MORE important to look at the symbollic content of his story! We all descend from "heaven" and our heavenly father (i.e., the light-filled heart of God/Creation/All that Is) to enter the earth in a finite body. We all have a mission to rediscover our inner divinity and awaken others to theirs. If we attempt to carry that mission out, we are all crucified in some way or another for daring to go against the thoughts and beliefs of the day! And we are all meant to rise above it and ascend back into the spirit realms! That is the real crux of the christ story to my way of thinking, and the importance of not only IT but all the other avatar stories present across the globe in so many other cultures!

LightFilledHeart: They take on their mission at the age of 30. They are all sacrificed at the age of 33.

That kind of freaked me out...but if I said why, people would think I had some type of 'complex'.