BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Pagan Taken from older religions?

Could any of you who know a little bit more about this maybe enlighten me a little bit?

I know in some of the ancient religions people worshiped the sun, and participated in different festivals, etc. that had to do with the seasons and worshiped different Gods and Goddesses.

It seems so odd to me that now instead of worshiping the Sun
and then the symbolic "death of the sun" we have "Christians" who worship the Jesus and say HE was "The son" of God and then he died and rose again. The "Rising Son", who then dies and rises again (as in a Resurrection)?
An awful big co-incidence?

I know many of the Pagans holidays were taken into Christian ones, sometimes I wonder if the Christian "god" was also taken from the many Gods the Pagans once worshiped?

I think so, and what you say adds to my little repertoir of making the transition of converting Pagans to Christianity easier. Interesting thought.

It is just something I have found interesting. Didn't even the Early Egyptians worship a Sun God? Didn't the Aztecs, Mayans and Inca's also worship a Sun God? Didn't some also worship the Mother of the Sun God? Isis then, Mary now?

Maybe we have a tie-in here: The more things change the more they stay the same.

I mean to me the thought is very sobering. Could modern day Christians actually be worshiping the birth, death and re-birth of the same Sun God that our ancestors may have worshiped thousands of years ago?

Modern day Christians are following a dogma and tradition that has evolved over a few thousand years. In their beliefs, God created the Earth for them to have dominion over, and use as they will.

Paganism has always had its roots in eco-spirituality. People are viewed as connected to the Earth, and many of the related spiritualities put forth the idea that the planet is to be respected, and not just consumed.

aiteall,
Since you posted in another thread and said you were a Pagan exploring Wicca, I was curious as to why you would now be converting Pagans to Christianity?

I read somewhere that it was the Pagan Roman emperor Constantine who made a political decision to incorporate the new and increasingly popular religion of Christianity into the old pagan ceremonies, in order to win the votes and backing of the influential Christians. Mmm, now why does that last bit sound so familiar?

It seems the reason it all fits in so strangely well, is that it was made to fit. A prime example is that the Christmas festival occurs over the Pagan festival of Yule (winter), even though the stories claimed that shepherds were out with their lambs (surely not in winter?).

Did any of you go through what I am going through now when you realized or thought that maybe what you believed all your life (Christianity) may have just been a fairy tales or lies built on truth built on top of lies?

When you are brought up believing something from a young age it is all you know so I guess you just accept it as the truth since you don't know any better.

People told me there was a Hell so I have always believed there was one. I was always worried everything I said or did may have been wrong so maybe I would go to Hell for it. What if it is just a place that someone made up to keep people towing the line out of fear?

When yo start to look at and question the very basis of your religious beliefs it has a dramatic effect on everything in your life.

I certainly went through what you are feeling. I spent years questioning what I was taught. I learned and learned, read and read, questioned and questioned some more. Your life changes when you think you have things figured out. And it continues to change as you continue to question, learn, and read. Let's do hope we continue to do all we need to to find ourselves and our place in our world.

Holy [censored], I just read what I wrote yesterday through your eyes! That does not sound good at all.

What I meant to say was there are many things that Christians used in the beginning of Christianity to make converting Pagans to Christianity 'easier'. Something recognisable and familiar in a new religion would convert more people - that was the belief of the day, I think. "The Rising Son"(Jesus) is something else that I'd add to the many things early Christians did to compare their religsion to the 'pagans' of their day.

I'm not into converting anyone unless they ask me how I practise, but man. I can see how you'd think that. Maybe my Neo-Citron had taken over the logic part of my brain during my last post. I hope my explanation clears that up!

aiteall -- I was kinda curious as to what you were trying to say. I'm glad I asked.

On the topic of taking from older belief systems, way back in ancient Sumeria, gods and goddesses were absorbed and adapted into new traditions. If you go back and read about Ishtar and Inanna, you'll find some of the earliest godforms were co-opted by those who came later. The Romans adopted most of the Greek pantheon, changing their names of course. And in Japan, many elements of Chinese history and culture were adapted for a wide array of purposes, religous or not.