Inner Awareness
Pagan origins of the Christian faith
By Jaime Licauco
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 18:11:00 04/13/2009
Filed Under:
Religion & Belief
I OFTEN GET ANGRY letters from conservative Christians when I write on religion and/or the Christian Bible. They point out that my interpretation of the Bible is wrong and that I’m confusing people, as if their interpretation is the only correct and valid one.
A reader named Diana was incensed by my column title, “Psychic abilities are gifts of the Holy Spirit,” saying I am completely mistaken and that I should keep my opinion to myself.
Another opposed my statement that “anybody can be possessed by evil spirits,” saying a “true Christian can never be possessed.”
These reactions merely amuse me.
I have come to the inevitable conclusion that one’s degree of certainty about his or her religion is inversely proportional to his or her knowledge of the facts about that religion. The more dogmatic or fanatical a person is about religion, the more ignorant he is about the origin or basis of his beliefs.
I used to think that way, too. Having been raised and educated in a conservative Catholic school,
I have been brainwashed into believing that the Catholic religion is the only true and correct one.
We were taught, during that time anyway, that
“outside the Catholic faith there is no salvation.” We were also forbidden to visit or attend non-Catholic churches or services. I also remember that in our theology class, other religions like Buddhism, Hinduism and Taoism were considered “adversaries” of the Catholic religion.
Divisive
Fortunately, Catholic and other Christian schools no longer teach students this false and divisive doctrine. But habits of thinking and centuries of mental conditioning really die hard, especially in this conservative medieval-thinking Christian country. Ultra-conservative Christians still think the Christian Bible is the only source of knowledge about God and that it was God Himself who wrote or dictated it.
When you ask these people how they know it to be so, they inevitably reply,
“because the Bible says so.” Have you ever seen a more perfect example of tautological reasoning?
I usually avoid discussions about two topics: religion and politics. Because there will be no end to arguments. But if I don’t speak out and point out other views aside from those we have always heard from the priesthood, the evangelists, and their followers, we will never grow in our knowledge of these matters.
All will follow blindly what Church authorities tell us, and accept only their interpretation of the scriptures, as if theirs is the only correct and valid interpretation.
So, at the risk of again being bombarded by angry letters, let me point out some historically verifiable facts about the true origins of the Christian religion as we have never known it.
Not unique
Scholars now agree that Christianity was not a unique religion founded or established by a religious teacher and prophet called Jesus, whom his followers consider to be a God. I tried to find out where the basic ideas of Christianity originated. And what I discovered shocked me.
The story of Christ—I mean, the story of a God becoming man, by being born of a mortal virgin and then dying, going to hell and resurrecting, is not new at all. It did not begin with Jesus Christ. There were many stories like this even before Jesus Christ was supposedly born.
This story has its roots in ancient and pagan mystery religions. In other words, Christianity had a pagan origin. And it’s not original at all except for one thing.
The ancient pagan people did not think of the story of their dying and resurrecting God to be a real person, but was accepted by them as a myth or symbol.
Christianity, however, insisted that Jesus Christ actually lived as a real and historical person, and Christian theologians took laborious and meticulous pains to prove his historical existence.
According to authors Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy, in their thoroughly researched book “The Jesus Mysteries,” the story of the “dying and resurrecting god” is the same story found in all ancient mystery schools, from Asia Minor (Attis) and Persia (as Mithras) to Greece (as Dionysus) and Egypt (as Osiris).
In that book, the authors cite incontrovertible parallels between the ancient teachings of pagan religion and those of Christianity.
Why don’t we know this? According to the authors,
the early Roman Catholic Church did everything in its mighty power to prevent the truth from coming out. It systematically and mercilessly destroyed and eradicated all teachings and literature of pagan origin.
Isn’t this the same attitude some Christians still have today, destroying all beliefs that are different from or opposed to their own? So nothing has changed. Except that now not everybody is willing to accept everything the Church dishes out.
This does not diminish the importance of Jesus Christ as far as I am concerned.
The story of Jesus is the story of every man. We are the gods that came down from heaven as Jesus did. We will all die, but will live again as He did. Isn’t that where the power of the Jesus story really lies?
For inquiries on books, paranormal services and seminars on Inner Mind Development, ESP and Intuition Development, and Soulmates, Karma & Reincarnation conducted by this writer, call 8107245, 8926806; fax 8159890; e-mail
jaimetlicauco@yahoo.com.
Originally Posted by seven_segment
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