Is Christianity based on older religions.

[WatchnPray]

@autumnleaf,

Christianity is not based on/from any country, religion, person or event but from the word of God. There are a lot of confusing and contradicting suggestions and conclusions out there but the bible says everything shall come and go but the word of God stands forever. Being a born-again christian is all about having a relationship with God.

Stay blessed.

A friend of mine who is a tree hugger says Christianity is based on older religions from Egypt. He mentions lots of stuff like similarities in the Bible where Jesus is the light of the world so he says Jesus is compared to the sun God. He menitons stuff about Joseph in the Old Testament having 12 brothers who sold him out and Jesus having 12 desciples in the New Testament. He has all kinds of little comparisons like this.

Is there any study on this which I can go over so I can address his concerns?

 

[GratiaCorpusChristi]

A friend of mine who is a tree hugger says Christianity is based on older religions from Egypt. He mentions lots of stuff like similarities in the Bible where Jesus is the light of the world so he says Jesus is compared to the sun God. He menitons stuff about Joseph in the Old Testament having 12 brothers who sold him out and Jesus having 12 desciples in the New Testament. He has all kinds of little comparisons like this.

Is there any study on this which I can go over so I can address his concerns?

Egyptian religion is so far afield from Christianity that the comparison makes me laugh.

The only comparison that I've ever seen that makes one lick of sense is the comparison between the Hymn to Aten and Psalm 104, because it's perfectly plausible that the semi-monotheistic Hebrews enslaved in Egypt during the early New Kingdom found some affinity with the only monotheistic ruler in the ancient world, Akhenaton.

However, there the similarities end.

Oh, sure, all religions have a savior figure. But who doesn't want to be saved?

Oh, sure, all religions have birth-death-rebirth cycles. But all cultures experience earth's annual season cycle, too, and all humans desire a reprive from death.

Oh, sure, all religions (even one so fiercely monotheistic as Islam) image some multitude of spiritual beings, be they multiple gods, demi-gods, or angels. But does not the plurality in visible nature point to a plausible plurality in invisible creation?

Scientific note, please heed: A common denominator is not a variable. Something common to all religions can not establish a link between any two. It simply shows that all religions address fundamental human needs and world-perceptions.

 

[E.C.]

Christmas wasn't practised by early Christians.

Maybe not in the Western style with a tree, Nativity scene and so forth, but they definitely worshiped on the day we know and love as Christmas.

 

[MoNiCa4316]

I like what JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis thought; that other religions were like 'prophesies' of Christianity. This explains the similarities while upholding our faith.

God bless!

monica

 

[ContentInHim]

Maybe not in the Western style with a tree, Nativity scene and so forth, but they definitely worshiped on the day we know and love as Christmas.

I disagree with you, EC. (Boy, that hardly ever happens ) Christmas was not observed until sometime after your namesake! The earliest believers were less concerned with when Jesus was born than with his sacrifice and resurrection. So, we have 300 years without Christmas.

 

[Mary of Bethany]

It's not that Christianity is derived from other religions, but that all religions point to Christ. Not all religions contain THE truth (Jesus said "I am the Truth"), but they contain some truth, and the truth they contain points to Christ. This is why the early church didn't abolish pagan traditions (with a lowercase t), but showed the pagans the truth in their traditions and rituals and how it pointed to Christ. Christians would constantly take a Feast in their faith, like the Nativity of Christ, and then if a pagan ritual was near in time to it, for example winter solstice, they would move the date of the pagan ritual and allow them to continue the rituals in this new light of how they related to Christ. Christians never let the pagan traditions modify they faith, but let the faith modify the pagan traditions. It's really awesome if you think about it.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me the sinner.

This deserves a re-posting.

Mary

 

[Zeeboe]

EDIT: Nevermind.http://video.google.com/videoplay?d...y=8&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

 

[Yeznik]

I like what JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis thought; that other religions were like 'prophesies' of Christianity. This explains the similarities while upholding our faith.

God bless!

monica

You are starting to head in the right direction. For all those people who think Christianity is solely a post-Judaism religion I would really, really, advise them to read the Gospel of John. The whole Gospel is presented in a "Eastern" context. Let me give you some examples.

Christ said I am the Truth. Greek studied for the ultimate Truth.
Christ said I am the The Light. The ancient Aryans, Armenians, Parthians desired to worship the True Light.
Christ said I am the Way. Another Eastern concept and the list goes on and on.

 

[dimwhitt]

A friend of mine who is a tree hugger says Christianity is based on older religions from Egypt. He mentions lots of stuff like similarities in the Bible where Jesus is the light of the world so he says Jesus is compared to the sun God. He menitons stuff about Joseph in the Old Testament having 12 brothers who sold him out and Jesus having 12 desciples in the New Testament. He has all kinds of little comparisons like this.

Is there any study on this which I can go over so I can address his concerns?

YES

JUDAISM

 

[revanneosl]

What Aidan Kavanagh (of blessed memory) was fond of saying about the church's liturgy is true about the entirety of Christianity: "It didn't drop from heaven in a gladbag"

Of course the various socio-historical contexts within which Christianity was born and grew up influenced the church's thought and practice! There are easily discernable influences from the Judaism of the 2nd Temple period, the religio romana, the various eastern religio mysteria which were popular in the Empire during Jesus' time, and the Greek philosophical schools as well. John's gospel, for instance, is a very early attempt to translate the glorious revelation of Jesus Christ into the language and conceptual categories of platonist philosophy.

It is entirely appropriate for we Christians to assert that our religion is the one uniquely true and salvific faith into which the whole world is graciously invited to enter. It is also, however, simply false to fact for us to assert that Christianity (or even Jesus Christ himself) were somehow "clean" of any effect or influence by the cultural context in which it (or he) was born and lived.

Grace & Peace,
Anne

 

[ibba23]

Bump, God Bless!!