Published by Sunday
Sunday has long been the Pagan day of worship to the Sun God Mithra. Christians use to worship on Saturday, as is referenced by the fact that Saturday is the last day of the week, and they rest on that day because according to Genesis, God rested on the seventh day. The Law of Moses dictated Christians follow a Saturday worship/rest. This went on for hundreds of years, until the 4th Century when Roman Emperor Constantine, himself a Pagan at the time, ruled that the official day of worship in Rome would be Sunday. At that time most Christians changed their day of worship. Later a law was made by the Church of Lacedonia in 364 AD, stating that Christians were to worship on Sundays, and work on Saturdays. Jews also worshiped on Saturday and were often subject to persecution by the Roman government, they did not change their day of worship.
Christians have since been told their day of worship was changed to honor Christs rising on a Sunday, but historically this reason is inaccurate.
Easter
Easter was a fertility holiday, a time to worship the Goddess Eastre (there are many spellings of this name, including Ishtar, Oester, and Eastur). As you can see this Goddess also gave her name to such things as Estrus, the female reproductive cycle, and Estrogen, a female hormone. This holiday was amazingly popular and in Pagan times, rabbits, and eggs, were fertility symbols used to celebrate this holiday. Even Hot Cross Buns predate Christianity by over one thousand years.
Around the Mediterranean, even before Jesus, the death and rebirth of Attis, was celebrated at this time. Attis was born to a virgin (sound familiar?). He is the god of Vegetation, the lover of the fertility Goddess, and he dies and is reborn annually at this time (sound familiar?).
This holiday was too popular for early Christians to ban, so over time they simply reassigned meaning to the traditions and let people continue to celebrate.
Christmas
Most people, even Christians, realize that December 25 was not Christs actual birthday. In the old calendar December 25 was the winter solstice, a day to celebrate the returning of the sun. In Rome December 17 was the start of a seven day holiday to celebrate the birth of the god Saturn. The Iranian sun God Mithra (also linked with Helios) was born of a virgin birth, on December 25. In many parts of the world the holidays’ original name was Saturnalia. Saturnalia was a celebration that lasted several days and involved feasting and the exchange of gifts. Evergreens, which represented life, were brought into the homes and decorated. Nearly every Christmas tradition, from the wreath to the star, have pagan origins, there are too many to list here, but a link is provided at the bottom. As with Easter the holiday was too popular, so rather than forbidding newly converted Christians from celebrating it, the Church renamed the day and over time reassigned meanings to the traditions, for example, the nativity scenes which were originally made to honor the birth of Saturn where now referenced to worship Jesus.
Halloween
All Hallows Day was originally celebrated in the spring, but with the Celtic Holiday of Samhain being celebrated October 31, a move was made to place All Hallows Day on November 1. Thus October 31 became known as All Hallows Eve, eventually, Halloween. Indeed Samhain was a pagan holiday, one where people dressed up and reversed roles. They pulled pranks and partied with the people who had died during the year. Pagans were not afraid of their dead as many of us are today. Rather these spirits were welcomed. It is not true that masks were worn to ward off the dead. It is also entirely untrue that sacrifices to the Devil were made by Pagans on this day. The Devil is a Christian belief, Pagans did not worship the Devil. Some Christians do not view Halloween as a Christian Holiday, which, of course, it is not, but then (as we have learned) nor are Easter or Christmas).
Halos
Halos were used on images of Pagan Gods and Goddesses, long before Christianity arose. The halo symbol is a clear reference to the Sun.
Baptism
The Baptism of infants was practiced in the ancient Greek mystery religions long before John the Baptist did it. In fact the use of water for ritualistic purification was mentioned by Homer, a poet. Some 800 years before Christ, he wrote “The Iliad”, an epic poem. In it he mentions the purification of an entire army with water (Iliad 1. 313).
Why?
Very likely you, the reader, are either saying to yourself that this is untrue, it contradicts with everything you have been told, or you are wondering “why”. To answer the question “Why?” we have to realize that hundreds of years ago Christianity was a new religion, in its efforts to gain converts they had to give people incentive to follow their religion rather than anything that had come before, and indeed many had come before. In fact you will find many religions also had virgin birth stories, miracle, and “Son of God”, legends associated with them too.
Undoubtedly Christianity borrowed from Paganism, Mirthaism, and a handful of other mystery religions of the time.
To get people to convert, Christian leaders had to make it easy for the people to keep their traditions, they just incorporated them into the Christian myth, and over time some people forgot the real meaning of things. But not everyone did forget, due to a push by the Puritans, Christmas was banned in Massachusetts for 22 years because of its pagan origins.
Photo by Author.
Ever wonder why Christians are referred to as “The Flock”? Perhaps it is because they are easily led to believe in groups, things that an intelligent individual, with the correct information, would put question to. Such is the behavior of sheep. If this link contradicts every thing you have been told it simply means you have not done your own research into the truth, and are blindly following what your Shepherd has been telling you.
For further reading consider the book The Pagan Christ by Tom Harper, himself a Christian, who has traced Christianities roots to the use of a Pagan God, and Pagan legends and beliefs, to create the figure Christians worship as Jesus. http://www.tomharpur.com/books/books_thepaganchrist.asp
http://www.albatrus.org/english/festivals/easter/is_easter_pagan.htm
http://www.pocm.info/ Pagan Origins of the Christ Myth
Other Links
The Fertility Holiday Known as Easter
A very interesting and informative article. I really enjoyed reading it very much.
Christian only enjoyed it but couldn’t get any lesson from it?
Although I knew a fair bit of this before, this is still an interesting article. It’s funny how often Christians will criticise pagan practices whilst practicing some themselves.
As with Emma, I knew a lot about this already, but its a great piece….and makes you think too!
Good piece.
But Christianity is about God being made man in Jesus Christ. Dates and customs are not that important.
Very well researched and informative article. Thank you.
Interesting list! It’s neat to see the connections between and evolutions of beliefs throughout time.
I too knew this but it’s always interesting to read where these customs came from.
Good introductory article. It is fun to trace the origins of stuff.
I am glad many of you already knew this! That makes me smile.
BUT>>>>
DID YOU KNOW????
the sheep in the picture is my gal named Diamond?
Yes its true!!!! she is one of our many pet sheep.
We dont eat them or force them to accept any religion. Thats just the way we are.
Interesting piece but you are forgetting the Jewish origins of Christianity. Before Bar Kokhba’s Rebellion, the people we now call Christians were then called Jews. They were (to simplify things quite a bit) the rough equivalent of Reform Jews.
Well, the Romans (who after two years defeated the Jews) figured the “Christians” for easy targets. They told them that they could remain in Israel and continue to worship in congregations on the condition that their rabbi could no longer be Jewish. A lot of things changed as a result as yo might imagine. Synagogues became churches and congregations became flocks.
There is nothing wrong in being a member of a flock. The early Christians after all were people who chose to stay in their homeland over becoming slaves in the Roman Empire.
Can we really blame them for making that choice?
Regards,
Inna
I find a lot of the different religions interconnect on different things..
I knew most of our religious belief came from pagan belief but it is interesting to learn which ones. I knew about Easter and Halloween but not the others.
Christians haven\’t borrowed these things.
They\’ve stolen them.
Do you really think Christians will ever give them back and put them in their proper place?
Meh. That\’ll be a cold day in hell.
I knew that everything relating to Christianity were familiar. But, couldn’t relate to the facts. Good one.
This was a fascinating Read. I am open to all ideals, evolution, the archaeology thing. This was an eye opener and entertaining at that.
grat work b nelson. very informative.
(Ever wonder why Christians are referred to as “The Flock”? Perhaps it is because they are easily led to believe in groups, things that an intelligent individual, with the correct information, would put question to. Such is the behavior of sheep. If this link contradicts every thing you have been told it simply means you have not done your own research into the truth, and are blindly following what your Shepherd has been telling you.)
I doubt the spirit with which you speak. Do i sense an antichrist spirit here.
Take Jesus Christ away and there is no christianity. Take away other religious founders and their religion still remains . this should tell you Jesus is the same as his word. What is his word? his word is he is God and that he came down as human and died and rose for the salvation of mankaind. this is what christianity is about. It is not about halloween, christmas, easter etc The important thing in christianity is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. many people have false sense of being christians. they are not and go about perpertuating acts which brings disgrace to the body of christ and so the world picks them and make them examples of what christians are like
to Son of John
clearly if I do not believe in worshipping Christ, I also do not believe their is an “Anti-Christ”.. that should have been obvious.
to Johnson Faddool
you said that in Christianity if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ you will be saved.. that is not true.. if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ you “believe” you will be saved.. that does NOT mean you will be….
to B Nelson
I don’t need to argue with you. you’ve taken your stance. your eternal destiny is in your hands. as for me i’ll worship Jesus Christ because He is my LORD(master and ruler) and my God.
To B Nelson
A statement of fact: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and You shall be saved. Could you please quote which part of the bible that states ………..if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ You “believe” you will be saved. Please don’t quote things out of context or deliberately make additions to the bible. that is punishable (read the very last verses of the last chapter of the book of revelation)
to son of John
I did not say I was quoting the Bible. but just because YOU believe the bible, does not make it fact.
changes to the Bible have been made for thousands of years… heck, the original text was NOT even written in verses. there are oodles and oodles of variations of the Bible, so therefore changing it is NOT punishable. people do it all the time…from Constantine to King James…
To B Nelson
My sister we don’t need to drag this. I believe in a God who is the originator of all things and who manifested Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. The writings of historians like Josephus, Tacitus confirmed that Christ was a real person. Christ was and is a miracle worker. There are other recorded miracle workers in history as well. even with all their miracles put together including Christ’s there is one that intrigues me. this very one to me makes Him stand out tall among every miracle worker as well as any historical figure – the miracle of his resurrection from the dead. A miracle which could have been done by God only. You may rightly say he wasn’t the only one who died and came back to life and so there is nothing unique about that. but then all others who died and came back to life died again. there are others who didn’t die at all – for they were taken up by God. It is only this one person in history who died, rose up from the dead and never died again. He still lives today. To what end were His miracles – to confirm His messiahship. Now take note here no achaeological finding has ever contradicted the bible. the Dead Sea scrolls discovered in the Qumram caves in 1947 affirmed the reliability of our modern day bible. Jesus said any sin may be forgiven men but the sin against the Holy Ghost cannot and ever be forgiven men either in this age or the age to come. How may one commit this unpardonable sin. By rejecting Christ: for it is his Spirit that convicts you of sin and so when you reject Christ you reject His Spirit also and that is sin against the Holy Ghost.
My sister you have a beginning, so is the world. The world has not ended yet but billions of human beings have already expired. Have you ever asked yourself where all these came from and where they go after death; what was their real purpose on earth? The bible says in ecclesiastis that Human beings were created to have reverence for GOD(Christ). There is life after death. Death does not end all. You are fortunate to have life but sooner or later you will also be gone. To this end I’d like to ask how have you prepared yourself to embrace eternity- eternity in hell or eternity in heaven? I can assure you that God is given you more time to repent and come to the knowledge of the truth. Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life. He is the way to God, the truth about God and the giver of life. For He said I am come that they may have life and have it to the fullest. without Jesus you are dead and already condemned to hell. I am begging you my sister to give Jesus a chance. This moment may be yours but the very next second may not.You surely wouldn’t like to be confined to a Godless place as hell when forever you will be tormented. Hell and the fate of the damned is not any human fabrication. They are real.
In the part of the world where I come from (Ghana, West Africa) there are things which most of you in the Western world have not seen before. Public display of occultic powers. Ask yourself where the practitioners of these occultic powers derive their powers from. From the devil of course who is also very real. Some few years back a battle ensued between two tribes in the northern part of Ghana. Flaming arrows controlled from a remote location (occultic manupulation) were sent to kell their victims and these arrows would not rest until their find their victims. People could even command the rain to fall under occultic manupulation and strike their victims dead with thunderbolt from these rainfalls.
Let me tell you i have seen some of these occultic people who were deeply involved and have surrendered their lives to Christ because after encountering him they came to know there was an ultimate power beyond them. I have heard witches confessing their wicked deeds and how their lives changed after encountering Christ. My sister don’t fight against Christ. You will surely end up a loser. Christ said He that is not with us is against us. You will not win against the creator of the world.
I want to invite you to Christ. Jesus said you didn’t choose me but i chose you. Jesus had already selected you to inherit eternal life and be with Him even before the foundation of the world. It is up to you, your responsibility to choose Him otherwise you will have no excuse on the Day of His Judgment (the day when God has chosen to show His anger). The bible says if you shall confess with your mouth(verbally) that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the Dead you have already passed from death to life.God forgets your sin forever. The bible didn’t say confess your sins and you shall be saved but rather confess the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved. Why? because your sins were nailed together with Christ on the cross. These are spiritual things I’m telling you. for the bible says He came to the world to take upon himself the sin of humanity. God remembers no more our sins. What He requires from us is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. to be saved you can say this simple prayer: Dear Lord Jesus I acknowledge you as my Lord, My God and my personal savior. i invite you to come and dwell in my heart and live with me forever. I believe in my heart that God raised you from the dead and He raised you for my Justification. I declare I am saved. I have passed from death to life. Hallelujah. Amen.
Finally I want you to know that it is 100% accurate to call Jesus God. For He is the embodiment of deity. For He Himself said I and My Father are one which means one in essence, one in everything. He has not robbed God of anything by calling Himself God. When the disciples asked HIm; show us the Father, his reply was: how long have I been with you yet you do not know me. Again it is 100% accurate to ascribe worship to Christ. Remember after the resurrection, prior to ascension some of the over 500 witnesses who saw the resurrected Christ worshiped Him and he didn’t stop them neither did He say to Doubting Thomas: hey!!! you go far by calling me Lord and God (that was when Thomas was convinced, Jesus had really come back alive again).
My sister I am done. The work the Lord Jesus gave me concerning you and any others who might be reading this is done. I wash my hands off. Remember your eternal destiny lies in your hands. SHALOM (PEACE)
To B Nelson
My sister we don\’t need to drag this. I believe in a God who is the originator of all things and who manifested Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. The writings of historians like Josephus, Tacitus confirmed that Christ was a real person. Christ was and is a miracle worker. There are other recorded miracle workers in history as well. even with all their miracles put together including Christ\’s there is one that intrigues me. this very one to me makes Him stand out tall among every miracle worker as well as any historical figure – the miracle of his resurrection from the dead. A miracle which could have been done by God only. You may rightly say he wasn\’t the only one who died and came back to life and so there is nothing unique about that. but then all others who died and came back to life died again. there are others who didn\’t die at all – for they were taken up by God. It is only this one person in history who died, rose up from the dead and never died again. He still lives today. To what end were His miracles – to confirm His messiahship. Now take note here no achaeological finding has ever contradicted the bible. the Dead Sea scrolls discovered in the Qumram caves in 1947 affirmed the reliability of our modern day bible. Jesus said any sin may be forgiven men but the sin against the Holy Ghost cannot and ever be forgiven men either in this age or the age to come. How may one commit this unpardonable sin. By rejecting Christ: for it is his Spirit that convicts you of sin and so when you reject Christ you reject His Spirit also and that is sin against the Holy Ghost.
My sister you have a beginning, so is the world. The world has not ended yet but billions of human beings have already expired. Have you ever asked yourself where all these came from and where they go after death; what was their real purpose on earth? The bible says in ecclesiastis that Human beings were created to have reverence for GOD(Christ). There is life after death. Death does not end all. You are fortunate to have life but sooner or later you will also be gone. To this end I\’d like to ask how have you prepared yourself to embrace eternity- eternity in hell or eternity in heaven? I can assure you that God is given you more time to repent and come to the knowledge of the truth. Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life. He is the way to God, the truth about God and the giver of life. For He said I am come that they may have life and have it to the fullest. without Jesus you are dead and already condemned to hell. I am begging you my sister to give Jesus a chance. This moment may be yours but the very next second may not.You surely wouldn\’t like to be confined to a Godless place as hell when forever you will be tormented. Hell and the fate of the damned is not any human fabrication. They are real.
In the part of the world where I come from (Ghana, West Africa) there are things which most of you in the Western world have not seen before. Public display of occultic powers. Ask yourself where the practitioners of these occultic powers derive their powers from. From the devil of course who is also very real. Some few years back a battle ensued between two tribes in the northern part of Ghana. Flaming arrows controlled from a remote location (occultic manupulation) were sent to kell their victims and these arrows would not rest until their find their victims. People could even command the rain to fall under occultic manupulation and strike their victims dead with thunderbolt from these rainfalls.
Let me tell you i have seen some of these occultic people who were deeply involved and have surrendered their lives to Christ because after encountering him they came to know there was an ultimate power beyond them. I have heard witches confessing their wicked deeds and how their lives changed after encountering Christ. My sister don\’t fight against Christ. You will surely end up a loser. Christ said He that is not with us is against us. You will not win against the creator of the world.
I want to invite you to Christ. Jesus said you didn\’t choose me but i chose you. Jesus had already selected you to inherit eternal life and be with Him even before the foundation of the world. It is up to you, your responsibility to choose Him otherwise you will have no excuse on the Day of His Judgment (the day when God has chosen to show His anger). The bible says if you shall confess with your mouth(verbally) that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the Dead you have already passed from death to life.God forgets your sin forever. The bible didn\’t say confess your sins and you shall be saved but rather confess the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved. Why? because your sins were nailed together with Christ on the cross. These are spiritual things I\’m telling you. for the bible says He came to the world to take upon himself the sin of humanity. God remembers no more our sins. What He requires from us is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. to be saved you can say this simple prayer: Dear Lord Jesus I acknowledge you as my Lord, My God and my personal savior. i invite you to come and dwell in my heart and live with me forever. I believe in my heart that God raised you from the dead and He raised you for my Justification. I declare I am saved. I have passed from death to life. Hallelujah. Amen.
Finally I want you to know that it is 100% accurate to call Jesus God. For He is the embodiment of deity. For He Himself said I and My Father are one which means one in essence, one in everything. He has not robbed God of anything by calling Himself God. When the disciples asked HIm; show us the Father, his reply was: how long have I been with you yet you do not know me. Again it is 100% accurate to ascribe worship to Christ. Remember after the resurrection, prior to ascension some of the over 500 witnesses who saw the resurrected Christ worshiped Him and he didn\’t stop them neither did He say to Doubting Thomas: hey!!! you go far by calling me Lord and God (that was when Thomas was convinced, Jesus had really come back alive again).
My sister I am done. The work the Lord Jesus gave me concerning you and any others who might be reading this is done. I wash my hands off. Remember your eternal destiny lies in your hands. SHALOM (PEACE)
To B Nelson
My sister we don not need to drag this. I believe in a God who is the originator of all things and who manifested Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. The writings of historians like Josephus, Tacitus confirmed that Christ was a real person. Christ was and is a miracle worker. There are other recorded miracle workers in history as well. even with all their miracles put together including Christs there is one that intrigues me. this very one to me makes Him stand out tall among every miracle worker as well as any historical figure – the miracle of his resurrection from the dead. A miracle which could have been done by God only. You may rightly say he wasnt the only one who died and came back to life and so there is nothing unique about that. but then all others who died and came back to life died again. there are others who didnt die at all – for they were taken up by God. It is only this one person in history who died, rose up from the dead and never died again. He still lives today. To what end were His miracles – to confirm His messiahship. Now take note here no achaeological finding has ever contradicted the bible. the Dead Sea scrolls discovered in the Qumram caves in 1947 affirmed the reliability of our modern day bible. Jesus said any sin may be forgiven men but the sin against the Holy Ghost cannot and ever be forgiven men either in this age or the age to come. How may one commit this unpardonable sin. By rejecting Christ: for it is his Spirit that convicts you of sin and so when you reject Christ you reject His Spirit also and that is sin against the Holy Ghost.
My sister you have a beginning, so is the world. The world has not ended yet but billions of human beings have already expired. Have you ever asked yourself where all these came from and where they go after death; what was their real purpose on earth? The bible says in ecclesiastis that Human beings were created to have reverence for GOD(Christ). There is life after death. Death does not end all. You are fortunate to have life but sooner or later you will also be gone. To this end Id like to ask how have you prepared yourself to embrace eternity- eternity in hell or eternity in heaven? I can assure you that God is given you more time to repent and come to the knowledge of the truth. Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life. He is the way to God, the truth about God and the giver of life. For He said I am come that they may have life and have it to the fullest. without Jesus you are dead and already condemned to hell. I am begging you my sister to give Jesus a chance. This moment may be yours but the very next second may not.You surely wouldnt like to be confined to a Godless place as hell when forever you will be tormented. Hell and the fate of the damned is not any human fabrication. They are real.
In the part of the world where I come from (Ghana, West Africa) there are things which most of you in the Western world have not seen before. Public display of occultic powers. Ask yourself where the practitioners of these occultic powers derive their powers from. From the devil of course who is also very real. Some few years back a battle ensued between two tribes in the northern part of Ghana. Flaming arrows controlled from a remote location (occultic manupulation) were sent to kell their victims and these arrows would not rest until their find their victims. People could even command the rain to fall under occultic manupulation and strike their victims dead with thunderbolt from these rainfalls.
Let me tell you i have seen some of these occultic people who were deeply involved and have surrendered their lives to Christ because after encountering him they came to know there was an ultimate power beyond them. I have heard witches confessing their wicked deeds and how their lives changed after encountering Christ. My sister dont fight against Christ. You will surely end up a loser. Christ said He that is not with us is against us. You will not win against the creator of the world.
I want to invite you to Christ. Jesus said you didnt choose me but i chose you. Jesus had already selected you to inherit eternal life and be with Him even before the foundation of the world. It is up to you, your responsibility to choose Him otherwise you will have no excuse on the Day of His Judgment (the day when God has chosen to show His anger). The bible says if you shall confess with your mouth(verbally) that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the Dead you have already passed from death to life.God forgets your sin forever. The bible didnt say confess your sins and you shall be saved but rather confess the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved. Why? because your sins were nailed together with Christ on the cross. These are spiritual things Im telling you. for the bible says He came to the world to take upon himself the sin of humanity. God remembers no more our sins. What He requires from us is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. to be saved you can say this simple prayer: Dear Lord Jesus I acknowledge you as my Lord, My God and my personal savior. i invite you to come and dwell in my heart and live with me forever. I believe in my heart that God raised you from the dead and He raised you for my Justification. I declare I am saved. I have passed from death to life. Hallelujah. Amen.
Finally I want you to know that it is 100% accurate to call Jesus God. For He is the embodiment of deity. For He Himself said I and My Father are one which means one in essence, one in everything. He has not robbed God of anything by calling Himself God. When the disciples asked HIm; show us the Father, his reply was: how long have I been with you yet you do not know me. Again it is 100% accurate to ascribe worship to Christ. Remember after the resurrection, prior to ascension some of the over 500 witnesses who saw the resurrected Christ worshiped Him and he didnt stop them neither did He say to Doubting Thomas: hey!!! you go far by calling me Lord and God (that was when Thomas was convinced, Jesus had really come back alive again).
My sister I am done. The work the Lord Jesus gave me concerning you and any others who might be reading this is done. I wash my hands off. Remember your eternal destiny lies in your hands. SHALOM (PEACE)
#
B Nelson says:
June 16th, 2009
I am glad many of you already knew this! That makes me smile.
BUT>>>>
DID YOU KNOW????
the sheep in the picture is my gal named Diamond?
Yes its true!!!! she is one of our many pet sheep.
We dont eat them or force them to accept any religion. Thats just the way we are.
Uh-huh … Is there any lamb have any religion anyway? LOL.
I know that word supposedly to be “has” (not “have”).
No for nothin’ and no offence to you who aren’t like this, but you christians should really be more tollerant of others and not preach your religion to those who choose not to be, we don’t go to church for a reason, i’m thurally agnostic and really don’t wanna listen to you say that yoru better because your christain, and quite frankly even my catholic girlfriend would be appauled by you guys
so please don’t be dicks like that it just re-enforces our belife in christains been jack asses and untalerant (you guys did start the crusaids and the Friday the 13th superstiation)