Religious questions. Hate mail Welcome just don't be too mean.?

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I think that it is important to acknowledge that these attacks are against all Christians and not just Catholics, although they attack Catholicism in particular. Some seem to be suggesting that if it had not been for syncretism between pagan religions and Catholicism that all Christians would be Arians based on the information that some pagan religions had beliefs similar to Christian Trinitarian beliefs therefore the Trinity is wrong and Arius was right. If I was to list all of the pagan religions that believed in oneness as did Arius and his modern day heretical followers, would that prove that Arius was influenced by Pagans and thus heretical for his beliefs and practices? I pray all can see the folly of such arguments. Are we to accept such comparisons which persuade only by their volume those that are ignorant and not on the truthfulness and application of the comparisons but on the gullibility and prejudice of the hearer?

Other claims are not based on pagan religious practices but on Platonic philosophy. Certainly there was an influence of Greek philosophical thought in the early Church as the early Christians even in Jerusalem had contact with the diaspora Jews who were the early converts to Christianity. St. Paul was one of them. However, the argument for Hellenistic influence falls apart when one realizes that Jesus taught what would be understood to be Hellenistic influence if it was not for the realization that it was not only the Greek’s who taught similarly but also certain Jewish sects, particularly the Essenes. This is most prominent in the soteriological teaching of Jesus. In other words similarity does not necessarily mean “descended from”. One should pay particular attention to the fact that those who suppose the similarities to the mystery religions that invaded the Roman Empire three centuries before Christ from the East point out marked but superficial resemblances to Catholicism and many of those resemblances are shared by all Christians including the accusers. Reason would say that if Catholicism has more resemblances it is because Catholicism is a broader fullness of Christianity because of Catholicism’s direct origin from Christ and the apostles and long history of scholarship. In other words because of the broadness of the faith it is a bigger target for the Church’s detractors than would the truncated Christianity of the critics. So it would seem reasonable to say that if the Catholic Church has similarities to these mystery cults and that means that Catholicism is false the same standard should be used against Catholic critics and their truncated Christian sects who also share similarities.

The origin of most of this anti-Catholic propaganda comes from the book written by Alexander Hislop, called “Two Babylons” published in the mid nineteenth century. Another book written by Ralph Woodrow called ”Babylon Mystery Religion” is a revised and modernized version of Hislop’s book. Both of these books are simply lists of similarities of Roman, Babylonian and Egyptian religions to Christianity that these similarities imply descent. Church history makes such comparisons ridiculous but to the uninformed and uneducated in Church history with a predilection to be suspicious of Catholicism these accusations are believed by some. To the knowledgeable the similarities supposed are laughable but even though they are laughable and weak, people are still influenced.

Religious similarities are inevitable because God relates to all people regardless of their exposure to Christianity. The Scriptures tell us that the law is written on the hearts of all men, not just Christians or Jews. Men may respond to that law within their own cultures and try to make sense of the innate knowledge they possess creating their own religions. Mankind share similar desires and it should not seem unusual when they come to similar conclusions, not necessarily because of the influence of one on another but because of the influence of God. Could this not be why the Gospel when shared with others speaks to their spirit whether they are pagan or Jew and brings people to faith in Christ? Christianity is the culmination of religion and philosophy in the hearts and intellects of men taken as far as man is capable on his own and beyond. Christ brought all intellectual and philosophical concepts of God and His plan for mankind to a conclusion that rests in Him and His redemption on the Cross culminated by the fact that “He is risen” and that through Him death and sin no longer has a hold on us.

In Christ
Fr. Joseph...Show more

Well, I did read it all, and I'm a Christian. You read into the other religions really well. Commendable for someone who doesn't believe in God.

I'm going to start by breaking your second rule because yahoo answers isn't about rules, it's about answers. In this case, opinions. Comparison to most(not all) of those other groups of people(Romans and Aztecs and even the Greeks) cannot be made as they came about long after Judaism had begun. In that respect, why hasn't Jehovah been disproved? I mean, of all those groups, only the Jews are still around, and didn't they just recently get their homeland back? Strange...

Also, I recognize many pagan religious ideas in Christianity, but only in Catholicism-esque groups. That sect did add many popular pagan values to the rituals that it practices; however, the things in the Bible are slightly different. Among those things mentioned about Catholicism, I only recognized communion as being Biblical, and the Biblical communion is not "God-Eating". So, let's discount Catholicism from this conversation as they aren't based on the Bible.

You don't at least give the Bible credit for it's face value. The things that describes what happened in the life of Christ(virgin birth and resurrection) were predicted in earlier books of the Bible. Here's a hint about the Bible, there are 400 ye...Show more

One thing wrong with your logic is that when you mention Jupiter, etc. Christianity was around during that time. 2,000 years later Jupiter, Mithra, etc. are all gone yet Jesus still lives. If you consider both the Old and New Testament then the principles and prophecies of Christianity has been around for 5,000 years, yet the religion is still here. Should have disappeared by your "fade over time" analysis.

What is more Christianity is full of prophecies, predictions about future events. What does the Bible say about the middle east, that affects us still today? Surely in your analysis you should be able to cast aside the prophecies of Christianity, but for some reason you have chosen not to.

Truth to the matter is that everything you say, is just your opinion. There have been millions of minds greater than yours that have accepted Christianity. When you talk about science, you will find really significant contributions in science and mathematics, made by Christians. You can talk about genetics founded by the priest Mendel or the Big Bang formulated by the priest Georges Lemaitre. Can you calculate anything about the stars without using the theories founded by Christians like Newton, Galilieo, Copernicus, Kepler? I think you can not. When you throw in philosophy, music, art, mathematics, and any other academic subject,again you will find significant contributions made by Christians. In lieu of this, what reason should anyone care about your opinions? You don't even bother to substantiate anything you have said with the scientific method. Funny thing is that if you did, you would be using once again a conception made by a Chrisitan, Francis Bacon....Show more

I can't tell what your question is (or most of what you were saying) but I could tell you think that christianity is fake and a copy of fake religions. This is not true. I am biased (that is true), but that is because I know the truth. I am a christian! I don't know why there are similarities to other religions, but I do know that christianity is not fake! Neither is worshiping the devil for a matter of fact! The devil and God are real, and they both know that they exist. Maybe the other (false) religions that you brought up just got there base off of christianity. Many of the things that Jesus did were predicted in the old testament quite a while before He came to the earth. He also was not born on Dec. 25th! that is just the date that we have chosen to celebrate His birth. Alot of the christian artwork was inspired by other art. To say that because they copied anothers religion so there for it must be false is absurd! Christianity is not based on paintings! and the saints are not anything more than mere humans like me and you. email me at maxmiller610@yahoo.com and I can try to answer your other questions the best I can...Show more

Yes of course religious beliefs and practices are developmental all of human existence is, we can only understand something in context of what we have known and what we know now. We have no way of looking into the future, we can only look to the past. All this means is as people and societies grew and developed their beliefs and practices came to a new understanding or a new way of being and most of the past was abandoned. Of course some vestiges remain.

However none of this is counter to the existence of God ( as you try to make the leap), it is only counter to our previous perceptions of God.

To jump to such conclusions as saying therefore their Gods were imaginary or God now is imaginary is neither reasonable or logical. WIll our Perception and religious practices and beliefs change. I am sure of it. When it does will it carry vestiges still from the path of course.

What you point out here is simply no more then the developmental process of people, not anything about the accuracy or existence of God....Show more