Pagan religion may still sound foreign to the ears of
adherents of any religion, because its followers will no longer be found in
remote corners of the earth.
However, if you trace his footsteps, equipped with sufficient knowledge regarding comparative religious studies, there are actually similarities between the teachings of pagan religions and the teachings of today's Christian religions.
What exactly is paganism, pagan religion and what are its characteristics and teachings?
Pagan religious beliefs
Following is the complete review Pagan religious beliefs Based on historical literature, the term paganism appeared between the 1st and 3rd centuries BC. The term paganism can arise because it is used to differentiate between soldiers who support the teachings of Christ and those who do not.
The meaning here is that the difference concerns people who believe that Jesus is God and who do not believe that Jesus is not God. Early paganism was not a religion but rather a term attached to the people of a certain place, they believed in the universe and its contents had to be held high in their hearts, considered special or holy. In fact, the world is considered heaven, which is very different from other religious beliefs which only consider the world as a temporary stop.
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followers of pagan religions often carry out certain rituals to pay respect to their ancestors, as well as other customs such as parties to worship the sun. At that time in the 4th century AD, the world was ruled by the Roman Empire where the king was exposed to paganism.
At the same time, the teachings introduced by Paul emerged stating that Jesus was God. Long story short, because there was chaos at that time, the Council of Nicea was held in 325 and the Roman king also admitted that he was involved and believed in the divinity of Jesus.
However, he found it difficult to leave paganism with its various rituals such as worshiping the sun god. At that time every year, Roman people often held public parties to commemorate the birthday of the sun god on December 25.
This moment was tried by the Roman king to unite that the birth of the Lord Jesus was also on December 25 and continues to be celebrated every year by followers of Christianity. The decision to determine December 25 as the birth of the Lord Jesus was made at the Council of Nicea, replacing the birth of the sun god.
Even the worship is done on Sun Day (Sunday) not the Sabbath as taught by Jesus himself. Based on the decision of the Roman king, the Roman people flocked to become followers of the teachings of Christ as taught by Paul during this time.
Christianity is paganism
Many Christian teaching practices were actually adopted from ancient paganism. Until now, this ritual is still maintained and is even very difficult to eliminate.
This fact was revealed from the opinion of a famous English priest, Thomas Ailesbury, through his lecture entitled Paganism and papism parallel'd (1642), revealing the fact that the icon of Jesus, which is positioned in the church, is worshiped by people who are considered holy, and takes meat or The blood of Christ is considered to be the source of the origins of paganism.
The culture of holy communion is one proof of this, eating bread and drinking wine is considered a form of respect, because Jesus made a sacrifice to atone for human sins.
During Holy Communion, the bread is compared to the body of Jesus while the wine symbolizes the blood. Well, it turns out that the habit of holding Holy Communion is apparently continuing the culture and habits of previous paganism.
In the opinion of W. Williamson, who said in his writing entitled The Great Law of Religious Origins, that the ancient Egyptians celebrated the rise of the god Osiris through sacraments, by eating cakes and having holy water given the priest's blessing.
The strong influence of paganism in Christian teachings was due to the 4th century, the mithra religion was developing rapidly. The customs and rituals of the adherents in Roman society were very closely followed.
Another example, the belief in the Mithra religion that has become the foundation of the Christian faith is that the god Mithra is believed by his followers to be born from a virgin on December 25.
Reporting from Wikipedia.com, according to history, the god Mithra had 12 disciples, died for 3 days then rose again. Tracing historical records, there are around 15 Gods whose life stories are exactly the same as Jesus Christ, for example the god Krishna is believed to have been born from a virgin. Even in Greece there is a life story about the god Attis, who was also said to have been born from a virgin on December 25.
This god experienced death and then rose again. The gods Serapsis, Isis, Adonis, Horus, Bacchus, Osiris, Shamas, Kybele also have life stories that are exactly the same as the life story of Jesus Christ. Is it just a coincidence?
So the culture of paganism existed long before Christianity was formed, through the foundation of the belief that God was born from a virgin on December 25. The main character, Paul, as the founder of the Christian religion, only had to smooth it over by replacing the gods of the Roman people with Jesus Christ, even if the Roman king was in power, he just had to guarantee it.
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