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I am upgrading the elements manually after each payment clears. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. We were then asked to eat as much of the meat as we could, and afterwards we were taken to the roundhouse. And pagan dating website about the Holy Trinity. If someone elements you on your lovely pentacle necklace, they're not just saying they like your jewelry. If you notice that you are not upgraded to Full membership immediately, please be patient especially if you paid during the night CST USA time. Again it seemed that this was a sensory thing, sincere of like focusing on your breath when meditating. All of the songs for my new album are now written. Register for free and get in touch with all the Witches in the world who believe in spiritual and physical powers through spells, chants and rituals. Paganism is an ring term, meaning it covers a wide range of religions and belief systems, including but not limited to : Wicca, Neo-paganism, Asatru, Voodoo, Indigenous traditions, Hellenic paganism, witchcraft, and more. Copyright © The Celtic Connection.
Most people see Christianity and Paganism as two very separate, very different religions. Paganism predates Christianity by thousands to millions of years. Christianity is the largest religion in the world today, boasting over 2 billion in 2012, alongside of Islam with over 1 billion followers in 2012. In the past five years, those numbers have surely increased. So what does the world's largest religion have in common with nearly all of the others, including Paganism? Why is the title of this section Christianity is a lot like Paganism? If we do our research and really dive into the often untold origins of Christianity, we will see that much of the Christian religion is in fact pagan at its roots. Many people will bark at this statement and call it heresy, but in this article I will present the facts and show both Christians and Pagans how alike they actually are. How connected we all are, even if we are told that we are different and divided. Paganism has different definitions, depending on the person or source you ask. Some will say paganism is any religion that isn't one of the Abrahamic religions Islam, Christianity, or Judaism , while others will say paganism is a religion that follows a more polytheistic view of deity and seeks to revive the old ways of our ancestors. Paganism is an umbrella term, meaning it covers a wide range of religions and belief systems, including but not limited to : Wicca, Neo-paganism, Asatru, Voodoo, Indigenous traditions, Hellenic paganism, witchcraft, and more. Still others will say that paganism is equivalent to satanism, which isn't a correct definition, but as I said before it all depends on who you ask. Christianity is one of the three major world religions and is one of the Abrahamic religions. Its roots are embedded in the Middle East, and its furthest beginnings reach back to the time of Abraham. This religion is based off of the Holy Bible, which is a collection of ancient books selected and compiled by a group of religious officials and Constantine in the 300s AD. Christianity is also an umbrella term in that there are hundreds of branches of Christianity, including but not limited to: Catholicism, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, Greek Orthodox, 7th Day Adventist, Mormon, Pentecostal, and more. What do these two have in common? The roots of Christianity are interlaced with some of the most ancient pagan traditions and elements, mainly because the Church gained power through conversion. In order to convert the people of Europe and the world from their pagan beliefs, they either had to turn them against their beliefs by fear or accept and adopt some of their beliefs into the Christian religion. We will dive into these traditions shortly. These are not the only two, as the name YHVH said to be pronounced Yah-weh is also found within the pages of the Old Testament. There are those who claim these are just different names for the same God, but if we look at the people who came before Christ from the Old Testament times, we will see that they were nomadic, polytheistic tribes. Logic tells us they weren't the same God. Let us also examine the mention of the goddess Ashtart Greek name Astarte , who is mentioned frequently in the Old Testament. A few of the Hebrew Kings, namely Solomon, tried to instill a cult of Ashtart with his people, though many resisted there were some who were supportive of these endeavors. So we can see that while some Hebrews were against polytheism, there were still many who followed a polytheistic path... And what about the Holy Trinity? As a child, it never made sense to me that three gods could be equal to one god. I was told it was an abstract concept and I would understand one day when I grew up. Well, I'm an adult and now I see that multiple gods is multiple gods on a very basic level. When the Council of Nicaea convened in AD 325, one of the main issues they were to decide upon was whether Christ was God and how they would instill belief in him as God. In rabbinic literature, the Holy Spirit was referred to as Shekinah which meant a dwelling or resting place of God and interestingly was a feminine term. This brings in the question of whether or not a part of God was once thought of as feminine by the Hebrews. We can say that the things I'm mentioning are dealing mostly with the Old Testament and therefore Judaism, but the fact remains that the Church recognizes the Old Testament as a part of the Holy Bible. Therefore, the Old Testament history is also a part of the history of Christianity. Today there are many conspiracy theorists I won't lie and legitimate scholars who claim that Christianity is a mixture of many ancient belief systems, some that are purely paganism. Three that come to mind are Mithraism, Osiris-worship ancient egyptian , and Zoroastrianism. Read on to learn more. Within the Catholic tradition of Christianity, one would be remiss to deny the pagan elements of a Catholic mass. The ritual of taking communion, with the round wafer or bread , is an ancient practice of worshiping sun gods such as Ba'al and Osiris. The round wafer was a representation of the sun itself. When one ate the round bread or wafer, one was taking the sun into oneself. What other symbols are used in mass and in the Catholic church and are seemingly of pre-Christian ancient origins? The fact that the Catholic mass as well as other branches of Christian services call Sunday the holy day adds another element to the idea of pre-Christian sun-god worship being a crucial part of Christianity. Why would Sun-day be the holy day of rest? You might say, well the Old Testament says that God took that day as his day of rest after creating the world and man, etc. But God isn't the one who named that day Sunday... How about Holy Water? Holy Water is water that has been blessed by a priest or other official of the Church. Why is water a part of Christian practice, since nature is so often disregarded and blatantly condemned within many Christian branches? Water is one of the basic natural elements that was often worshiped in pre-Christian pagan times. This practice carried through to Christianity in the form of Holy Water, christenings, and baptisms. Otherwise, wouldn't the presence of the Holy Spirit be enough to cleanse one of his or her sins? And where did that symbolism originate? The point is that we were pagans for thousands of years and much longer than we were Christians, and some of these practices and beliefs are too ingrained in our memory and DNA to fully eradicate with any newer religion or lack thereof. To address the concept of Mother Mary, the Holy Mother, we have to look at the fact that most pagan people before the rise of Christianity worshiped a Mother Goddess or more. As a main example, and one of which I've provided a pictorial example, is the ancient Egyptian goddess Isis and her son Horus. See their pictures compared to Mother Mary and Jesus above. Horus was a child of a Sun-God in Egypt known as Osiris, and Horus took over the sun-god position after the supposed death of Osiris sound familiar? Isis was worshiped as the Mother Goddess for thousands of years. This is just one of the many Mother Goddesses from pre-Christian cults and religions, but one of which the Mother Mary-Holy Child concept seems to mimic. Namely the Pentecostals and Baptists. Let's also not forget that many of the oldest Catholic churches and monasteries in Europe and elsewhere throughout the world were built upon the ancient pagan sites. These were places where the pagan people worshiped their many gods and ancestors, and when the Church took over it was decided to knock down the pagan temples and replace them with Churches. The idea being that it would make it easier for the pagans to convert if they could still worship at their sacred pagan sites. Some of these pagan statues and symbols can still be seen in the oldest of Churches i. Growing up in the Pentecostal Church, one hears that any other religion outside of Pentecostalism are made up of people who are going to Hell. At least this is what is taught in many of the Assemblies of God churches. Why is this when Pentecostals are doing the same things and using much of the same symbols as the other branches of Christianity? One of the beliefs of the Pentecostal Church is in Divine Healing. When this doesn't happen automatically, there are questions as to why. This practice is reflected in numerous healing traditions outside of the Christian tradition dating back thousands of years. A similar, more recent tradition is the Japanese relaxation technique known as Reiki. Reiki is the practice of using one's hands to allow Divine or Universal energy to flow into another person or object in order to aid in relaxation, stress reduction, and to promote healing. Reiki originated before Pentecostalism in the late 1800s. One particular practice of the Pentecostals is called speaking in tongues. The connection between the speaking in tongues and light language is uncanny. Are the Pentecostals tapping into the same power as those in the new age movement? Whatever the source, these practices are nearly one and the same. One may say that these two are different because the Pentecostals are allowing the spirit of God to enter their bodies while the voodoo practitioners are allowing something more sinister to enter their bodies, but when the two practices are so alike, how can you tell one from the other? The point here is that our religions have similar roots and most likely go back to the same place. They are all branches on one gigatic tree. They share the same roots. For one to deny the other or reject the other as being a true religion or practice is absurd when one takes into account the ancient history and origins of these religions. An entire book could be written on the Christian holidays that are based on ancient pagan holidays, so I will be brief in this section. Christmas, celebrated on December 25th, has its roots in ancient pagan holy-days such as Yule Germanic , the Winter Solstice which is celebrated in different ways worldwide , Yalda, and more. To make a clear connection between ancient pagan festivals and Christmas, we once again visit the ancient cult of Mithraism where the sun-god Mithras was born on December 25th. There is no historical evidence to confirm Jesus' actual birth in the month of December, and scholars believe it was most likely some time in the summer months rather than the winter. Evergreens were used by ancient celts and greeks among others to remind them Spring was around the corner and of the cycle of life. The tradition of gift-giving, decorating the tree, feasting, caroling, putting on plays, even Christmas lights are all rooted in pagan traditions from ancient European people and beyond. Yes, Easter is also based on an ancient pagan festival day celebrating the Spring Equinox the Spring season. The term Easter actually originates from the Germanic goddess known as Eostre who was said to be celebrated at this time of the year. The fact of the matter is, when the Church rose into power in Europe, the officials decided to adopt many of the pagans' traditions and festivals and make them Christian holidays so that it would make it easier for the pagan people to convert to Christianity. They felt if they were to strip the people of their traditions and beliefs completely, that the people would be less likely to convert. It is also possible that the Church tried to stomp out many of these ancient traditions but the people felt so strongly about them, they continued to be passed on from generation to generation. You can take the person out of paganism, but you can't take paganism out of the person, for lack of a better phrase. By no means am I trying to degrade or insult any religion or belief by writing this article. On the contrary, I seek to demonstrate just how connected we all are as human beings on this planet. We have been told for centuries that we are different, separate from one another, and to hold to those differences. But in reality, when we examine our roots, our traditions, our most basic beliefs and morals, we see that we are all connected. Just because I am pointing out the similarities between Christianity and Paganism doesn't mean I believe one or the other is correct or incorrect. I am simply comparing. Many individuals might take offense, but this is not to offend... We are not as different as you may have believed. Hebrews, or should I say the order of Melchizedek which started with Adam as high priest to God orally passed knowledge down to Seth, to Methusaleh, Noah, Shem, until Moses who, at the behest of God who got pissed at them for continuing to betray him century after century decided to have the man jot it down into text starting with writing the ten commandments with His own hand. If the Hebrew faith is correct, you have people like an exiled and angry Cain as well as the devil who would have happily told mankind a skewed take on the origin of god and man, doing what they can to make God appear a figment of simple human minds. And the answer is yes, CATHOLICISM, not true biblical Christianity took pagan myths and festivals and holidays and squished it into an awful amalgamation in order to more easily convert people, also by taking pagan concepts of the immortal soul and eternal punishment of the naughty to force belief through fear. Satan knew full well that in the age before the Messiah comes, that more people would be born and die in an age of scientific enlightenment debunking religion entirely than in all eras of the world combined. Doing so would mean he gets to wound God the greatest by having the majority of gods chosen people perish forever like animals and only a small percent finding eternity. Im in no way trying to say who is right and who is wrong, just curious why we cant look past religion and accept each other for who we are as a whole. I have a friend who is so devout, she won't celebrate Christmas or Easter anymore. I think she is missing the point. The entire world pays attention to Christmas as Jesus' birth and many pay attention to Easter as marking his death. I don't have a problem with the roots of paganism in my religion when it makes people stop and consider the life of Jesus - at all. It is not for me to decide which is the better of the two as they have been abounding for time immemorial. One coming to mind was one Melkisedik apparently a Priest King of Salem in the times of the first phrophets. Melkisedik various spellings influenced the later Essenes who are mentioned in the Dead Sea scrolls. Login This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. Akismet This is used to detect comment spam. HubPages Google Analytics This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. HubPages Traffic Pixel This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. Amazon Web Services This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. 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