Christianity's Pagan Roots

Acharya S was bound to rear her ugly head sooner or later...

Roman Catholic Christianity and Authentic Christianity are not the same. The use of the term "pagan" comes from the Roman Catholic propaganda and manipulation of truths during the past 1000+ years in their efforts to use religion in an effort to establish an empire. Take a look at how they changes dates and used dates of indigenous festivals, how they incorporated symbols of the local cultures, how they changes the days of the week, etc. It is clear that their motivation is not the Authentic Doctrine, but rather: an authoritarian structure.

All the religions are the same, in that they use symbolism to teach the common people the truth about spirituality:

>The Sun is the "light" that illuminates the external world and (esoterically speaking) our inner world (as the Sun symbolizes the light of the Divine within us).

>The Wheat or bread is the symbol of the "birth out of death" (the death of the wheat germ) to make the bread - the physical sacrifice we must make of dying to who we think we are (the worldly self) in order to know the Divine aspect of ourselves.

>The blood or 'wine' is the symbol of the "essence of the fruit", just as the blood could be considered a essential part of the human being. Remember the quote 'by the fruit you shall know them'. Fruit is something that grows and ripens when nourished properly through the Seasons of the year (which are also symbolic). And so we must nourish ourselves properly while we grow and ripen on the Path to get closer to the Divine.

The symbolism of the Mysteries is profound. So it is no wonder that the Master Jesus used the symbolism familiar to the 2 cultures related to that area (Judaic and Roman). By using the symbolism of both, Jesus was able to allow both groups to see the profound message of the Divine. He could talk in a public way that made sense to the common and uninitiated person and simultaneously use symbols that made sense to Elders or those initiated into the Mysteries of the area. The message made sense both to the Conquerors and those who were Conquered.

The video says that Mithra was from Persia (the Zoroastrian Mithra), but that kind of leaves out an explanation. Which is that there was also a Mithra in Roman culture that was used as their 'religion'. The Roman Mithra is the very interesting to compare with the Roman Christianity we know now in the West as "Christianity", since Protestantism (and most other variations) are 'reactions' to Roman Catholic Christianity and are therefore not from a clean source. See more about the Roman "Mithraic Mysteries" here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraism

So, if we say Christianity comes from Mithraism, then we have to realize that Mithraism came from somewhere. Just as Mithraism teaches us about the Authentic Truths of Life and how to connect with God, so too does Christianity. The Authentic Doctrine must be given to people based on the time and culture in which they presently are. That is why different cultures and different time periods have 'different' spiritual teachings. If we investigate them for ourselves, we will see the Authentic Doctrine in them all.

In the past, these Truths were taught by the Mystery Schools. The chain of Mystery Schools that has come down to the West can be traced back to the Egyptian Mysteries (as the video kind of broadly claimed). After the Egyptian culture dissolved, then the Mystery Knowledge was passed on to other communities through various forms...

The symbol of the sacrifice by slaughtering of animals was used in many cultures, but its esoteric significance is something we must investigate for ourselves. If we look at the surface of Roman Catholic Christianity and the Mystery School of Rome (Mithraism), then obviously they are going to look similar.

But lets look at all mystery schools and we will then see the TRUTH.

If we do that, then we will see that the titles given to people (such as 'Son of Man') and associations with the symbols (such as the Sun) are related to their level of spiritual development. These levels are objective and have similar names in various cultures.

So the Roman Catholic Church's teaching that Jesus was the only Christ, is one of the main falsehoods that they claim as dogma. If Jesus can do it, why not others? Jesus himself said in Luke 9:21-27 quoted here:

21Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. 22And he said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life."

23Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? 26If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God."

How is does one 'follow'? What does 'taste death' mean? How is this related to the animal sacrifices (who's Christian symbolism changed to the death of the wheat germ into Bread and the juice of the grapes into Wine)? How is 'life' related to 'death'? How are the cycle of the seasons involved in this symbolism, etc.?

So we need to rethink the whole brainwash the Roman Catholic Church has given us as an 'inherited concept'. We need to question the very roots of their brainwash, because it is corrupting our experience of the Divine. It seems that they are 'ashamed' of the Truth and would rather 'gain the world' than teach the Authentic Truth.

Well-said.