>*Christianity did not destroy paganism; it adopted it. The Greek mind
dying,
>came to a transmigrated life in the theology and liturgy of the Church;
the
>Greek language, having reigned for centuries over philosophy, became
the
>vehicle of Christian literature and ritual; the Greek mysteries passed
down
>into the impressive mystery of the Mass. Other pagan cultures
contributed to
>the syncretist result. From Egypt came the ideas of a divine trinity,
the
>Last Judgment, and a personal immortality of reward and punishment;
from
>Egypt the adoration of the Mother and Child, and the mystic theosophy
that
>made Neoplatonicism and Gnosticism, and obscured the Christian creed;
there,
>too, Christian monasticism would find its exemplars and its source.
>From
>Phygia came the worship of the Great Mother; from Syria the
resurrection
>drama of Adonis; from Thrace, perhaps the cult of Dionysus, the dying
and
>saving god. From Persia came millenarianism, the ages of the world, the
>final conflagration, the dualism of Satan and God, of Darkness and
Light;
>already in the Forth Gospel Christ is the Light shining in the
darkness, and
>the darkness has never put it out. The Mithraic ritual so closely
resembled
>the Eucharistic sacrifice of the Mass that Christian fathers charged
the
>Devil with inventing these similarities to mislead frail minds.
Christianity
>was the last great creation of the ancient pagan world. [Will and Ariel
>Durant, _The Story of Civilization_]
So, it may look like other stories. If my life resembles something out of mythology, did I not live it?
>So you are saying that because the bible looks wrong, it is
automatically
>invalid? That is a refreshing attitude. Although I fail to understand
why
>you are spending so much time rereading it. It is certainly not worth
it
>from the perspectives of history, literature or ethics.
>
I'm so sorry! Major typo. I was actually trying to say that /some/
people on /certain/ mailing lists think that because something appears
slightly inconsistent, it's false. I disagree and there may have been
1% malice involved.
>> >> response to your trust vs. faith discussion,
>> >> I'd like to pose a completely different comparison, faith vs.
>> religion.
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com