Comparisons different religions, same terms Flashcards
Ref: The invention of Christianity, chapter “The evolution of Jesus”.
- Both fled to a distant land to hide from someone with tremendous power.
- All four gospels mention Jesus being baptized before he begins his teaching and, according to Titus Livius Patavinus (c. 64 BCE - 17 CE), the initiation into the mysteries of Dionysus was also preceded by ceremonial washing.
- They both had disciples and followers and they both assumed human form while on earth.
- Jesus feeds the crowd with fish and bread. Dionysus feeds the crowd with the gift of bread and the gift of wine.
- Jesus could not perform any miracles in his hometown of Nazareth. Dionysus could not perform miracles in his hometown and so could not reveal that he was the son of Zeus.
- Jesus enters Jerusalem riding a donkey while the Jews waved palm leaves. Dionysus riding donkeys during his processions while people waved ivy branches and grapevines.
- Both men are put on trial for claiming to be divine. Then in both cases they ascended to be with their fathers.
The Babylonian flood story is similar to Noah’s Flood. The Babylonian flood story is contained in The Epic of Gilgamesh and was discovered in the mid-nineteenth century.
Jews became the captives of the Babylonians from 587-538 BCE. And most scholars agree that the first five books of the old testament were written after the Babylonian captivity.
In both stories, all of mankind will be killed by a global flood because of their wickedness. But, in both stories, there is one righteous man who is ordered to build a boat and he complains about it.
Both stories were told to bring their faimily members and all species of animals, and then the floods came from rain.
Then in both stories, the men released birds to look for land and both arks landed on a mountain.
Blunders of the creation story. [MN: commentaries added]
- First day of creation, God creates light. Then they are separated, day and night. But how can this happen before the Earth is created on the third day. You must be on the planet to see day turn to night, because if not on earth there is always light in our field of vision. Plus, no humans or animals around to notice the difference.
- Then on third day, Earth is created and plants. How can we have plants without any Sun which is not created yet?
- The fourth day, the Sun is created. Uh, how did we get light before the sun was made on day four? Plus, with no sun, everything is frozen to absolute zero, over 400 degrees below zero. How can plants be bearing fruit while frozen?
- According to fossil evidence, first there were arthropods, then fish, then land plants, then amphibians and reptiles followed by mammals and birds who evolved from reptiles and last flowers. So we can see that the Genesis account of plants then fish and birds, followed by cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth does not agree with fossil evidence.
- So the first man is created 6,000 years ago. Problem is we have many skeletons of humans and remnants hundreds of thousands and fossils that are millions of years old of man.
More blunders.
Leviticus 11:20-21. They should not eat flying insects that walk on all fours. But is seems incredible that an omniscient deity would miss the fact that all flying insects have six legs.
Leviticus 11:6, God says the rabbit, though it chews the cud should not be eaten. Rabbits do not chew their cud.
2 Chronicles 13:17 describes a battle with 500,000 casualties among Israel’s able men. The death toll in this single battle is more than double the combined number of deaths that resulted on the first day from the two atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaka and Hiroshima.
All of these errors in the Bible, yet Jesus did not correct a single one or even mention them.
LOC 711 in book.
Born again from other religions
The Sautrantika sub-school of the Saravastivada Buddhist tradition, that emerged in 2nd century BCE, and influenced the 4th-century CE Yogacara school of Buddhism, introduced the idea of “transmigrating substratum of consciousness”.[28] It stated that each personal act “perfumes” the individual and leads to the planting of a “seed” that would later germinate as a good or bad karmic result.
Rebirth realms
In traditional Buddhist cosmology the rebirth, also called reincarnation or metempsychosis, can be in any of six realms.
The realm of rebirth is conditioned by the karma (deeds, intent) of current and previous lives;[44] good karmas will yield a happier rebirth into good realm, bad karmas is believed to produce rebirth which is more unhappy and evil .[4]
The release from this endless cycle of rebirths, rebecoming and redeaths is called nirvana (nibbana) in Buddhism, and achievement of nirvana is the ultimate goal of Buddhist teaching.
Thus while both Buddhism and Hinduism accept the karma and rebirth doctrine.
Some English-speaking Buddhists prefer the term “rebirth” or “re-becoming” (Sanskrit: punarbhava; Pali: punabbhava) to “reincarnation” as they take the latter to imply an entity (soul) that is reborn.[3] Buddhism denies there is any such soul or self in a living being, but does assert that there is a cycle of transmigration consisting of rebirth and redeath as the fundamental nature of existence.[3][4][15]
Historical context
Before the time of the Buddha, many ideas on the nature of existence, birth and death were in vogue. The ancient Indian Vedic and Sramana schools affirmed the idea of soul, karma and cycle of rebirth. The competing Indian materialist schools denied the idea of soul, karma and rebirth, asserting instead that there is just one life, there is no rebirth, and death marks complete annihilation.[16] From these diverse views, Buddha accepted the premises and concepts related to rebirth,[17] but introduced innovations.[1] According to various Buddhist scriptures, Buddha believed in other worlds,
[MN: Other worlds, like Heaven and Hell in the Christian theologies.]
Easter was originally a celebration of Eostre, goddess of Spring,
EASTER Origins
The Ancient Pagan Origins of Easter
Easter Sunday is a festival and holiday celebrated by millions of people around the world who honour the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Christian’s today celebrate Easter Sunday as the resurrection of Jesus. Most historians, including Biblical scholars, agree that Easter was originally a pagan festival. According to the New Unger’s Bible Dictionary says: “The word Easter is of Saxon origin, Eastra, the goddess of spring, in whose honour sacrifices were offered about Passover time each year. By the eighth century Anglo–Saxons had adopted the name to designate the celebration of Christ’s resurrection.”
Resurrection as a symbol of rebirth
The Easter story comes from the Sumerian legend of Damuzi (Tammuz) and his wife Inanna (Ishtar), an epic myth called “The Descent of Inanna” found inscribed on cuneiform clay tablets dating back to 2100 BC.
When Tammuz dies, Ishtar is grief–stricken and follows him to the underworld. In the underworld, she enters through seven gates.
After Inanna has been missing for three days her assistant goes to other gods for help.
Dr Nugent is quick to point out that drawing parallels between the story of Jesus and the epic of Inanna “doesn’t necessarily mean that there wasn’t a real person, Jesus, who was crucified, but rather that, if there was, the story about it is structured and embellished in accordance with a pattern that was very ancient and widespread.”
Dr Nugent points out that the story of Inanna and Damuzi is just one of a number of accounts of dying and rising gods that represent the cycle of the seasons and the stars.For example, the resurrection of Egyptian Horus; the story of Mithras, who was worshipped at Springtime; and the tale of Dionysus, resurrected by his grandmother. Among these stories are prevailing themes of fertility, conception, renewal, descent into darkness, and the triumph of light over darkness or good over evil.
Easter as a celebration of the Goddess of Spring
A related perspective is that, rather than being a representation of the story of Ishtar, Easter was originally a celebration of Eostre, goddess of Spring, otherwise known as Ostara, Austra, and Eastre. One of the most revered aspects of Ostara for both ancient and modern observers is a spirit of renewal.
Celebrated at Spring Equinox on March 21, Ostara marks the day when light is equal to darkness, and will continue to grow.
The origins of Easter customs
The Encyclopedia Britannica clearly explains the pagan traditions associated with the egg: “The egg as a symbol of fertility and of renewed life goes back to the ancient Egyptians and Persians, who had also the custom of colouring and eating eggs during their spring festival.”
For Christians the egg is a symbol of Jesus’ resurrection, as when they are cracked open, they stand for the empty tomb.
The First Council of Nicaea (325) established the date of Easter as the first Sunday after the full moon (the Paschal Full Moon) following the March equinox.
Whether it is observed as a religious holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, or a time for families in the northern hemisphere to enjoy the coming of Spring and celebrate with egg decorating and Easter bunnies, the celebration of Easter still retains the same spirit of rebirth and renewal, as it has for thousands of years.
Jesus and Dionysus: The Gospel of John and Euripides’ Bacchae
Bacchae, the play//Dionysus enters stage//He tells the audience that he is the son of Zeus, the father of the gods; he has come back to Thebes, the land where he was born;he comes to his homeland unrecognized; though a god he is disguised as a man;and though his father is the supreme god, his mother was a human, Semele, and her tomb lies outside the royal palace of Thebes;//That is just the beginning of his punishment upon the unbelievers. He next proceeds to reveal to mortals that he is indeed the son of Zeus by confronting the king, Pentheus, himself;//Dionysus informs us that the new king of Thebes is Pentheus, the grandson of Cadmus. Pentheus is an unbeliever and hostile towards the worship of Dionysus.
Arrest of Dionysus//Pentheus arrests the effeminate stranger, the disguised Dionysus, who has “duped” the old men.//Dionysus accepts arrest. (Keep in mind that as far as the Thebans are aware Dionysus is an unknown stranger who has come to Thebes with a train of women devotees of the god Dionysus. They don’t know he is himself really Dionysus.)//He is brought before Pentheus.//In the ensuing exchange Dionysus responds to Pentheus’s interrogation with riddles, unexplained allusions, all amounting to mysterious or nonsensical answers as far as Pentheus is concerned.//Pentheus orders Dionysus to be bound in the darkest prison.//Dionysus breaks free//Great earthquake, the palace falls into ruins and the prison gates are opened.//Dionysus walks free, unhurt, from the jail.
Stibbe’s list of “very broad similarities” with John’s Gospel
- In both the play and the gospel the prologue introduces themes of a divine being going to his home but being rejected by his family and his own people;
- The protagonist is an unrecognized deity, a stranger from heaven, facing intense hostility and unbelief from the ruling elite of the city;
- The tragedy in both works lies in a failure to recognize a promised one who is really their own (Pentheus is actually a cousin of Dionysus — Cadmus was their grandfather);
- In both the final suffering (passion/pathos) consists of
- being dressed in humiliating garments;
- being led out of the city to a cursed hill;
- being hoisted on to a tree; and there killed.
- In both stories the women fulfill the role of the true worshipers of the visiting deity;
- The enemies attempt to stone each deity;
- Both Jesus and Dionysus have miraculous powers;
- The tragic action is not centred on one hero only: the Jews and Pilate are also major victims in the gospel, as are Pentheus, his mother and Cadmus in the play.
Saturnalia beginning
As an observance of state religion, Saturnalia was supposed to have been held ante diem xvi Kalendas Ianuarias, sixteen days before the Kalends of January. It was a dies festus, a legal holiday when no public business could be conducted.[46] The day marked the dedication anniversary (dies natalis) of the Temple to Saturn in the Roman Forum in 497 BC.[47//Paragraph below shows Saturnalia has ties to astrology, which was an eastern religion. It also has ties to the. Sun being born again. “rebirth or born again” //The date 17 December was the first day of the astrological sign Capricorn, the house of Saturn, the planet named for the god. Its proximity to the winter solstice (21 to 23 December on the Julian calendar[when?]) was endowed with various meanings by both ancient and modern scholars: for instance, the widespread use of wax candles (cerei,singular cereus) could refer to “the returning power of the sun’s light after the solstice”
- 27 BCE Roman Empire begins
Octavius appoints himself “Augustus”, which means the first emperor.
- 306 CE: Constantine becomes Emperor in 306 CE
Rome becomes a Christian empire. Before this, Rome persecuted the Christians. Constantius dies. His son Constantine is the new vice-emperor of Galerius.
- 380 CE: Christianity becomes law!
Theodosius I proclaims Christianity as the sole religion of the Roman Empire in 380 AD.
- 395 CE: Rome splits
In 395 AD, Rome split into two empires - the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire. Each side had a ruler in charge of it. The Roman Empire was split by Theodosius.
- 410 CE: The Visigoths sack Rome
This was the first time in 800 years that the city of Rome has fallen to an enemy. It was a huge uproar.
- 476 CE: End of the Western Roman Empire and the fall of Ancient Rome
The last Roman Emperor Romulus Augustus is defeated by the German Goth Odoacer. This is the start of the Dark Ages in Europe.
- 1453 CE: The Byzantine Empire ends
The Byzantine Empire comes to an end as it falls to the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Turks capture Constantinople in 1453 A.D. It is renamed Istanbul in 1930.
Reasonable doubt about high christology
This supports Paul’s beliefs that Jesus was all human until resurrection when he became son of God. This means no manger, no nativity scene, no shepherds following star. No wise men. No special tax in Bethlehem. No virgin birth of deity. No OT prophecies being fulfilled. Actually, no Xmas, because he was normal man, not divine until resurrection. Pretty much destroys gospel of John and Xmas story, but supports Paul.
So here again, you cannot have it both ways.
Low Christology
Another way Christians have understood Jesus is known as “low Christology.” A low Christologist begins with the formula from the Council of Calcedon, namely that Jesus was a human like us in all things except sin. A low Christologist reasons like this: if Jesus was a human like us in all things except sin, then Jesus comes to know like we come to know; we come to know things sequentially, step by step, gradually (even been in a math course in which the teacher “skipped a step?”); therefore Jesus came to know things gradually and sequentially. Low Christology begins with the human Jesus, the historical Jesus, with the gospels.
LK 2:52 “Jesus grew both in body and in wisdom, gaining favor with God and men.” (The Jerusalem Bible: “And Jesus increased in wisdom, in stature, and in favour with God and men.”)
MK 13:32 “No one knows, however, when that day or hour will come – neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, only the Father knows.”
LK 7:9 “Jesus was surprised when he heard this.”
Comment: If high Christologists are correct, how could Jesus have “increased in wisdom’? If one knows all, there are no surprises. The verse from Mark is even more revealing: there are some things that Jesus did not know.
History of Christianity//The Origins Of Christianity
In the initial decades of the Roman Empire, at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, a new religion, Christianity, emerged. Much of the impetus for this new religion rested in issues in the Jewish religion, including a long-standing belief in the coming of a Messiah and rigidities that had developed in the Jewish priesthood. The early stages of the religion focused on cleansing the Jewish religion of stiff rituals and haughty leaders. It had little at first to do with Roman culture. Christianity arose in a remote province and appealed particularly to the poorer classes. It is not easy, as a result, to fit Christianity neatly into the patterns of Roman history: It was deliberately separate, and only gradually had wider impact.//Christianity originated with Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish prophet and teacher who probably came to believe he was the Son of God and certainly was regarded as such by his disciples. Jesus preached in Israel during the time of Augustus, urging a purification of the Jewish religion that would free Israel and establish the kingdom of God on earth.** He urged a moral code based on love, charity, and humility, and he asked the faithful to follow his lessons, abandoning worldly concern. Many disciples believed that a Final Judgment day was near at hand, on which God would reward the righteous with immortality and condemn sinners to everlasting hell.//Jesus won many followers among the poor. He also roused suspicion among the upper classes and the leaders of the Jewish religion. These helped persuade the Roman governor, already concerned about unrest among the Jews, that Jesus was a dangerous agitator. **As they realized that the Messiah was not immediately returning to earth to set up the Kingdom of God, the disciples of Jesus began to spread the new Christian message.
Christianity Gains Converts And Religious Structure Gradually over the next 250 years, Christianity won a growing number of converts. By the 4th century A.D., about 10 percent of the residents of the Roman Empire were Christian.//With its particularly great appeal to some of the poor, Christianity was well positioned to reflect social grievances in an empire increasingly marked by inequality. Slaves, dispossessed farmers and impoverished city dwellers found hope in a religion that promised rewards after death. Christianity also answered cultural and spiritual needs - As the empire consolidated, reducing direct political participation, a number of mystery religions spread from the Middle East and Egypt,//Early Christian communities regulated themselves, but with expansion more formal government was introduced, with bishops playing a role not unlike Rome’s provincial governors. Bishops headed churches in regional centers and supervised the activities of other churches in the area. Bishops in politically powerful cities, including Rome, gained particular authority.I n the spirit of Rome and of Hellenism, the new faith was seen as universal, open to all whether or not they followed Jewish practices in diet, male circumcision, and so on.
Paul’s conversion to Christianity proved vital.
Relations With The Roman Empire
Adherents of the new religion clashed with Roman authorities, to be sure. Christians, who put their duties to God first, would not honor the emperor as a divinity and might seem to reject the authority of the state in other spheres. Several early emperors, including the mad Nero, persecuted Christians, killing some and driving their worship underground.
