Why is religion introduced at such a young age?

[LuvRPgrl]

Nice. I like your line of thinking. I thought I made it clear before that I don't really have much of a problem with religion and good things can come from it. Morals can definitely be enforced through religion. I don't have any problem with people who teach their kids sound morals through religous tradition. Sounds like a good idea to me. My whole point here is how many people would actually believe in their religion if they knew nothing of it until they were older and more educated. I'm betting not that many people. Several people have pointed out that some people find religion later in life. I'm not disputing that, but most people have been introduced to religion before they can think for themselves. If they weren't then things would definitely be much different. Just trying to bring up some philisophical points here...I'm not trying to offend anyone.

That is actually irrelevant to ponder for two reasons.

ONE, it will never change drastically.
TWO, the only thing that really matters about religous teachings/history and what one believes is, is it the actual real truth or not? If I have been "brainwashed" into believing something that is in fact true, then being "brainwashed" is irrelevant.

If I have been "brainwashed" into believing something that isnt true, as an adult, if I havent re examined it and found it wanting, then I probably would have accepted that teaching as an adult also, cuz its not the brainwashing that destroyed my critical thinking ability, but my own emotional driven agendas and choices.

 

[Powerman]

"Who died for us other than Jesus?"

Funny you should ask. I hate to bust your bubble but the story of Jesus is pretty much copied and pasted from Mithraism. Mithras of Persia was said to have died for our sins 1400 years before the time of Christ. There are several other parallels with his story and that of Jesus. Virgin birth, 12 followers, performed various miracles, died for our sins...

Maybe you should do some research on Mithraism. It's actually quite interesting.

 

[Said1]

"Who died for us other than Jesus?"

Funny you should ask. I hate to bust your bubble but the story of Jesus is pretty much copied and pasted from Mithraism. Mithras of Persia was said to have died for our sins 1400 years before the time of Christ. There are several other parallels with his story and that of Jesus. Virgin birth, 12 followers, performed various miracles, died for our sins...

Maybe you should do some research on Mithraism. It's actually quite interesting.

Mithras, the cosmic egg guy?

 

[LuvRPgrl]

"Who died for us other than Jesus?"

Funny you should ask. I hate to bust your bubble but the story of Jesus is pretty much copied and pasted from Mithraism. Mithras of Persia was said to have died for our sins 1400 years before the time of Christ. There are several other parallels with his story and that of Jesus. Virgin birth, 12 followers, performed various miracles, died for our sins...

Maybe you should do some research on Mithraism. It's actually quite interesting.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but Jesus's life and death is well documented. People were crucified, one upside down defending the "story". It is well documented fact that given a certain number of people trying to perpetuate a lie, the lie will break down if those people are interogated, and the apostles exceed that number and were intorogated to the point of death.

Besides, the existence of a previous tale, how does that deny the truth if it occurs in real life?

I mean, the story of the boy who cried wolf is a fairly tale, yet it occurs daily. If its being told as a fairy tale previous to it occuring in real life, does that make the real life experience of it occuring suddenly non factual? Answer, NO

So, you present an arguement that doesnt prove anything except a possible story existed previously.

 

[Said1]

Sorry to burst your bubble, but Jesus's life and death is well documented. People were crucified, one upside down defending the "story". It is well documented fact that given a certain number of people trying to perpetuate a lie, the lie will break down if those people are interogated, and the apostles exceed that number and were intorogated to the point of death.

Besides, the existence of a previous tale, how does that deny the truth if it occurs in real life?

I mean, the story of the boy who cried wolf is a fairly tale, yet it occurs daily. If its being told as a fairy tale previous to it occuring in real life, does that make the real life experience of it occuring suddenly non factual? Answer, NO

So, you present an arguement that doesnt prove anything except a possible story existed previously.

Not only that, who Jesus was and his life and times stayed consitant over time. The God Mithraism went from the God of contracts (that's where handshake comes from) to the God of Truth of Integrity to the the Lord of the Wide Pastures depending on the region practicing the traditions. This is not something one finds in the bible, or Chrisianity in general.

 

[archangel]

Not only that, who Jesus was and his life and times stayed consitant over time. The God Mithraism went from the God of contracts (that's where handshake comes from) to the God of Truth of Integrity to the the Lord of the Wide Pastures depending on the region practicing the traditions. This is not something one finds in the bible, or Chrisianity in general.

Damn must dwelve into ancient Persian history a little more....I was always under the impression that the "Handshake" came from Medival times...when a warrior shook his opponents (R)hand in a jesture of non agressive intent!

 

[Said1]

Damn must dwelve into ancient Persian history a little more....I was always under the impression that the "Handshake" came from Medival times...when a warrior shook his opponents (R)hand in a jesture of non agressive intent!

No, you're right about that too, actually. He was also the guardian of arms. He was one busy dude.

 

[Powerman]

Sorry to burst your bubble, but Jesus's life and death is well documented. People were crucified, one upside down defending the "story". It is well documented fact that given a certain number of people trying to perpetuate a lie, the lie will break down if those people are interogated, and the apostles exceed that number and were intorogated to the point of death.

Besides, the existence of a previous tale, how does that deny the truth if it occurs in real life?

I mean, the story of the boy who cried wolf is a fairly tale, yet it occurs daily. If its being told as a fairy tale previous to it occuring in real life, does that make the real life experience of it occuring suddenly non factual? Answer, NO

So, you present an arguement that doesnt prove anything except a possible story existed previously.

The fact that Jesus existed and lived and was crucified doesn't mean that he died for our salvation. Afterall why would he need to? Mithras already did that for us. I'm not saying he died in vein. Seems like he had some good things to say. But the way religion works is people add in things from previous stories. That's why there are several parallels between the stories. One of the most obvious is Jesus's birthday which was in reality probably in the summer but magically he has the same birthday as mithras of persia. The idea is to make gradual changes if you are going to convert people. Doesn't mean that the stories have no meaning to them it just means that they are kinda borrowed.

 

[mattskramer]

The fact that Jesus existed and lived and was crucified doesn't mean that he died for our salvation. Afterall why would he need to? Mithras already did that for us. I'm not saying he died in vein. Seems like he had some good things to say. But the way religion works is people add in things from previous stories. That's why there are several parallels between the stories. One of the most obvious is Jesus's birthday which was in reality probably in the summer but magically he has the same birthday as mithras of persia. The idea is to make gradual changes if you are going to convert people. Doesn't mean that the stories have no meaning to them it just means that they are kinda borrowed.

I will show some of my ignorance in this area with my questions. Please clarify and correct me if I am wrong. Didn't Halloween, or Halloween time have a Christian tradition, theme, history or connotation before it became thought of a dangerous with witchcraft and the like? Also, didn't Christmas time fall during the time of pagan festivals? If this is somewhat the case, it seems as though holidays and traditions are somehow subtly changed to suit the prevailing religion for that time period.

 

[Powerman]

I will show some of my ignorance in this area with my questions. Please clarify and correct me if I am wrong. Didn't Halloween, or Halloween time have a Christian tradition, theme, history or connotation before it became thought of a dangerous with witchcraft and the like? Also, didn't Christmas time fall during the time of pagan festivals? If this is somewhat the case, it seems as though holidays and traditions are somehow subtly changed to suit the prevailing religion for that time period.

Halloween is a Christian holiday. It means all hallow's eve. In other words the day before all Saints day. I'm just going off of memory here so if I'm wrong then someone correct me. Christmas as I just mentioned is on the exact birth date of Mithras of persia who is an ancient Babyolonian Messiah that predates Jesus by 1400 years or so. Just do a google search on mithraism or mithras of persia and you'll find different links about it.

 

[LuvRPgrl]

The fact that Jesus existed and lived and was crucified doesn't mean that he died for our salvation. Afterall why would he need to? Mithras already did that for us. I'm not saying he died in vein. Seems like he had some good things to say. But the way religion works is people add in things from previous stories. That's why there are several parallels between the stories. One of the most obvious is Jesus's birthday which was in reality probably in the summer but magically he has the same birthday as mithras of persia. The idea is to make gradual changes if you are going to convert people. Doesn't mean that the stories have no meaning to them it just means that they are kinda borrowed.

You still have provided nothing to prove Jesus wasnt what Christians today believe.

To simply state that stories evolve and change over time is no proof of anything.

 

[LuvRPgrl]

Halloween is a Christian holiday. It means all hallow's eve. In other words the day before all Saints day. I'm just going off of memory here so if I'm wrong then someone correct me. Christmas as I just mentioned is on the exact birth date of Mithras of persia who is an ancient Babyolonian Messiah that predates Jesus by 1400 years or so. Just do a google search on mithraism or mithras of persia and you'll find different links about it.

So what? Our culture celebrates Christmas as Jesus's birthday, but show me int he Bible it says Dec. 25th is his birthday.

 

[Powerman]

So what? Our culture celebrates Christmas as Jesus's birthday, but show me int he Bible it says Dec. 25th is his birthday.

It doesn't because it's not his birthday. It's the birth date of Mithras of Persia. Try to pay attention.

 

[rtwngAvngr]

Yes. The god of contract law. It doesn't get more neocon. This is the deification of corporate interest, if you will.

http://www.crystalinks.com/mithra.html

In the Avesta, the holy book of the religion of Zarathustra, Ahura-Mazda was said to have created Mithras in order to guarantee the authority of contracts and the keeping of promises.

The name Mithras was the Persian word for 'contract'.

The divine duty of Mithras was to ensure general prosperity through good contractual relations between men. It was believed that misfortune would befall the entire land if a contract was ever broken.

 

[Powerman]

You still have provided nothing to prove Jesus wasnt what Christians today believe.

To simply state that stories evolve and change over time is no proof of anything.

My point is that the story of Jesus isn't accurate because it's a retelling of another religous story. If you can't see that then I don't know what to tell you. You'd have to believe in one hell of a coincidence there. It would definitely be odd coincidence if some random Babylonian cult just so happened to believe in almost the same story of Jesus before Jesus existed. There are too many parallels in the story. It is merely a story that was retold. So why not just go with the original version and praise Mithras instead of Jesus?

 

[theim]

My point is that the story of Jesus isn't accurate because it's a retelling of another religous story. If you can't see that then I don't know what to tell you. You'd have to believe in one hell of a coincidence there. It would definitely be odd coincidence if some random Babylonian cult just so happened to believe in almost the same story of Jesus before Jesus existed. There are too many parallels in the story. It is merely a story that was retold. So why not just go with the original version and praise Mithras instead of Jesus?

Because Mithras isn't real. Jesus wasn't born as the god of contract law or handshakes or whatever. He was not brought into this world so employers could keep the clamp down on those union bastards.

That being said I got out of bed this morning, ate breakfast, read the paper, took a shower, shaved, and brushed my teeth. Somewhere in the country someone thought of the same thing and did it in that order. I must not exist...I feel so alone.

 

[Powerman]

Theim. You're missing my point. There are several things that were obviously taken right out of the pages of Mithraism and applied to Jesus.

Virgin birth
12 apostles
Performed Miracles
Died for our sins
Referred to as the light or the way
Same birthdate

Doesn't seem to make much sense to me. Seems like the story of Jesus was obviously plagerised.

 

[archangel]

Yes. The god of contract law. It doesn't get more neocon. This is the deification of corporate interest, if you will.

http://www.crystalinks.com/mithra.html

The father of all attorneys...not a God at all! Although all ACLU attorneys believe they are....

 

[archangel]

It doesn't because it's not his birthday. It's the birth date of Mithras of Persia. Try to pay attention.

"It is not that which goes into the body that fouls it...it is that which comes out that does" Try paying attention! :read:

 

[no1tovote4]

That being said I got out of bed this morning, ate breakfast, read the paper, took a shower, shaved, and brushed my teeth. Somewhere in the country someone thought of the same thing and did it in that order. I must not exist...I feel so alone.

**Whew**

I was worried, I didn't shave. I must exist!