It's easy to see the Pagan roots of Christianity - what about Judaism?

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Anjeanette

New member
Are there Pagan or other cultures that have the same stories (I'm talking about anything after the flood; I know there are flood stories and creation stories in most really old relgions and cultures) and the same teachings as Judaism?

In other words, you can kind of "prove" that Christianity, or at least a lot of it, is false because there are obvious older religions that they borrowed from, and it is documented. But is there any reason to disbelieve Judaism, apart from simply being an atheist and the stories seeming ridiculous?
 
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HTacianas

Member
What religions did Christianity borrow from?

What flood stories did Judaism borrow from?

What are the earliest references to either of your assumptions?

I thank you in advance for your prompt clarifications.
 
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AlienJesus

New member
The Old Testament is based more off of Egyptian Mythology and the New Testament is based more off of Greek Mythology. Also look into Gnosticism, which is the more proper perspective to read the myths from.

Also if you look into Alchemy, Tarot cards, The Qabalah, etc. etc. etc. it all tells the same metaphysical story.. it's nothing new... and the perspectives from which people look at this stuff today is way way off... People today are in fact much more ignorant than they were a couple thousand years ago.
 
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Bobq1

New member
Or, I would put it this way, the only religion Christianity has roots in is Judaism. It is Judaism whose whose roots are in the ancient religions of Mesopotamia. Judaism's greatest influence by far however was from the Persian Zoroastrianism.
 
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mKirraBlackhartm

New member
Moses (who invented Judaism) was born and raised in Egypt shortly after the heretical monotheistic rule imposed by Pharoah Akhenaten. It was from this that he drew his influences for his new religion. However, a lot of Judaism and Christianity is similiar to the old Persian religion that worshipped Ahura Mazda (and his Sun/Son Mithra - NOT MITHRAS, different God altogether). The flood story, the trinity, the end of the world, paradise etc are all elements of the worship of Ahura. Even the image of the halo and angels come from this old religion.
 
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SimonC

Member
Judaism has elements of the Sumerian beliefs which influenced that whole region. This is the flood as you know, but also some of the garden of Eden concepts, the serpent, etc.

More than the Sumerians though, Judaism borrows from the Canaanite beliefs. There's actually a theory that's been picking up steam from archaeologists that the early Israelites were actually Canaanites themselves who had either rebelled against the upper powerful class of Canaan, or who had retreated into the mountains.

The deities of the Canaanites are found frequently throughout the Old Testament, as are certain practices, and concepts. Yahweh is even described the same way certain Canaanite gods were described, such as the "Rider on the Clouds" storm god Baal Hadad.

There are also a lot of similarities between Yahweh and the serpent, and Baal Hadad and Yam (represented by the Leviathan).

Zoroastrianism is also featured heavily in Judaism, though it's found mainly in the Rabbinical teachings, not the books themselves. Those teachings went on to inspire concepts which made it into the New Testament though.
 
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2_B_invisible

New member
Christianity and Judaism are of the same faith but with the exception that we believe that Jesus is the Messiah that the prophets of old prophesied about, and those who call themselves Jews today hold fast to the belief that the Messiah is yet to come and Jesus is merely an impostor. There are no other so called religions nor has there ever been that believe in one God who created all things as does Judaism and Christianity.
 
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Corey

Member
Yes, Assyrobabylonian polytheism. And it's not just 'a' flood story in that case. There's a clear line connecting the different versions of the Assyrobabylonian deluge myth with the version that is recorded in the Torah. Ziusudra-Atrahasis-Utnapishtim-Noah

Make sure that you're not reading too much into the claims of Christianity being copied from other religions. It's not a carbon copy, and if your documentation is a laundry list of identical details between Jesus, Horus, Mithras, and Krishna, it's a hoax.
 
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tDillicioustcubed

New member
there is no evidence to support any of its supernatural claims

God, miracles, etc...

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence
In the case of religion, any religion, their extraordinary claims are not backed up with anything other than hearsay
 
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Tellmeaboutiteee

Member
Christianity goes back much father than Christ, as the gospel before he was born was in looking forward to his birth and future sacrifice. Basically its true since the begining of time, Adam and Eve. If you look at it that way (not that you would agree with that, I know) but Paganism was just an offshoot of the gospel, a rebellion from it. The gospel is eternal and it certainly was not "rooted" in paganism.
 
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SlyKatt

New member
Judaism had adapted many of their myths from the cultures that they served. They were captives of the Babylonians so they took part of that belief into their own. They were captives of many diferent peoples so the myths sort of came in on their own.
 
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