The Assumption
Among
some critics of Christianity is the notion reflected in the following
statement. “Mithraism is but the most striking example of the appearance of these
myths and ceremonies prior to the advent of Christianity. They appear—in more
scattered form—in many other pre-Christian religions.”
Statement found in pamphlet referenced below
in Background Section
To begin with a question or two is in
order. Is there another religion besides
Christianity that has been charged with importing its ideas and doctrines of
from another religion? Is there another
that has been the object of such criticism? The only other religion with which
Christianity has such a relationship is Judaism.
A little research will reveal that the
religion of Mithras found its origin in ancient Persia. That being said, it occupied a minor position
and thus though considered to be the god of light and wisdom it was largely
unknown until popularized some years later.
The assumption that what can be known of
early Mithraism leads one directly to the prophecies about the coming Christ
and therefore the Christ has no legitimate foundation except in the thinking of
those who seek to criticize and discredit Christianity.
Consider the following.
One
insurmountable difficulty confronts the student of the Mithraic mysteries. For
the Eastern form of Mithraism practically nothing except documentary evidence
exists, whereas the Mithras of the Roman world is known to us almost
exclusively from non-literary sources. That brilliant scholar, Franz Cumont,
who died in 1947, has neatly summed up the position in his Die Mysterien des
Mithra: 'It is,' he writes, 'as if it were only possible to study
Christianity through the Old Testament and the mediaeval cathedrals.' Because
of this great gap, the story of Mithras is bound to be incomplete and
distorted, and those who wish to read it must wait for and assimilate the fresh
discoveries which are made year by year.
Quote available at http://www.farvardyn.com/mithras.php
However, even if one calls into question this
quotation, there are still serious problems with the idea of this religion
giving rise to Christianity and the beliefs thereof. A simple but honest review of the Jewish
Scriptures (the Old Testament) and the dating thereof will lead to a much
different conclusion.
At question are the dates of the prophecies
of the coming Christ. Such calls into
question the whole presupposition necessary for the opening statement to be
true.
Dating
Backgrounds
The Persian Empire came to power sometime
around 538 BC and would remain in power for about 200 years until conquered by
Greece in 331 BC. Then of course Rome
conquered Greece in 323 BC. The
territories involved extended east to include the former Persian Empire. The belief in Mithras was imported by Rome it
occupied little importance in the religious landscape until it suddenly
appeared in the 2nd Century AD.
Information found at
http://www.religionfacts.com/greco-roman/sects/mithraism.htm
The article continues as follows.
The
time period in which Mithraism flourished is better known, thanks to the
archaeological evidence. The cult of Mithras appears suddenly in the 2nd
century AD - hundreds of inscriptions begin appearing after 136 AD. It then
died out with the rest of Greco-Roman paganism after the conversion of
Constantine in the 4th century. Its sudden emergence in the Roman world has not
been explained. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica,
The
most plausible hypothesis seems to be that Roman Mithraism was practically a
new creation, wrought by a religious genius who may have lived as late as c. AD
100 and who gave the old traditional Persian ceremonies a new Platonic
interpretation that enabled Mithraism to become acceptable to the Roman world.
Ibid
To suggest that Mithraism is the foundation
of Christianity is to play fast and loose with the dates of both religions. Even if one accepts the premise based upon an
early dating of Mithras even that does not line up with the prophecies of the
coming Christ. In other words, the
prophecies predate the Persian Empire.
Messianic
Prophecies Don’t Line Up With Assumption
Reference is now made to the dating of many
of those prophecies.
Moses:
The earliest prophecies of what would turn out to be the Christ are
found in the writing of Moses. His
writings (Genesis through Deuteronomy) are dated some 900 years before the
Persian Empire around 1450 BC.
The Psalms:
Another place in the Old Testament that a number of prophecies are found
is in the collection of Psalms one of which was written by Moses, others by
King David and his contemporaries, and still others later. Generally it is believed that the Psalms were
collected sometime in the 10th Century BC. That would place those prophecies some 500
years before the Persian Empire.
Isaiah:
Perhaps the most referenced book of the Bible when it comes of
prophecies of the coming Messiah is that of Isaiah. Written sometime around 700 BC, it too predates
the Persian Empire by as much as 200 years.
There would be others who wrote of the coming
Messiah. The prophet Micah was a
contemporary of Isaiah and wrote in the same time period. Zechariah wrote just after the Persian Empire
came to power, however, there is no evidence that he used source material and
in fact the purist and exclusive mind set of the Jewish people would have
precluded his doing so.
Discounting
the Supernatural
The Bible is clear that there are certain
parts of man which are “hard wired” into his believing int here being something
beyond himself and beyond the material world.
For example the Bible speaks of eternity being in the heart of man
(Ecclesiastes 3:11). As well the Apostle
Paul writes to the Roman Christians that there are two witnesses to there being
God, one is a witness in the inner being of man and the other is seen in
Creation.
When one factors in that 83% of the world’s
population believe that there is some form of supernatural, just on sheer
evidence alone one must allow for the possibility of Christianity being
valid. However, those who refuse to
accept there being a supernatural element to life as we know it must work hard
to support their position.
Background
To see the list of
subjects to be discussed in this series see my blog (Christianity – Is it a
Faith Driven by Fear?
http://alviesthots.blogspot.com/2012/11/christianity-is-it-faith-driven-by-fear.html).
Contained within that blog is a reference, 20 Reasons to Abandon
Christianity and in that reference is a list which is the springboard from
which this subject has been discussed.
No comments:
Post a Comment