Replies to Aristiono -- Part 4 -- Pagan Influences on Christianity

I know that the crescent moon is an Islamic symbol but i am going to make a point about it later.

Aristiono makes two charges:
1. That Jesus' story and many pagan myths parallel each other.
2. That Christianity has been corrupted by paganism.

Well to the first, if you look at a lot of stories long enough you will find parallel to anything. There are a couple of key differences 1) The other virgin myths do not have the significance of redemption from sins that Jesus does. 2) The virgin birth of Christ has historical evidence to support it.

As to the second: yeah, no doubt that if any religion exists for too long it will be corrupted by something. Throughout church history there has been those moments when this has been he issue. Removing the pagan elements and other bad influences to Christianity has been motivation for many reforms during church history and ultimately the Protestant Reformation.

My point is this -- name me a religion that is still true completely to its original founding?

Now, I have a question -- if Islam is so free of these influences why do they use a moon as a symbol? The reason is that it is the former symbol of Mohammed's tribe -- which is symbol of the moon God they used to worship. My question to Aristiono why is it OK for Islam to take former pagan symbols and turn them to something for their religion but it is not OK for other religion including Christianity to do so?

Next: Why I Believe in Jesus.

Happy Valentines Day

You know what gets weird about this holiday? That there are at least three guys who claim sainthood by the Catholic Church who have the name St. Valentine and we really only have legends about two of them. It was like many holidays a product of legend and the Church's attempt to remove the pagan influences of the Roman world and replace it with Christian ones. Feb 14 used to be the beginning of a festival to celebrate Faunus -- the goat god of agriculture and fertility. You know the faun -- like Mr. Tumnis. It was considered to be a time for pairings to be done by lottery. That's right, boys step up an pick your lucky number for your new wife.

The Roman Church decided to change it by introducing St. Valentine and changing the nature of the holiday. The problem is which St. Valentine are we talking about? 1) The guy who performed marriages in secret in the Roman army because the Emperor outlawed them or 2) The guy who was smitten in love with a young woman and wrote a letter to her from prison and signed it -- "From your Valentine". Take your pick.

What is it today? Well, it is the day everyone goes broke trying to buy things to show that they love one another -- A day of romance and love in theory, but all those cards we buy are making someone money. I know -- I am the Scrooge of holidays but why is it that in order to prove my love to my wife I have to buy her something every February 14th? Oh, yeah because I love her. Wait a minute didn't I just say that? ;-)

Happy St. Valentine's Day

Replies to Aristiono -- Part 3 -- Some History Lessons

Aristiono in a comment to me made some of the following assertions:
1. Jesus was created by Constantine in 325 with the Nicene Council
2. The Roman Church changed worship from Saturday to Sunday
3. The name Jesus is derived from the Greek word "Ieasus" which means 'Son of Zeus'
4. Constantine made huge changes in Christianity that mandated it as the faith of the Empire and made changes to holidays and the Sabbath.

#1 -- I don't have any idea how a person could believe this -- Jesus is a well documented person and his name exists in literature long before Constantine. The gospels themselves are much older than Constantine and with the discovery of texts of the New Testament that are conservatively estimated at 150 AD and of the Gospel John the oldest gospel by all scholarly opinion. That thrusts all the gospels by evidence at least into early second century but more likely the first. All the Gospels talk of Jesus as a historical figure who lived and ministered in that century. To deny the historical reality of Jesus as a person from the first century is prejudicial -- we have more evidence for Him than any other ancient historical figure. Outside of Scripture we have a multitude sources that talk of Jesus. All of them long before Constantine. What confuses me more is that I was under the impression that Islam accepts Jesus both as a historical figure and a prophet.

#2 -- When is the Sabbath? I think a more important question is does it matter? We need to understand that all calenders have been modified and moved around so is Saturday really Saturday. One of Jesus' great teaching was that the Sabbath was about devotion to God not external religious control. To me the issue is to make sure one day a week is devoted to God and his work.

#3 -- Wow! Sorry this is just plain wrong. "Jesus" is a Greek transliterated form of "Yeshua" -- the Hebrew word for -- "The Lord is Salvation"

#4 -- No Doubt Constantine made some huge changes to Christianity, but some of those changes were simply because Christianity went from being a persecuted religion to one of acceptance. Hey, even I argue against some of the changes because I disagree with them. That is why I am a Protestant and not a Roman Catholic, although I have many Roman Catholic friends. As for the holidays, Constantine was attempting to remove the paganism from the Empire by changing the significance of many pagan holidays and then injecting Christian significance instead. In a sense he was trying to convert the holidays from pagan to Christian. It simply may be a case of good intentions but poor results.

Next: Pagan Influences on Christianity.