Discover more in these hand-picked books What you think;  what others say.
Stuff you need to know before the POCM makes sense. Ideas, rituals and myths Christianity boosted from the Pagans. Some of the Pagan's dying-resurrected godmen The Triumph of Christianity Discover mainstream scholarship about Christianity's Pagan origins You are here. So what?
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Before you decide, lets review the facts

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Was Christianity created new and unique, or did it evolve from other ancient pagan religions?

You can't be sure unless you know facts about other ancient religions. If you're reading the web site cover to cover, you know that up till now we've been looking in detail at those facts. If you're just clicking in from the first page, here's what you've missed. If a fact looks interesting, you can follow it's link to discover details.

After we've reviewed the facts, we'll click to the next page and talk about Christianity's Pagan origins.

Big bang theory
 
If you're like me, you grew up thinking Christianity began with Jesus. Jesus brought a new covenant -- new ideas, new rituals, new sacraments, a new concept of God, a new concept of peoples' relationship to God. What Jesus brought was new. It was unique. It was divine. And it all started with the Jesus. That's the big bang theory of Christian origins.

So far at POCM we've been looking at the big bang theory by asking the question, "Really new? Really unique?" OK, that's two questions. But you get the idea. We've compared the ideas, rituals, sacraments and myths of Christianity with the ideas, rituals, sacraments and myths of other ancient religions.

Turns out Christianity was not new, Christianity was not unique, Christianity was not discontinuous with ancient Paganism.

 
The facts: big bang bust
Hundreds of years before Christianity was a twinkle in St. Paul's eye, Pagans had > 
personal Gods who care about people and help or punish them
a single supreme God who made and controls the universe
Gods who ascend and descend from their home up in heaven
a soul that survives death
eternal life after death, with torment for sinners; reward for the worthy
the Logos, which early Christians explicitly identify as the Holy Spirit
Gods who are Sons of the supreme God, often born of a mortal woman

prophecy -- made and fulfilled

miracles -- stuff like raising the dead, healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, turning water into wine
Christianity had all these things, but Paganism had 'em first. In all these things, Christianity was not new, Christianity was not unique, Christianity was not discontinuous with mainstream Paganism.
 
And that's the little stuff...
The big stuff? -- the mystery religions. Around the Mediterranean for a thousand years before Christ, the sacred Pagan mysteries >
worshiped Gods who died and came back to life
were personal religions entered into voluntarily via initiation ceremonies that involved purification by water baptism that reenacted the God's death and rebirth

taught that initiation gave believers rebirth and salvation

celebrated with ceremonies of food and drink that reenacted a holy meal established by the God

had teachings that brought the faithful closer to God

worshiped Gods with the miraculous power to heal illness

Christianity had all these things, but Paganism had 'em first. In all these things, Christianity was not new, Christianity was not unique, Christianity was not discontinuous with mainstream Paganism.

In His birth as the son of God and a virgin woman,
in His miracles,
His fulfillment of prophecy,
His death and resurrection,
His ascent to heaven,
His judgment of men at the end of time, Jesus is not new, Jesus is not unique, Jesus is not discontinuous with mainstream Paganism.
In baptism,
in the Holy Eucharist,
in it's doctrines of rebirth and salvation,
and it's promise of eternal life with torment for sinners and blessings for believers,
Christianity is not new, Christianity is not unique, Christianity is not discontinuous with mainstream Paganism.
 
Fact The first Christians knew all about pagan myths.  
Another fact: The early writings prove the first Christians knew Jesus' story is not unique.

For example early in the second century St. Justin Martyr, wrote

"When we say that the Word, who is the first-birth of God, was produced without sexual union, and that He, Jesus Christ, our Teacher, was crucified and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, we propound nothing different from what you believe regarding those whom you esteem sons of Jupiter." [Justin Martyr, First Apology, 21]

Don't believe me, believe the ancients themselves.

   
 

The next time you're in Church
ask yourself:"What about what I'm hearing was new and unique with Christianity, and what was already part of other religions in a culture where over and over again new religions were built with old parts?"Next time you're in church...

When they get to the part about about one God, and his Son who died, was reborn, ascended into Heaven for the salvation of mankind remember the facts you learned at POCM.

You'll know you're hearing about stuff that predated Christianity by hundreds of years -- in a culture where over and over people built new religions out of old parts.

Wow!

OK, on to the next page and we'll talk about Christianity's pagan origins
What other people think about POCM

You are filled with the lies that anti-Christians give.  The answer to your own theory is one question.

Where is the body of Jesus?  Had they produced it Christianity would have stopped thousands of years ago.
Why did men die for a Jesus that they knew never raised?
Why is the existence of Jesus of Nazareth better documented than the existence of George Washington?
Why do you even care, if you don’t want to believe?

Conquerors did write things to suit them, but why does the Bible agree like it does and tell things as if they happened hundreds of years before they did happen?  

Did it ever occur to you that the Pagans borrowed from Christians, or are you bigoted to think that the influence goes only one way?

Just because so whacked out religious nutcase did something wrong the whole religion is condemned for being bunk? 

As for a dying Son of God, Does it predate the Books of Moses (Bible)  written starting in 1500-2500 years before Christ?

That is truly amazing, that there is a book or source in our world today that is older than the Bible that tells the same story.  Are you truthful, sir or just whacked out?