RE: Why Yahweh? (Or Allah, or Zeus, etc.)
October 26, 2012 at 10:42 am
(This post was last modified: October 26, 2012 at 10:43 am by FallentoReason.)
(October 26, 2012 at 10:34 am)John V Wrote:(October 26, 2012 at 10:12 am)FallentoReason Wrote: Either way, I see what you're saying. What about something closer to home, like Mithras who I mentioned before, who had a last supper, whose followers had a Holy Communion, who were annointed with oil on their foreheads? Justin Martyr I tell you... I swear he was a closet Mithraist!The same issue applies to Mithraism. Who received the revelation, and what signs did they provide to support it? We don't know. Actually we know very little about Mithraism, as it was a mystery religion which was passed along orally. They didn't have texts. The description you gave of a typical bas-relief from a Mithraeum was accurate. Interpretation of its symbols are, well, interpretation. People see what they want in them. People who want to see parallels to Christianity see parallels to Christianity. Aside from Mithraeum, the only significant information on Mithraism comes from Christians who were writing against Mithraism.
I agree completely. Things might be different if Mithraists weren't so selective as to who could join though. I mean, going from what Justin tells us, it seems like Christianity literally borrowed from Mithraism. Of course, Justin being the Super Apologist that he is gets around it by saying "Satan was behind it in order to decieve from the true God" which then unfortunately means he lost the battle for Christianity, as he is explicitly saying Mithraist practices pre-dated Christianity, and there's good reason to believe that. Again, I point out that the bull was the central figure of it all, which not surprisingly matches the astrological age.
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it" ~ Aristotle