Jesusism - Just Another First Century Mystery Cult

[Amarok]

Wait just a moment.  We really have no idea what was written about the Mystery Cults, other than jesusism, with minor exceptions since any writings about what they did or did not believe were not preserved.  Nonetheless, Augustine did preserve the denunciations which Seneca unleashed on the superstitions running rampant in Rome in his day.  If they had written down what they believed it would be roughly akin to the gospels which are propaganda vehicles for the cult.  And, I know you don't want to hear this, but we have no evidence of any sort of xtian canon until late 2d century xtian writers tell us that Marcion - the heretic <gasp> produced one.  While there are some obvious holes in the story it does seem as if someone decided that Marcion had a really good idea and they set about trying to figure out which bits of bullshit they wanted to go into their canon!

To sit there and say "we have no writings about any of this stuff" comes very close to the classic definition of chutzpah.  That is when someone kills his parents and then appeals for mercy because he is an orphan.  Generally speaking it was xtians who were doing the preserving and copying of ancient texts and rather than some far-flung conspiracy to destroy ancient knowledge it is more that they had no incentive to preserve it.  They thought their jesus shit was all that mattered and we are extremely fortunate to have any copies of ancient documents.  In large part, most survived in the East because the dry climate helped preserve writings.  It is unlikely that a parchment would last long in the cold, damp climates of Britain, Gaul and Germany and when they wore out they were thrown out.  To be sure there were some highly publicized book-burnings by thuggish xtian mobs but one also has to account for the actions of barbarian tribes tearing through the West and North Africa.  The Goths and Vandals were xtians before making their raids - albeit they were Arians and therefore perfectly willing to kick the shit out of the Trinitarians!  I love it when xtians fight.

Personally, I rather doubt that Celsus decided to write a diatribe against xtianity for the hell of it.  I imagine it was a common practice for Neo-Platonist philosophers to hold the beliefs of others up to ridicule.  Once again, it seems unlikely the brief excerpt from Seneca on superstition in first century Rome would have been the only commentary by Greco-Roman writers on what was going on but other than the second-hand recap of Seneca by Augustine we have no evidence.  Thus my hypothesis must remain merely a hypothesis.
But we have enough information on the broad scope of the other Mystery Cults to see how they came about in specific geographical areas and how they were incorporated into a Hellensitic philosophy of individual salvation.  I wish you could see it but every one has their limitations.

Decisive point as always min . To bad it will be lost on him and filtered through his Xtian glasses . And his brain will signal him to crazed ranting about conspiracies theories and demands for unreasonable evidence .