Jesusism - Just Another First Century Mystery Cult

[Amarok]

Road when given clear evidence Christianity is not unique and is just another mystery religion . Which he will simply dismiss as "vague  suspicions "and will continue to do so into Infintium or he will demand unreasonable standards so he can continue to deny .

[Minimalist]

I wasn't the one, who just dismissed the arguments calling the other person's reference a quack.

That's because I did not cite a quack.  You did.  See the difference?

[Amarok]

Because you referenced a quack and we didn't road .

[RoadRunner79]

[The Grand Nudger]

Yeah, that's the ticket......

It's not "whether" christianity can be accurately described as a mystery religion, it -is- accurately described as such.  Proceeding from there, the notion that all of the other mystery religions were significantly influenced by this common cultural theme to produce the category under which they all fall..but that one particular mystery religion wasn't..and just happened to become a textbook example..is too ludicrous to entertain in any attempt to understand the religion in a historical context...regardless of whether or not you find it untenable to consider just because you (and any number of quacks) believe in fairies.

That, in a nutshell, is the difference between anthropology and apologism.

As to the constant reference to "respected historians" not agreeing, let's run with that..explore it a little. If by "respected historians" you mean people who feel that there may have been some person around which hellenic syncretism coalesced with med judaism to form an earlier but not at all recognizable form of christian belief..then yeah, sure. Notice the fairies are still absent, and the historicity of the gospels is in no way advanced. They're positing that some advocate, in that case, helped to create a recognizable mystery religion...which had significant deviance from previous forms of the same and would one day..with further syncretism and political intrigue inc in europe..to what we recognize as christianity today.

But, ofc, that's not who you mean by "respected historians"...you mean quacks who believe in fairies, who believe that the gospels are an AP report from the front. You mean "apologists".

[Jackie]

The truth of every religion is that they all exist just like Coke and Pepsi compete. Coke comes out with a cherry flavor soda, and not to be outdone Pepsi looks at it, comes up with it's own cherry flavor, changes the recipe a and color of the can. 

Buddhism is really a rejection of India's religions just like Christianity was a rejection of the Jewish religions. 

But Buddhism, like Christianity, to take off, the early founders looked around them, kept the old motifs, changed the details and vilified the things they did not like. 

MARKETING, is how old religions survive and new ones get created. 

The ancient Romans and Greeks were virtually the same pantheon with different names for the same gods.

Funny how the Jewish and Christian and Muslim God are the same character stemming from Abraham. Funny how all those started in the same region in close proximity. Funny how the motif of afterlife and judgment existed in prior polytheism of the Canaanites and Egyptians expressed the same motifs and are near the same geography. 


Even today, some might think the Rasta religion is unique and original, but it too has it's roots in African Jewish/Christian history.

Point is religions exist because humans compete just like any other aspect of our existence.

[The Grand Nudger]

[Amarok]

And no Roads trying to muddy the waters . Typical 

[Minimalist]

[Crossless2.0]

So, Road, what you’re saying is that short of a smoking gun directly linking Christian belief and practice to some other mystery cult, you choose to believe that God’s Eternal Truth and Salvation Plan for humanity just happens to share a variety of traits that were commonly found in contemporary mystery cults in that particular region of the world — not to mention an atoning blood sacrifice, also a cult trope common in antiquity.

That’s some coincidence!