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[Part 1 of 19]

           A FREETHINKER LOOKS AT THE PAGAN RELIGIOUS
                  SYSTEM KNOWN AS CHRISTIANITY
                      by Ammond Shadowcraft

The focus of this article addresses the various pagan and mythical
elements which formulate the Christian Religious System. Actually
this topic could be pointed at all Western, hero-based belief
systems since they share many similar features. 

                            Foreword

Note: What follows is a compilation of pieces of text from the
following books. These sections of text will help us get the big
picture of how the Christian Belief System (sometimes herein
referred to as the CBS) arose.

THE STORY OF CHRISTIAN ORIGINS, Dr. Martin Larson,
THE MASKS OF GOD series, Joseph Campbell,
PAGAN CHRISTS, J.M. Robertson, and
THE WHITE GODDESS, Robert Graves.

Generally, most humans suffer from some form of culture trance or
blindness. This article is an effort to penetrate that culture
trance and look beyond into the very foundations of the prevailing
organized religious focus of this nation. 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------

                   Myths And Their Importance

Myths have a secure place in our hearts, and like any other belief
system or bits thereof, they inspire or cause us to think and act
in different ways (and sometimes against our better judgment).
Myths gives us a different view of ourselves, our planet and
environment. And myths give us hope of life in life and life after
death.   

                      *    *    *    *    *

        "The comparative study of the mythologies of the world
     compels us to view the cultural history of mankind as a unit;
     for we find that such themes as the firetheft, deluge, land
     of the dead, virgin birth, and resurrected hero have a
     worldwide distribution appearing everywhere in new
     combinations while remaining, like the elements of the
     kaleidoscope, only a few and always the same. Furthermore,
     whereas in tales told for entertainment such mythical themes
     are taken lightly--in a spirit, obviously of play, they appear
     also in religious contexts, where they are accepted not only
     as factually true but even as revelations of the verities to
     which the whole culture is a living witness and from which it
     derives both its spiritual authority and its temporal power.
     No human society has yet been found in which such mythological
     motifs have not been rehearsed in liturgies; interpreted by
     seers, poets, theologians, or philosophers; presented in art;
     magnified in song; and ecstatically experienced in life
     empowering visions. Indeed, the chronicle of our species, from
     its earliest page, has been not simply an account of the
     progress of man the tool maker, but--more tragically--a
     history of the pouring of blazing visions into the minds of
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[Part 2 of 19]

     the seers and the effort of the earthly communities to
     incarnate unearthly covenants. Every people has received its
     own seal and sign of supernatural designation, communicated
     to its heros and daily proved in the lives and experience of
     its folk. And though many who bow with closed eyes in the
     sanctuaries of their own tradition rationally scrutinize and
     disqualify the sacraments of others, AN HONEST COMPARISON
     IMMEDIATELY REVEALS THAT ALL HAVE BEEN BUILT FROM ONE FUND OF
     MYTHOLOGICAL MOTIFS--VARIOUSLY SELECTED, ORGANIZED,
     INTERPRETED AND RITUALIZED, ACCORDING TO THE LOCAL NEED, BUT
     REVERED BY EVERY PEOPLE ON THE EARTH.
        "A fascinating psychological, as well as historical,
     problem is thus presented. Man, apparently, cannot maintain
     himself in the universe without belief in some arrangement of
     the general inheritance of myth. In fact, the fullness of his
     life would even seem to stand in direct ratio to the depth and
     range NOT of his rational thought but to his LOCAL MYTHOLOGY.
     Whence the force of these unsubstantial themes, by which they
     are empowered to galvanize populations, creating of them
     civilizations, each with a beauty and self compelling destiny
     of its own? And why should it be that when ever men have
     looked for something solid on which to found their lives, they
     have CHOSEN not the FACTS in which the world abounds, but the
     MYTHS of immemorial imagination--preferring even to make life
     a hell for themselves and their neighbors, in the name of some
     violent god, to ACCEPTING GRACEFULLY the bounty the world
     affords?" PRIMITIVE MYTHOLOGY: The Masks of God by Joseph
     Campbell, pages 3 & 4. 1959  Emphasis mine. 

                      *    *    *    *    *

        "It is unfortunate that, despite the strong mythical
     element in Christianity, 'mythical' has come to mean
     'fanciful, absurd, unhistorical'; for fancy played a
     negligible part in the development of the Greek, Latin and
     Palestinian myths, or of the Celtic myths until the Norman-
     French 'troveres' worked them into irresponsible romances of
     chivalry. They are all grave records of ancient religious
     customs and events, and reliable enough as history once the
     language is understood and allowance has been made for errors
     in transcription, misunderstanding of obsolete ritual, and
     deliberate changes introduced for moral and political
     reasons."
        
        "Perhaps the greatest difficulty in solving complex
     mythological problems is that:
 
                Conquering Gods their titles take
                from the foes they captive make,
 
     and to know the name of a deity at any given place or period,
     is far less important to know than the NATURE OF THE
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[Part 3 of 19]

     SACRIFICES THAT HE OR SHE WAS THEN OFFERED." Taken from Robert
     Graves THE WHITE GODDESS, page 14. 

                      *    *    *    *    *

The myth, according to the formula of Joseph Campbell, may be
compared to a collective dream, and, reciprocally a dream may be
analogous of an individual myth. A myth expresses the time-bound
elements proper to a culture and an epoch in the same way that a
dream comprises the elements relative to a particular dreamer. But
both dreams and myths express, above all, experiences which may be
universal and may have many forms. It is not necessary, for
example, to be a neopagan to understand the erotic nature of
Aphrodite or the humor of Hermes. And it is possible to communicate
with the fears and wishes of other people without having the same
dreams as they do. Just as there is more than one possible
interpretation of a dream, so there are many equally valuable
interpretations of the same myth. An appropriate or useful
interpretation generally produces a liberating and deepening
affect, while the inappropriate or useless one usually produces
confusion.

There are also some dreams, and some myths, whose function is to
reveal to us the absence or need of values personified by an
archetype which has been neglected. The discovery of such a myth
may present itself as extremely significant in aiding the
recognition, for example, that "I am not the heroic type" or that
"I am not the musical type" of individual. Here is not the
simplistic typology, but the felt presence of a power that is
significant. 
 
Myths are complex. They don't lend themselves to dogmatic
teachings. The adventures of the mythic persons, Gods and
Goddesses, are movements of consciousness; they illustrate our
inter and intra-personal conflicts, our interdependence, and our
participation in the sacred. One must follow these movements in
the same way one listens to music, or dances, or meditates.
Harmony, not doctrine, finally results, and this harmony resembles,
I think, that which we all look for under the topic of "human
ecology" (the care and feeding of the human race).

Through this it can be said that myths are the deep murmuring of
human consciousness coming to know itself better. Over the ages
this ability has been gathering itself together, examining its
environment, and devising newer and better ways to know itself. 
 
              The Pagan Aspects Of The Christian Religious System

The Pagan-Christian Religious System is naturally a large and
responsive myth. It acts in the hearts and minds of all those who
are entranced with it. Its images, punishments and rewards
literally consume the landscape of the believer's mind. Yet I find
that, in many cases, the believer and unbeliever alike fail to
understand the myth they are entangled in. Sometimes the individual
can forget that the myth exists and revel in the knowledge and
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[Part 4 of 19]

energy that the myth brings to them. 
 
"Know thyself" the ancient philosopher states. Knowing who we are
and what we can undertake for ourselves is of paramount importance
when viewing the pagan Christian myth. Yet the only way to have
confidence we have completed the assigned task is to disassociate
from the myth and look at it from the outside.
 
There are two natures to the word "myth." One is the made up story
that peacefully puts children to sleep somewhere about the middle
of the myth. The other nature is that of the archetypal reality,
symbolizing many of the actual situations of our lives. It was
possible in ancient times to modify, accommodate, and interpret the
myths according to the political and religious movements of the
collective unconscious. 
 
I am hoping that we can examine the mythical aspects or elements
of the C.B.S. Maybe we can escape the dogma and view the icons and
events which provide a larger and better perspective of the pagan
Christian Religious System, its pagan roots and what it means to
twentieth-century mankind. 

Once we understand the myth (through rational consideration) and
understand where the myth is capable of taking us as humans, we
then have the unrestrained choice of whether to let the myth take
us there or not. Let's then examine the Christian myth to see where
it's taking Christians.

                  The Original Pagan Savior-God

The first savior-god that I could find is Osiris who is native to
Egypt. Egyptian culture antedates all other Eurasian cultures
except the Sumerian; but just how old it is, no one really knows.
We know that the great pyramids were built during the fourth
dynasty about 2700 BC; and that the Nilotic civilization was
already very old at that time. The first dynasty dates back to at
least 3000 and there was a predynastic culture stretching back to
perhaps 8000 BC. 

The Egyptians invented the afterlife replete with rewards and
punishments. This was because the Egyptians had a strong sense of
life after death. In fact they could not envision anything less
than a continuation of life as they knew it. Of course the expected
rewards were dependent upon ethical and sacramental considerations
in the individual's life. These concepts were invented in Egypt
many centuries before they appeared anywhere else. Thus the
preparation for eternity became a large industry consuming a major
portion of all Egyptian human energy.

Tem or Ra preceded Osiris and it was Tem who laid the egg in the
chaotic waters from which he himself was reborn and evolved. It
appears that the ancient Egyptians knew life evolved from the sea.
Tem, Shu and Tefnut were worshiped by the dark-skinned aborigines
some six or seven thousand years ago. Sometime around 3000 BC Egypt
was invaded by the light-skinned Aryan-Sumerians who stormed out
of Mesopotamia, conquered the natives and grafted their gods over
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[Part 6 of 19]

the blessed. A terrific battle ensued between Set and Horus, who
subdued his evil uncle and bound him with chains, himself (Horus)
sustaining a brushed heel and finally crushing the Serpent's head.
(See Genesis 3:15). Horus ruled Egypt happily for the remainder of
his life. After a trial before the gods in Khenti-Amenti,
annihilation by fire was inflicted upon Set, the Diabolical
Adversary.

The similarities between Osiris/Horus and Christ are among other
things: 

     o    Divine birth
   
     o    Being both divine and human at the same time.
   
     o    An untimely death and a wondrous resurrection.   

     o    Osiris avenges his death through the destruction of the
          adversary by his son Horus.
   
     o    Osiris becomes the judge of the afterlife and permits or
          denies entrance into the Elysian fields. The Elysian
          fields were the proverbial lands of milk and honey and
          symbolize rest from work. 
   
     o    The Osirian and Christian worshipers both partake in the
          symbolic eating of the flesh of both deities and the
          drinking of the deities blood as a sacramental
          prerequisite to entrance into heaven. 
   
     o    Osiris (Horus) and Christ were both great god-man  
          entities. Human yet divine, capable of taking on all 
          our sorrow. Both taught justice and practiced mercy. Both 
          died, were buried and then rose from the grave. Both gave 
          to all members who would follow them the gift of eating 
          their flesh and drinking their blood so that this     
          sacrament might then transfigure them into the expected 
          celestial gods. Both went before the followers to provide 
          a place of abode for their followers in Elysium or     
          heaven. Both were merciful judges before whom all men
          and women would have to appear before entrance into
          heaven.   

I strongly suspect that the common denominator here is that Greek
and Egyptian Mystery Cultists who lived in and around Israel had
a profound affect upon the creators of the Christian myth. 
   
My opinion is that earlier the Hebrews (while in captivity and the
later the semi-independent Jews) were heavily influenced by the
Osirian and Aton mythology of the Egyptians, their neighbors. And
while the Hebrews were in captivity in Babylon they picked up much
of the common mythical possessions of the area and time. 

After reviewing this material I have come to the conclusion that
the story of the resurrection of Christ is close to the myth of
Horus/Osiris. In fact the story of Jehovah, Holy Spirit, Mary,
Jesus and Satan so closely parallels the myth of Aton, Amon-Re,
Isis, Osiris/Horus and Set that I consider the myths concerning
Jesus a later borrowing and retelling of older pagan myths.
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[Part 8 of 19]

brain matter, might reasonably be proposed as the earliest
religious rite of the human species. He writes that this ritual was
practiced possibly as far back at 400,000 B.C. The first hard
evidence, though appears around 200,000 to 75,000 B.C. 

Although crude, savage and grotesque, this rite was the core of the
concept of the Eucharist. The conviction that it was possible for
humanity to achieve immortality by eating the body or drinking the
blood of a god, or of an immortal God-man who died so that mortal
men might have abundant and everlasting life, became a dominating
obsession in the ancient world.

The cult of Osiris forbade the older cannibalism, but didn't
proscribe the dismemberment and eating of enemies; and it certainly
practiced the bloody sacrifice of captives and the sacramental
rending and eating of the sacred bovine, which symbolized Osiris.

The moral elevation of the Osirian cult lay in its identification
of bread with the body, and barley ale with the blood of their god.
The partaker of this Eucharist could achieve the mystical
transformation and become an Osiris by living on wheat and barley
bread during his lifetime, by drinking and eating the sacred ale
and cakes during the annual mysteries, and by enjoying the same
fare in heaven. By this simple metaphysical transposition the
bloody sacrament became symbolic but didn't lose any of its effect.
For Osiris was, to his believers, literally and with complete
reality, the divine seed which came down from heaven and was reborn
from the earth that men might live happier lives; and all who eat
of the bread (flesh) and drank of the ale (blood) might live
forever. Whoever drank of the blood and ate of the flesh of Osiris
had eternal life. Whoever drank of the blood and ate of the flesh
dwelt in Osiris, and Osiris dwelt in him.

This was the divine mystery which was given to the world by Egypt
and which spread through the Mediterranean area in various cults.
This concept originated only once but proliferated in all
directions and became a dynamic force in every mystery-cult.

After taking communion for so many years, I now understand what is
going on.

                    *     *    *     *     *

       'And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it,
     and brake it , and gave it to his disciples, and said "Take,
     eat, this is my body." And He took the cup, and gave thanks,
     and gave it to them saying, "Drink ye all of it; for this is
     my body of the New Testament which is shed for many for the
     remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink
     henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I
     drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom"'. MATT. 26:26-28
       'I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say. The cup of the
     blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood
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     mystery cults; and, second, that without this preparation it
     could have never made any important headway. We note that
     great as was the debt of the Gospel Jesus to Buddhist and
     Essene ethics and to Zoroastrain metaphysics and eschatology,
     neither Persia nor India had ever known a soter and therefore
     to this day Christianity is able to win very few converts in
     these lands. The same held true for the Jews, the Arabians,
     the Iranians, the Japanese, the Chinese, and such primitive
     people as the American Indians. Among the peoples who had
     risen above barbarism, only those who had already accepted
     Osiris, Dionysus, Attis, Adonis or Mithra, could accept Jesus
     as their savior-god.
        3. Source of Christian Appeal. Christianity was successful
     because of its similarity to other religions which had already
     permeated the Greco-Roman world. Its advantage was twofold:
     first, it was the creation of a people, the Jews, more
     dedicated to religion than any other; and second, it possessed
     an historical founder to whom was attributed almost every
     quality and achievement with which the mystery-cults had
     endowed their own originators.
        4. Why Pagans Accepted Christianity. The gods of the pagan
     cults were shadowy figures, which their followers exchanged
     for a savior so real and so human that they could almost grasp
     His hand, or at least a hand which had lain in His.
     Christianity recruited its converts from the ranks of the
     mysteries by giving a new name to the doctrines and rituals
     which had been practiced since before the dawn of history. And
     this is the reason why Justin Martyr could say that 'the Jews,
     in truth, who had the prophecies and always looked for the
     coming of Christ, not only did not recognize Him, but... even
     mistreated Him. But the Gentiles, who had never heard of
     Christ until His apostles went from Jerusalem and preached
     about Him and gave them the prophecies, were filled with joy
     and faith, and turned away from their idols, and dedicated
     themselves to the Unbegotten God through Christ.' 
        This writer, however, was not quite so naive as the words
     would indicate, for many passages in his works betray his
     acute awareness of the fact that, although the Greeks had
     never heard of Jesus, they were certainly familiar with older,
     similar soters." STORY OF CHRISTIAN ORIGINS, pgs 295-296.
 
                      *    *    *    *    *

We know the pagan Christian Fathers knew this fact intimately.
Their weak and unconvincing excuse was that the "Devil having known
the prophecies imitated them before the time of Christ in effort
to confuse humanity." 

But there is a more rational explanation. At about 100 CE there
was an erudite and observant traveler named Pausanias. His travels
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recorded that by 100 C.E. every province, city, and village he
visited in the Roman Empire "teemed" with the temples, altars and
shrines of Dionysus, Demeter, Persephone, Cybele, Adonis (who was
Tammuz in the O.T.), Diana, Isis, Serapis, Hecate, Mithras, and
others of similar nature. These religious archetypes patterned the
Gentile mind not only for the coming pagan Christian religion(s),
but also for one another as adherents visited other temples and
conversed with the visiting clergies and laities. The various
themes all swirled together to provide a fertile base to work from.
 
But how did the pagan Christian cult(s) overcome the previously
established cults of the Cretan-Olympian pantheons? It's simple.
There were many times more poor and ignorant than there were rich
and educated. While the rich enjoyed their lives away from the
masses, the mystery-cults were silently wringing from them the red
carpets they trod. And when the pagan Christian cult(s) took power
from the Cretan-Olympian cults it was only because of the story
(testimony) that some apostle had actually touched the hand of
Jesus. The pagan Christian cult(s) were more immediate than their
competition. Of course the poor and uneducated would believe the
stories of the evangelists. Neither those ancient nor the early
evangelists knew much of how the mind/body complex works. Thus
fundamentalism--the mistaking of an inner subjective reality for
an external objective reality--had become a rampant social
condition.

                     Sacrificing the God/man

The two main features of the CBS are the Eucharist and Sacrifice
of a God man. These two features were well known and well loved by
pagan mystery cultists centuries before the pagan Christian Cults
integrated them into the Gospels.

The Eucharist, as mentioned before, goes way back into prehistory
and is based upon the ritual consumption of the God/man. Osiris,
Dionysus, Attis and many others were ritually consumed. The
practice dates to a time when a human sacrifice was identified with
the God (perhaps a Vegetative or Animal God symbolized in human
form) and was sacrificed and eaten. Over the ages the earliest
human sacrifices were found detestable. Animals were then
substituted and sacrificed as the ritual identifier of the God
which was then followed by grain offerings, breads shaped into the
form of the God, sometimes in the shapes of natural items (sun,
moon, etc.).

The mythos of the Jewish Christ integrated this practice into its
mysteries. There is strong reason for this. For some 200-plus years
before the time recorded for Jesus, the Greeks and their mystery
cults invaded and changed Israel for all time. A war was instituted
to diminish or wipe out the Hellenizing influence. Part of the
Hellenizing influence was an effort to update or change the Jewish
religion. After the Maccabees War the Hellenizing cultists were
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into the Gospel myth. The God/man Jesus is both the King of the
Jews and the son of God, the King of Israel.

As stated before the sacrifice of the king or king's son was found
injurious to the state. Before animal and grain sacrifices became
acceptable, criminals and prisoners of war were substituted. Yet
the criminal had to be identified with the king. This was done by
putting royal robes on the sacrifice and parading the sacrifice
around, calling it the king.

                      *    *    *    *    *

     "The number three was of mystic significance in many parts of
     the East. The Dravidians of India sacrificed three victims to
     the Sun-god. In western as in eastern Asia, the number three
     would have its votaries in respect of trinitarian concepts as
     well as the primary notions of 'the heavens, the earth, and
     the underworld.' Traditionally, the Syrian rite called for a
     royal victim. The substitution of a criminal for the king or
     kings son was repugnant, however, to the higher doctrine that
     the victim be unblemished. To solve this problem one of the
     malefactors was distinguished from the other criminals by a
     ritual of mock-crowning and robing in the spirit of
     'sympathetic magic'. By parading him as king, and calling the
     others what indeed they were, it was possible to attain the
     semblance of a truly august sacrifice." PAGAN CHRISTS, by J.M.
     Robertson page 45

                      *    *    *    *    *

There is virtually nothing in this mythos that did not originate
in other surrounding pagan cultures.

                      *    *    *    *    *

     "We can only conclude that the death ritual of the Christian
     creed was framed in a pagan environment and embodies some of
     the most widespread ideas of pagan religion. The two aspects
     in which the historic Christ is typically presented to his
     worshipers, those of his infancy and death, are typically
     Pagan." PAGAN CHRISTS by J.M Roberts, page 52.

                      *    *    *    *    *

What about the man Jesus then? Was he divine? Did he exist? Was he
the pagan Savior?

Most, if not all, of the Christian Religious System is pagan in
origin. Perhaps the only item not borrowed from pagan sources was
the Messiah concept. That, of course, was taken from the Jewish
hysteria of the time. In the siege of Jerusalem in 72 C.E. there
were some 18 Messiahs inside Jerusalem alone. Neither the God/man
Jesus nor the self-proclaimed militant messiahs saved Jerusalem.
Such was the measure of hysterical superstition upon the nation of
Israel.

                      *    *    *    *    *

        "There is not a conception associated with Christ that is
     not common to some or all of the Savior cults of antiquity.
     The title Savior was given in Judaism to Yahweh; among the
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     Greeks to Zeus, Heilos, Artemis, Dionysus, Hercales, the
     Dioscurui, Ceybele and Aesculapius. It is the essential
     conception of Osiris. So, too, Osiris taketh away sin, is the
     judge of the dead and of the last judgment. Dionysus, the Lord
     of the Underworld and primarily a god of feasting ('the Son
     of Man commeth eating and drinking'), comes to be conceived
     as the Soul of the World and the inspirer of chastity and self
     purification. [J. M. Robertson may be referring to Attis
     here.] From the Mysteries of Dionysus and Isis comes the
     proclamation of the easy 'yoke'. Christ not only works the
     Dionysiac miracle, but calls himself the 'true vine.'"
        "Like Christ, and like Adonis and Attis, Osiris and
     Dionysus also suffer and die and rise again. To become one
     with them is the mystical passion of their worshippers. They
     are all alike in that their mysteries give immortality. From
     Mithraism Christ takes the symbolic keys of heaven and hell
     and assumes the function of the virgin-born Saoshyant, the
     destroyer of the Evil One. Like Mithra, Merodach, and the
     Egyptian Khousu, he is the Mediator; like Khousu, Horus and
     Merodach, he is one of a trinity, like Horus he is grouped
     with a Divine Mother; like Khousu he is joined to the Logos;
     and like Merodach he is associated with the Holy Spirit, one
     of whose symbols is fire."
        "In fundamentals, therefore, Christism is but paganism
     reshaped. It is only the economic and doctrinal evolution of
     the system--the first determined by Jewish practice and Roman
     environment, the second by Greek thought--that constitutes new
     phenomena in religious history." PAGAN CHRISTS by J.M.
     Robertson pages 52,53

                      *    *    *    *    *

No religion develops in a vacuum. All religions are influenced not
only by it's predecessors but by the contemporaries of the time
also. Such is the nature of Christism yesterday and today.

Now about Jesus the man, did he exist? There is some justifiable
doubt. All the teaching of Jesus can be attributed to other sources
and grafted over the Gospel myth. Nothing he said was substantially
different in any way from previous sayings. It is possible that
Jesus was not a man but a contrived myth.

                      *    *    *    *    *

        "The Christian myth grew by absorbing details from pagan
     cults. The birth story is similar to many nativity myths in
     the pagan world. The Christ had to have a Virgin for a mother.
     Like the image of the child-god in the cult of Dionysus, he
     was pictured in swaddling clothes in a basket manger. He was
     born in a stable like Horus--the stable temple of the Virgin
     Goddess, Isis, Queen of Heaven. Again , like Dionysus, he
     turned water into wine, like Aesculapius, he raised men from
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Nachricht #6768 in "METAPHYSICAL"  (Oeffentlich)
Datum  : 28.Dec 91 16:33
Von    : Ammond Shadowcraft
An     : All
Betreff: Pagan christs x of 19
6767 <==> 6769
[Part 15 of 19]

     the dead and gave sight to the blind; and like Attis and
     Adonis, he is mourned and rejoiced over by women. His
     resurrection took place, like that of Mithra, from a rock
     tomb." PAGAN CHRISTS, by J.M. Robertson

                      *    *    *    *    *

The man Jesus possibly did not exist. There are however, sources
that speak of others seeing him. These were secondhand sources. No
direct observations were made. At one time or another we have all
had a vision of Deity in our minds. Such is the sight of Jesus, a
mental image.

What of the Gospels then? They are passion plays designed to be
read or acted out in front of an audience. Passion plays were a
common feature of pagan religion. Looking at the Gospels themselves
one finds a choppily written scene-by-scene display of the life of
the God/man. Only the important aspects of his life are described.
The minor events and influences of the life of Jesus are not
recorded, which leaves one to think that the Gospels were indeed
written as plays.

                      *    *    *    *    *

        "When we turn from the reputed teaching of Jesus to the
     story of his career, the presumption that it has a factual
     basis is so slender as to be negligible. The Church found it
     so difficult to settle the date of its alleged founder's birth
     that the Christian era was made to begin some years before the
     year which chronologists latter inferred on the strength of
     other documents. The nativity was placed at the winter
     solstice, thus coinciding with the birthday of the Sun-god.
     And the date for the crucifixion was made to vary from year
     to year to conform to the astronomical principle which fixed
     the Jewish Passover. [The Passover is moon-based, an already
     familiar pagan method of cyclic, monthly dating.] In between
     the birth and death of Jesus, there is an almost total absence
     of information except about the brief period of his ministry.
     Of his life between the ages of twelve and thirty we know
     nothing. There are not even any myths. It is impossible to
     establish with any accuracy the duration of the ministry from
     the Gospels. According to the tradition it lasted one year,
     which suggests that it was either based on the formula 'the
     acceptable year of the Lord', or on the myth of the Sun-god."
     PAGAN CHRISTS by J.M. Robertson, page 68

                      *    *    *    *    *

               The Quest for the Historical Jesus

                      *    *    *    *    *

        "...It is only in comparatively modern times that the
     possibility was considered that Jesus does not belong to
     history at all. Those who come across this idea for the first
     time are naturally startled by it. In fact the suspicion that
     Jesus might be as mythical as other ancient saviors as Osiris,
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 * Origin:   (93:9510/0)
Nachricht #6769 in "METAPHYSICAL"  (Oeffentlich)
Datum  : 28.Dec 91 16:34
Von    : Ammond Shadowcraft
An     : All
Betreff: Pagan Christs x of 19
6768 <==> 6770
[Part 16 of 19]

     Mithra and Krishna arose as a result of a serious effort to
     discover his real voice and actions. the most scrupulous of
     analysis of the texts failed to reveal a convincing picture
     of an authentic person." PAGAN CHRISTS, page 63
                      *    *    *    *    *

Well such is what J.M. Robertson claims.

                      *    *    *    *    *

        "Modern biblical critics freely admit that some of the
     Gospel narrative must be fiction. We know now that much of it
     was composed well after the events it purports to describe.
     Comparative religion has drawn attention to close pagan
     parallels--to the essential features of the story--the virgin
     birth, the sacrificial death and resurrection. The same is
     true of the rites of baptism and sacramental communion. Many
     critics still feel, however, that these are accretions which,
     together with the miracles, can be safely shed without injury
     to a nucleus of historical fact. They argue that pagan Gods
     may have some of the attributes of Jesus, and although they
     may have been regarded as law givers and teachers, they did
     not leave behind a coherent and profound teaching. Apollo,
     Osiris and the rest seem, therefore, to be obviously mythical,
     whereas Buddha and Jesus are not. The teachings of each of the
     latter, it is felt, bear the unmistakable stamp of a single,
     unique mind. Such a doctrine could not have formed itself
     spontaneously."  PAGAN CHRISTS, page 64.

                      *    *    *    *    *

Robertson contends that the rite of baptism superseded the rite of
circumcision. This makes sense to me. It is much less painful and
physically safer to undergo ritual initiation through
baptism by water than by ritual circumcision. The gentile
Christists would contend for this; and, as the Jewish Christists
died baptism did replace circumcision as a physical sign of new
spiritual being.

                      *    *    *    *    *

        "We shall consider the case of Buddha later. First let us
     look at the main objections to this view that the existence
     of a body of teaching is overwhelming evidence of the
     existence of an historical teacher. The earliest Christian
     documents are ascribed to Paul. These epistles were written
     long before the canonical gospels were put together and
     accepted by the Church. The older portions, however, tell us
     nothing about the life of Jesus. The silence of Paul is
     remarkable if indeed he was familiar with the Jesuine
     biography. Secondly, the unity of teaching, which it is said,
     would show it to have been the work of one mind is
     conspicuously absent. So far from displaying coherence, the
     ethical precepts are frequently obscure and contradictory. So
     far from being original, many
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Nachricht #6770 in "METAPHYSICAL"  (Oeffentlich)
Datum  : 28.Dec 91 16:35
Von    : Ammond Shadowcraft
An     : All
Betreff: Pagan Christs x of 19
6769 <==> 6771
[Part 17 of 19]

     of the sayings are merely quotations from Hebrew literature,
     and some have pagan parallels. As for the Sermon on the Mount,
     it is no more than a patchwork of utterances found in the Old
     Testament." PAGAN CHRISTS pg. 64

                      *    *    *    *    *

It seems the earliest of the gospel forms was lost with Matthew and
Mark being dependent upon these lost forms. This scans nicely. The
earliest forms were probably the purest of the Jewish-Messianic
story of a political Messiah. As time went by more of the pagan
gentile influence was felt as needed. Various features of the
virgin birth of the God/man, the nativity scenes, the Last Supper,
the betrayal, the crucifixion and mysterious resurrection were
incorporated into the present gospels to appeal to pagan cultist.

Some scholars indicate that Revelations was next in line. This
scans nicely as it presents a supposedly Jewish-Christian
eschatology. When one looks at the symbolism one can see the
Mazedian influence in Revelations. Revelations seems to present a
first or second step in the evolution of the Sacrifice and
Resurrection of the God man. Perhaps a middle step is more
appropriate. A middle step between Jewish Messiah cults and Gentile
Saviour cults.

It would be monumental to eliminate all supposedly contradictory
and questionable passages from the Gospels. Fortunately that work
has already been done--with some surprising, for me at least,
outcomes. Here's one..

                      *    *    *    *    *

        "For over a hundred years German scholars have been
     struggling to solve this problem, and their efforts have been
     unavailing. In order to establish some solid textual
     foundation for the historicity of Jesus, they have piled
     hypothesis upon hypothesis with ever new refinements. The
     retreat from this hopeless task was finally sounded by the
     eminent German critic, O. Schmiedel. After an exhaustive
     search, he was satisfied that he had discovered some texts
     which passes the most severe tests and were entirely credible.
     But in the whole of the gospels all he could salvage were NINE
     such texts. Let us enumerate this forlorn handful of unwounded
     survivors.
        1) Mark XXX.17 [really mark 10.17] f.f. "Why callest me
     thou good?" etc. 2) Matt XII.31 f.f. "Blasphemy against the
     Son of Man pardonable" 3) Mark III.21 "He is beside himself"
     4) Mark XII.32 "Of that hour and day knoweth no man" 5) Mark
     XV.34, Matt "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" etc.
     6) Mark VIII.12 "No sign shall be given this generation." 7)
     Mark VI.5 "He was able to do no mighty work there." 8) Mark
     VIII.14-21 Rebuke to disciples concerning bread and leaven.."
     9) Matt XI.5, Luke VII.22 Passage to be taken in the sense of
     spiritual healing, since it ends with mention of preaching-
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Nachricht #6771 in "METAPHYSICAL"  (Oeffentlich)
Datum  : 28.Dec 91 16:36
Von    : Ammond Shadowcraft
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Betreff: Pagan Christs x of 19
6770 <=
[Part 18 of 19]

     -not a miracle at all." PAGAN CHRISTS pgs 64,65.

                      *    *    *    *    *

What was the basis for selecting these texts? Basically O.
Schmiedel felt that where Jesus speaks simply as a man, making no
pretense to divinity, or to miraculous powers, and where he is
presented as failing to impress his relatives and neighbors with
any sense of his superiority--there the record is entirely
credible. Because of the content I'll have to quote J.M. Robertson
on this...

                      *    *    *    *    *

        "According to Schmiedel, these passages represent "the
     foundation pillars for a truly scientific life of Jesus...
     They prove not only that in the person of Jesus we have to do
     with a completely human being, and that the divine is sought
     in him only in the form in which it is capable of being found
     in a man; THEY ALSO PROVE THAT HE REALLY DID EXIST, and that
     the Gospels contain at least SOME ABSOLUTELY TRUSTWORTHY FACTS
     concerning him.
        "This will shock the believer without satisfying the
     scientific naturalist. I submit that the proposition I have
     italicized is absolutely untenable. On this point may be
     staked the whole dispute about the actuality of the gospel
     Jesus. It simply does not follow that because a statement is
     credible it is therefore trustworthy or proved. If it were so,
     half the characters in fiction could be "proved" to be real
     people. Perfectly credible statements are made about them."
     PAGAN CHRISTS, pgs 64-65.

                      *    *    *    *    *

And I would add that perfectly credible statements are made BY
fictional characters also. It is credible to pronounce that Joe
Catholic said a hundred Hail Marys this morning. Such is a credible
statement concerning Catholics. But is it trustworthy?

Such thinking requires a leap. The leap involves a thought process
that says what is possible must indeed be true. T.X. Huxley makes
this same mistake. Huxley says that Saul's visit with the Witch of
Endor is entirely probable, so there is no reason not to believe
it. It is probable that I, as a child, fell into a dark hole for
3 days and nights. History is full of discredited "probabilities".

                            Afterward

It's highly probable that Jesus the man lived. However, I think his
life was much different from what most would like to think. It's
apparent that the state of paganism during the time of Jesus was
one composed of vibrant mystery religions. In fact the Roman state
Gods were being forced into decline via the onslaught of the
mystery religions. This provided the mythic soup base for the myth
of the God/man Jesus to simmer in.

I think it highly likely that Jesus was a Essene mystic, perhaps
renounced by them because of his love for alcohol, who was
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Nachricht #7194 in "METAPHYSICAL"  (Oeffentlich)
Datum  : 12.Jan 92 19:28
Von    : Ammond Shadowcraft
An     : All
Betreff: Pagan Christs, 9 of 19

[Part 9 of 19]

     of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion
     of the body of Christ?' 1ST CORTH. 10:15-16

                     *     *    *    *    *

While some neopagans think that the pagan Christian religion
appropriated The (pagan) Sacrificial God/Man it seems more
appropriate to say that the pagan Christian religion is pagan and
therefore has (mythic) features native to the surrounding pagan
traditions.

How did the rest of the pagan Christian mythos arise? Where did it
come from?

In 175 BCE Antiochus Epiphanes, the eighth Selucid king, came to
the throne. In 167 BCE he sacked Jerusalem, looted and desecrated
the Temple. Then and there he instituted a Dionysiac-Eleusinain
sacrifice in the Temple and systematically depopulated the city of
all Jews who rejected Hellenic culture. This in turn caused the
Maccabean Wars, (when the foreigners were thrown out the Jews
fought each other in a vicious internecine war). In 103-76 BCE the
struggle between the Sadducees and Pharisees was so bitter that
Alexander (notice the Hellenic name?) Janneaus (named after Janus,
the two-faced god) ordered 800 Pharisees to be hung on crosses in
the midst of the city. But before he killed them, he cut the
throats of the wives and children of these 800 before their eyes.

Under this changing and violent history the Hellenic and Egyptian
cultists were driven underground. Because these cultists couldn't
get educated in such a harsh social situation, they became as the
common people and were swept up in the Messianic hysteria of the
time under Pompey and Herod the Great.

                      *    *    *    *    *

     "Cultic Preparation for Christianity" a sub-chapter in THE
     STORY OF CHRISTIAN ORIGINS by Dr. Martin Larson.

     A. Elements in Christianity

        1. Four Primary Components. As we have noted, the Gospel
     Jesus consists of four basic components: soterology, which
     came from the mystery-cults; ethics, which came primarily from
     India; eschatology, largely derived from Persia; and the
     supernatural Messianic concept, which was an Essene adaptation
     of a Zoroastrian doctrine. The history of Christianity over
     18 centuries has proved conclusively that its devotees can
     take or leave the last three of these; some have embraced,
     others have rejected, one of more of them. But the one central
     hope which remains constant, the essential element which gives
     vitality to the religion of Jesus Christ, is the faith in Him
     as the SOTER, that is, the god-man who sacrificed Himself for
     us, whose eucharist makes us divine, and who confers upon us
     resurrection and blessed immortality.
        2. Soterology of Paramount Importance. We regard these two
     conclusions as inescapable: first, that the ancient world had
     been thoroughly prepared for Christianity by the god-man  
 
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 * Origin: CRYSTAL CAVE DAS MAGICKAL TREFFPUNKT 719-391-1092 (93:9510/0)
Nachricht #7195 in "METAPHYSICAL"  (Oeffentlich)
Datum  : 12.Jan 92 19:29
Von    : Ammond Shadowcraft
An     : All
Betreff: Pagan Christs 19 of 19

[Part 19 of 19]

manipulated by the Zealots into causing something near to a
revolution. Some of the Zealots following a plan of their own,
whipped up even more discontent until at a late date they fed him
into the Roman political machine for public martyrdom. There he
died, a failed Messiah who followed other failed Messiahs and who
would be followed by still more.

But the boiling Messianic fervor did not abate with the death of
Jesus. The Zealots knew the hysteria would continue and realizing
their opportunity propagandized the populace with alleged eye
witness accounts of Jesus, the risen Messiah. While this didn't
achieve the revolution they desired, the Zealot's actions provided
the mystery cultist with the disinformation they needed to start
a new cult. Over time the Jewish Messianic Christians died and were
replaced by Hellenized Christians who knew and loved the myths of
the Dying and Resurrecting Gods. The final product would then
become one of their making.

It appears that the Gospels are something akin to passion plays.
These plays became the basis of the mythic truth our pagan
forbears have transmitted to us through the Church's processes of
canonization of Scripture.

Thus the man Jesus died, but the pagan legacy given him and which
his name bears remains with us till this day.

Copyright Ammond Shadowcraft, Dec 1991  
 
--- QuickBBS 2.75 Ovr
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