Ever heard of Baal or Osiris?
Christianity is not combined with paganism at all
redsand@infosec.pub 1 month ago
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 1 month ago
Don’t see how either have anything to do with Jesus
daychilde@lemmy.world 1 month ago
If you’re ignorant, it’s trivial to research this issue. Google “pagan origins of easter” and find a source you like. There will be shit tons of options.
If you’re being willfully ignorant, you deserve nothing but ridicule.
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 1 month ago
I have researched this issue. “The pagan origins of Easter” is a common myth (often there are several variants of this myth) which has been debunked.
daychilde@lemmy.world 1 month ago
So. Willfully ignorant it is.
backalleycoyote@lemmy.today 1 month ago
No, he’s correct. Jesus directly referenced what we know as Easter traditions in the Bible:
“While they were eating, Jesus took a box of Peeps, and when he had given thanks, he broke them apart and gave them to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; they’re honestly not that bad.”
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 1 month ago
No, it’s you lot with the trendy new-atheist dogma of “Christianity actually just copied xyz” which has been thoroughly debunked by scholars. It’s just a myth that secular society repeats without questioning at this point. I literally posted a link to an article debunking it. That’s not wilful ignorance. I used to believe that these holidays were pagan too, until I actually researched it.
Jarix@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Explain Christmas Trees then
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 1 month ago
Christmas trees are a German tradition. Originally they were “Paradise trees” and were representing the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden in Mystery plays. Typically there are readings around Christmas surrounding the Garden of Eden due to depicting The Fall and why Christ had to come. An evergreen tree was picked, likelt due to practicalities with the fact it was winter, but it also helped that they represented eternal life. They were decorated with fruits and later candles to represent the Light of Christ. Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband, was German, and he brought the tradition to the UK.
Jarix@lemmy.world 1 month ago
It’s a pagan celebration co opted by the church to expand the influence of Christianity.
December 25th is not even the correct day to celebrate the birth of Christ. That’s other pagan holidays being co opted to fuel conversion of “Savages”.
Yule is not a Christian celebration yet it has been supplanted by Christianity.
Some reading on the practice.
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 1 month ago
The article you provided is written by a creative writer for an interesting website - it doesn’t even make a scholarly backed claim that the Christmas tree is pagan. In fact, it backs up what I was saying:
The Origin Of The Christmas Tree In Europe Although many countries have declared themselves the home of the Christmas tree, historians have said it’s likely that the real first tree was erected in 16th-century Alsace, in modern-day France. At the time, however, Alsace was a part of German territory, and so the tradition technically belongs to the Germans. Historical records show that a Christmas tree was indeed put up in the Strasbourg Cathedral in 1539, and the tradition quickly became popular throughout the region.
So sure, it is possible that pagans decorated their house with trees common in northern europe during their winter festivals, and then Christians decided to erect a single winter tree in their house later on. It doesn’t mean they’re related. Many religions incorporate fire into practices and burning things without actually being linked to each other.
Yule, a scandinavian festival, used to be celebrated later in winter, typically December to February. They then changed the date to fit in with Christianity, not the other way around.
Here’s some better sourced reading on the topic:
Auli@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
Oh yes it was. Christmas is where it is because of winter solstice. Or do you believe Jesus was born then. It was just a day chosen to celebrate his birthday not the actual day. Then the whole Christmas tree and the list goes on. It is much easier to get people to convert when you can go see we are similar.
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 1 month ago
The Winter Solstice is on the 21st of December. Christmas is on the 25th of December (actually the 6th of January, if you use the old calendar.)
Christmas trees aren’t pagan, they are German and Jesus’ birth is celebrated 9 months after His conception, which was placed on the 25th of March to roughly line up with His death, as it was believed that Holy men died on the anniversary of their conception.
historyforatheists.com/…/pagan-christmas-again/
We don’t know for certain that it wasn’t the actual day. It very well could have been.
Scrogu@lemmy.zip 1 month ago
Bro. Why else would Jesus be claimed to be a demigod. Jews never believed that God and humans mix. That’s standard Greek half god paganism.
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 1 month ago
Jesus never claimed to be a demigod, and is not a demigod. Jesus is and claimed to be God incarnate in Human Form. There are several instances in the Torah and Old Testament where God appears in human form.
Scrogu@lemmy.zip 1 month ago
A greek style demi god is when a god causes a human woman to give birth. Is that not the case here?
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 1 month ago
A demigod is half human and half god. This isn’t the case for Jesus. Jesus is fully human and fully God. The Virgin Birth was also prophecied in Hebrew
_haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
They most certainly did: What do you think Easter is? Why do you think Christmas is in December when Jesus was not born during the winter? Many native pagan holidays were basically transformed into the modern Christian holidays you know today.
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 1 month ago
Easter in Greek and Latin (the language of the first Christians) is Pascha. It’s around the same time as the Passover. That’s why it changes every year due to the lunisolar calendar. It’s just using the old Jewish calendar. The earliest record of Easter being celebrated is from the time when pagans were the ones persecuting Christians.
We don’t know for certain that Jesus wasn’t born in December.
The reason lies within Jewish superstition - that a prophet/holy man died on the anniversary of their conception. Someone, likely a century later, reckoned that Jesus died on the 25th of March (we reckon now that it was actually the 3rd of April) so this became the Feast of the Annunciation (conception). So a cycle was created where the day of the death happened on the same as the conception. Another factor is this was also traditionally believed to be the date of the world’s creation.
In fact, in the UK it was this date that was used to demarcate new years. So traditionally many people still commence and terminate land contracts on “Lady day” (the 25th of March) and the tax year begins on the 6th of April (today) which is the 25th of March on the Julian Calendar.
So simply add 9 months - you have the 25th of December.
As for the saints - most saints commenorated in Christianity are generally Biblical figures or early Christians such as St Patrick or St Nicholas
Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 1 month ago
You can try to retcon it all you want. All this stuff existed way before the Christians came along and appropriated it.
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 1 month ago
What stuff? There’s no evidence of Sol Invictus existing before Christianity. The earliest record of the Ostara cult (which was only really an English thing) was 600 years after Christians were recorded celebrating Pascha(Easter) in Greece.
ExperiencedWinter@lemmy.world 1 month ago
So Sunday is going to be the holy day, and December 25th is going to be a festival, are you sure that there wasn’t any plagiarism going on? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_Invictus
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 1 month ago
I think plagiarism was happening. Because the earliest record of the belief of Jesus’ conception being on the 25th of March from Sextus Julius Africanus predates the Chronography of 354 which is the earliest date of Sol Invictus being on the 25th of December, which interestingly enough also records this being Jesus’ date of birth. If I had to accuse anyone of plagiarism, it would have to be the Pagans.