Since starting to write these ‘Sunday Sermons’ I’ve been told that I do a great job of ‘disagreeing respectfully’. In this post I would like you to focus more on the respect than the disagreement. I was raised Christian and find that the teachings of Jesus Christ can do a lot for a person.

It’s everything that came after I like to question…

*Actual quote I saw outside a church once...

For the Non-Trekkie, I would like to briefly explain the Borg. The Borg are a cyborg race that travel the Universe assimilating races into themselves, acquiring their knowledge but what was the individual is replaced by the Hive Mind. A truly terrifying prospect for the free thinker. The Christian religion has behaved much like the Borg.

Religion is not the same as belief. Religions are the rituals that people choose to outwardly display their beliefs. Christianity seems to be the most muddled of them all. In efforts to convert non-believers, Christianity has ‘assimilated’ a lot of it’s symbolism from other beliefs. Let’s look at the big two celebrations:

Christmas

No one is sure what the date was when Jesus Christ was born. Many biblical scholars believe that he was born in September, six months after Passover. It is unlikely that he was born in December, since we’re told tales of shepherds tending their fields at night. In the middle of winter? There was a celebration on December 25, however, even before the birth of Jesus Christ. The Pagans of ancient Babylon celebrated the Feast of the Son of Isis (Goddess of Nature) on December 25. It was a time of partying and feasting and gift-giving.

The Winter Solstice was celebrated in Rome long before the birth of Christ, bringing forth the tradition of the Mummers. The Mummers would travel from house to house, dressed in costumes, entertaining their neighbors. Today, Christians enjoy Caroling.

Pagans of Northern Europe celebrated their own Winter Solstice, which they called Yule. Yule logs were burned in honor of the sun. Mistletoe was considered a sacred plant, and the tradition of kissing under it was a fertility ritual. Brings a whole new meaning to seeing Mommy kissing Santa Claus, doesn’t it?

The one unifying pagan symbol of Northern Europe is the evergreen tree, which was brought in to their homes to remind them that their crops would soon be returning. Druids worshiped around evergreen trees for fertility.

Easter

The Spring Solstice was celebrated in pagan rituals just like the Winter Solstice. The overall symbolism: the son (sun) dying on the cross (the constellation of the Southern Cross) and his rebirth, were celebrated in ancient times.

From a recent article in The Guardian:

The Sumerian goddess Inanna, or Ishtar, was hung naked on a stake, and was subsequently resurrected and ascended from the underworld. One of the oldest resurrection myths is Egyptian Horus. Born on 25 December, Horus and his damaged eye became symbols of life and rebirth. Mithras was born on what we now call Christmas day, and his followers celebrated the spring equinox. Even as late as the 4th century AD, the sol invictus, associated with Mithras, was the last great pagan cult the church had to overcome. Dionysus was a divine child, resurrected by his grandmother. Dionysus also brought his mum, Semele, back to life.

There is no mention of Easter celebrations in the New Testament, but many churches hold ‘Sunrise Services’, a throwback to pagan celebrations of the sun. The date of Easter itself is not fixed, but changes with the phases of the moon.

The bunnies that confuse us every year at Easter are actually left over from the pagan goddess Eostre, a great northern goddess whose symbol was a rabbit or hare. Easter eggs? Across many cultures, brightly decorated eggs were given as gifts. In some areas, ‘egg rolling’ events are still held, which has now come to symbolize the rolling away of the stone at Jesus’ tomb.

All of this ‘assimilation’ is assumed to be to serve the purpose of making the conversion from pagan to Christian easier. ‘Sure, I’ll incorporate Jesus in to my belief structure, as long as you don’t take my Solstice celebrations away!’

Conclusion

I remember, many years ago now, seeing my wife’s grandmother days before she passed away. She looked at us both and told us to make sure we were following God’s rules, and beware Man’s rules. A woman on her death bed was not afraid to stand up to the status quo. It’s easy to get swept up in the way you were raised or told to believe. But  I don’t think questioning is bad. In fact, I think that’s what Jesus intended. We should constantly be searching for ways to live right, treating others as we would like to be treated. The way you worship? Whatever speaks to you is where you should go.

Just don’t stop thinking. Otherwise, what’s your worship worth?

Sources

Christmas’ Pagan Origins

The Pagan Roots of Easter

The Origins of Easter Celebrations