Page 265 - Foundations

Babel. Many ignorant men and women, not understanding the true history of man and his interactions
with Yahweh, have imagined vain things. Some assert that there are religions older than that set forth
in the Bible which recognizes Yahweh as the Creator of all things. These religions ultimately trace
back to Babel, revealing that they are merely corruptions, and a departure from, the true faith of Adam
and his descendants. Those who account the mystery religions of Babylon as of greater antiquity than
Judaism or Christianity base their claims upon a misapprehension of history.

When I was in my early twenties I attended a local college in my home state of Georgia. During my
first year of classes I was required to take a psychology course. The man teaching the course was an
atheist and many of his lectures attempted to prove to students that Christianity had borrowed its
major beliefs and teachings from earlier religions, particularly Mithraism. The professor claimed that
many of the beliefs of Christianity had been present for centuries in earlier religions. Among the
things this professor suggested Christianity borrowed from earlier pagan religions was the teaching
of a divine Trinity, the use of the cross as a religious symbol, the idea of a blood sacrifice, and even
the teaching of the virgin birth.

The professor was wrong in suggesting that New Testament Christianity had culled its ideas from
earlier pagan religions, a matter I pointed out to him in a carefully researched and documented letter.
He never once mentioned the New Testament writer’s frequent quotations of the Old Testament.
Rather than acknowledge the very evident fact that Christianity’s roots lay in the Hebrew faith of the
patriarchs and prophets, he argued for a pagan origination. It is easily demonstrated that every major
tenet of the New Testament is foreshadowed and prophesied in the Old Testament. Moses wrote the
Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, 1,500 years B.C.. This date for the first writings of the
Old Testament exceed that of the most ancient date postulated for the origin of Mithraism.
Consequently, it is absurd to reject a Hebraic origin of Christianity in favor of a Mithraic one.

My college professor lacked carefulness in his claims. He was apparently parroting the arguments he
had heard from other sources, but had spent little time seeking to establish the veracity of the
arguments he was setting forth. An Internet search on the words “Mithraism and Christianity” will
provide links to many websites that are promulgating similar views to those set forth by my professor
thirty years ago. One will find an equal number of Christian apologetics websites that are refuting the
claims that Christianity borrowed its teachings from Mithraism.

Despite the apparent overreach and misstatement of my professor, a valid point is raised in his
arguments. Many of the teachings, customs, and symbols of Christianity are found in pagan religions
that predate the Christian era. One of the reasons for this is that Christianity as it is practiced today
has borrowed many customs, symbols, and beliefs from paganism. The church has departed from true
apostolic Christianity as set forth in the New Testament of the Bible. Many Christians have never
taken the time to examine current church practice and doctrines to differentiate between that which
is founded upon the teaching of Yahshua and His apostles and that which results from the practice
of syncretism (the act of embracing, and seeking to reconcile, pagan doctrines, customs, and symbols
with Christianity).

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Examples of syncretism are the observance of the birth of Christ on December 25 at the time of the
Winter Solstice; the observance of Easter, the very name of the holiday being the same as the goddess