Dying-and-rising" gods: Osiris, Dionysus, Attis, Hades, Adonis, Jesus

Submitted by Nuray (Portugal), Jan 20, 2006 at 16:16

Dear Richard,

How can Paul's Galatians say something about Islam? Let's review who was he? I will try to summarize how he changed the faith of Abraham to Greek style Judaism. You might have heard that before.

Saint Paul is a convert of a pagan Roman. As far as I know he didn't live at the life time of Jesus. He claimed that he had a vision of Jesus. Somehow he became an interpreter of the teachings of Jesus. It reminds me the story of three children who saw Virgin Mary almost a century ago in Fatima/Portugal. Christians like this kind of stories.

He received a Jewish education. Circumcision was a symbolic act of Covenant between God and Abraham. But Paul suggested that circumcision could be interpreted as contrary to the Christianity. But Muhammed, peace up him, kept the Covenant. Muslims still have this practice.

Who is the founder of Christianity Paul or Jesus who was a Jewish? Paul was one of the first Christians to explain the doctrine of Christ's divine nature. This is so straight forward decision for a pagan Roman who worship male God. It is not false to say that Paul adapted Judaism to Greek religions. Let's read what he says "I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers" Galatians 1:14

The concept of "dying-and-rising" god is borrowed from early Greek religions. Jesus is not alone. There are other gods around the Mediterranean sea e.g. Osiris, Dionysus, Attis, Hades, Adonis and one more, a Persian god Mithras. The story of his resurrection is attributed to only Jesus but not any messenger of God of Abraham, including Abraham, Moses and Muhammed, peace be upon them.

Jews are supposed to earn their salvation by obeying the rules of God. That's also true for Muslims. They have to work to prove their faith. After Paul, it is not necessarily so. Jews do not believe in the existence of Original Sin like Muslims. Paul has formulated Original Sin, please correct me if I am wrong. Paul seems an apostate from Judaism. He didn't hesitate to change some rules of God of Abraham but he dictated that there would be no more messenger or religion Why? Perhaps, only Christians will trust his gnostic knowledge.

Let's think about what he says "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." This means that an angel might come from heaven, most probably from sky but Christians shouldn't accept his prophecy. None of the messengers claimed that he was an angel. If only God could send
angels who can overrule the will of God. Paul had gone too far to keep his teachings.

Nuray

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".