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.He felt that it was important to know Christ and be moved by his mes-sage (as he was), while the Jewish Christians believed that it was more importantto adhere to the Law and observe the rituals and rites as laid down by Moses.Remember, the Jewish followers knew Christ personally and did not believe hewas the Son of God, while Paul only knew Christ from a supernatural experiencehe claimed he had, and thus considered Christ to be Divine.To Paul and his fol-lowers, Christ, the Son of God was more important then Christ, the Son of Man.Thus, many ideas and rituals of the new, growing Christianity did not originatewith the Jews, but rather with older, pagan religions.One ritual that was accepted and expanded on was that of the communion.Itis alleged that this sacrament was based on the Lord s Last Supper, but the idea ofa sacred meal was common in many pagan religions.If one was a follower ofMithra, the sacred meal was an accepted ritual to celebrate life.Pagans, like thosewho worshiped Mithra, celebrated everything to do with life the Life Force, fer-tility, reproduction and the miracle of life itself.The symbols of their religionrepresented such things as birth, death, blood, food, drink, motherhood andeverything necessary to support life.They would eat together in great feasts anddevour food and drink in an atmosphere of joy, happiness and comradeship, allin the celebration of life, birth and rebirth.Pagan feasts usually began with thesacrifice of an animal, which was then butchered and cooked.A certain part ofthe meat was reserved for the Gods, and the rest of the animal was then cookedand distributed among those who were present.In this way, the participantsjoined in a feast with the Gods.These feasts were common among pagan reli-gions, and permitted people to reaffirm their relationship to the Gods and givethanks for their support and assistance.These gatherings were often referred to as feasts of love. The Pauline Christians soon adopted this custom, and referred toit as their  eucharist, from the Greek word eucharista, which means  thanksgiv-ing.Another symbol soon adopted by the Pauline Christians was that of the Madonna. The image of the Blessed Virgin Mary holding the baby Christ onher knee is now a fundamental symbol among all Christian faiths that Christianstake for granted, but the image originated from pagan religions.In the Egyptianreligion, the image of the Goddess Isis was the chief symbol of motherhood.Shewas depicted as a mother holding the infant Horus on her knee, suckling one ofJESUS CHRIST AND CHRISTIANITY 121her breasts.The symbol of the Earth Mother nursing a Sun God-infant was com-mon throughout the ancient world.Most pagans who converted to the newChristian faith naturally would have associated the image of the Earth Motherand Sun God infant with Mary and the infant Jesus.Many of the pagans whoconverted to the new faith could not abandon their pagan imagery, and soonbegan depicting Mary holding the baby Jesus on her lap.The Jewish faith found the practice of idolizing their God through imageryheretical.Idolatry was considered a grave sin, but the pagans naturally createdimages of their Gods and Goddesses, and fashioned statues or paintings of themthat they kept and maintained in their temples.One of the most renowned exam-ples of pagan idolatry was the great statue of Zeus in his temple.It was consid-ered, and still is, one of the seven great wonders of the ancient world.AfterChristianity was adopted by the pagan citizens of the Roman Empire, as the  onetrue faith, Christians adopted the image of Zeus, as he was depicted in the tem-ple, for the face of their God.Even today, Christians depict God the Father ofthe Old Testament, as an older man with a white or gray beard and long hair.Though he is old, he possesses the vigor and power of youth.This image of theold Indo-European pagan religions, was typical of how people imagined howZeus, Jupiter, Odin, Wotan, and other All-Fathers, looked [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]