The argument that people make is that the Jewish ideal of a savior comes from Zoroastrianism, apparently there is a strong savior figure in Zoroastrianism that will die, become resurrected, and then judge the dead
No, Christianity did not come from Zoroastrianism. There is a huge difference between "influence" and "source." Ancient Greek musical theory had an influence on jazz, but jazz is not derived from ancient Greek music.
No. I studied Zoroastrianism. There are just a few similarities, but it is a works based religion. It places the actions of salvation on the believer. It promotes violence against those who do not believe.
It does not recognize Jesus Christ as the savior, and it was not foretold like Jesus was in the older scriptures.
There are a lot of lies about Zoroastrianism which are out there on the Internet saying a lot of things, comparing Zoroaster to Jesus which are not to be trusted. If you want to learn about Zoroastrianism, look to a scholar who can be trusted not to lie to you. In fact, do what I did, check out two authors, and a History of Religions book is a good place to start. "Great Religions" is a good one to read.
Christianity is not original special or new, just popular. Like every other religion, it borrows form the societies and religions around it. However, unlike many other religions, its popularity has sustained it for quite a long time, to the point where people merely assume its original.
It comes through Judaism, but Judaism was heavily influenced by Zoroasterianism.
The first actual prophesy of End Times is in the Book of Daniel in the OT. This book was written during a period of Jewish history called 'The Great Exile', a time when Palestine (it wasn't called that then) was overrun by Babylon and many Hebrews were forced to leave. Many of them went to Persia, where Zoroasterianism was in full flower, and it's thought Hebrew scholars and thinkers came in contact with Zoroasterians and picked up some of the ideas. There is an -amazing- similarity between Zoroasterian, Jewish, and Christian eschatology, too much to be just coincidence.
Zoroasterianism was the first monotheistic religion, the first to believe God created the universe as part of a plan, that there would be an end times, a judgment day, heaven and hell, all that stuff!
And Zoroasterianism comes from the dawn of the bronze age. One theory I read, that I really like, is that the new found ability to make metal meant the ability to make weapons, so mass invasions and occupations and genocide were now possible in a way they'd never been before. And it was this that led Zoroaster to promote one of their many spirits to the main God, and later the only God. The spirit was the spirit of wisdom, Ahura Mazda. He taught tolerance, peace, love thy enemy, the brotherhood of man. He was opposed by another spirit (whose name I can't remember now) who symbolized evil. Sound familiar?
So there's an old saying that people no sooner agreed that there was One God than they began murdering each other in his name. But according to this theory, it was just the other way around!
Now I'm not a Christian, but if I was, I could explain this very easily. Early people had some idea of how things were, but they didn't understand the details until Jesus came along to teach us. So instead of Christianity stealing ideas from Zoroasterianism, you could see Zoroaster as -presaging- Christianity, -for shadowing- it. 8^)
As you suggest there is nothing new with the Christianity Christ was preaching. It is the same ancient "gospel of light" that has been around since the beginning of time.
But on the other hand, the modern form of Christianity comes from Paul/Saul, who terrorized the first real Christians, and then after Christ was gone, went on to declare himself an apostle! He is the one who said "Christ died for our sins."
So in a sense, today's Christianity is an odd mix of two things that don't really belong together. This will explain what I am talking about: http://gospelenigma.com
Did Christianity Really Come From Zoroastrianism?
