Zoroastrianism teaches about heaven and hell, good and evil has one god (Ahura Mazda) and the devil (Ahriman), they also have a savior called Mithra who is part of the Zoroastrians trinity. Zoroastrianism predates Christianity. It is believed the Persians who were Zoroastrians went to ancient Israel, and the religions merged in some way, but Jewish people still don't believe that ha-Satan(or the devil) works against God, I guess they wanted their own religion and not a copied version of Zoroastrianism.
But, isn't Christianity just Zoroastrianism with different names for everything?
Did Judaism and Christianity borrow the Messiah, the resurrection, and final judgment from Zoroastrianism / Mithra? Many doctrines of the Christian faith have parallels in Zoroastrianism, i.e. virgin birth, son of God, resurrection. Some scholars say that Zarathustra (a.k.a. Zoroaster) lived around 600-500 BC. If that were the case, David, Isaiah and Jeremiah (all of whom mention the Messiah, the resurrection and the final judgment in their writings), lived and wrote before Zarathustra. Some scholars say that Zoroaster lived sometime between 1500 and 1200 BC. If that were the case, the case for Christianity borrowing from Zoroastrianism would be stronger, but the fact is we don?t know when Zarathustra lived (hence the disagreement among scholars) and so this argument is speculative at best. The Greek historian Herodotus (5Th Century BC) dozen?t mention him in his treatise on the Medo-Persian religions, though Plato, who was born roughly around the time Herodotus died, does mention him in his Alcibiades (see Wikipedia?s entry on Zoroaster; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroaster).
But establishing when Zarathustra lived is only the first step. Next we have to establish what he actually taught (as opposed to what modern Zoroastrianism claims he taught). The only source for Zarathustra?s teachings is the Avesta, and the oldest copies we have of the Avesta date from the 13Th Century AD. The late date for this collection of writings lends no support whatsoever to the idea that Christians borrowed from Zoroastrianism (the oldest copies of the Jewish Scriptures which we have today date centuries before Christ and the oldest complete manuscripts of the Christian Scriptures we have date from the 4Th Century AD).
This looks to be another case of skeptics citing a Prue-Christian religion, assuming that the post-Christian form of the religion (which we know about) has remained faithful to the Prue-Christian form of the religion (which we know nothing about), and speculating that the similarities between the religion and Christianity are due to Christianity borrowing from the religion in question. It?s a philosophical argument without solid evidence to back it up. Have we any good reason not to suppose that it was Zoroastrianism which borrowed from Christianity and not vice verse? We know that Zoroastrianism borrowed freely from the polytheistic faiths of the region in which it became popular. Mithra, for example, was a Persian god who found a prominent role in Zoroastrianism. Mithra?s Hindu counterpart is the god Mitra.
All philosophical arguments aside, we know that Jesus Christ was a real historical figure, that He fulfilled numerous specific prophecies written and preserved hundreds of years before His life, that He died on a cross, and that He was reported to have risen from the dead and interacted with men and women who were willing to suffer horribly and die for this testimony.
Yes, Hebrews copy Zoroastrianism much, they not have Devil until copy Ahriman, at early parts of Bible God send both good and evil at people, serpent tempt Eve not Devil, Persia conquer much land, Persia rule Hebrews long time 536-333 B.C., is Persian Captivity, then Hebrews see Mithras, Ahuramazda and Ahriman, copy them.
Christianity is based on Jesus. A very real historical person who has changed the world. The story of GOD has been around for a very long time. It is very entertaining when someone such as yourself flies it like their Atheist battle flag and the guy right behind you ask the question. "Why didn't GOD reveal himself to more of the world then just the nation of Israel?"
Mat 11:16 KJV - But where unto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows,
Mat 11:17 KJV - And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.
Mat 11:18 KJV - For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.
Mat 11:19 KJV - The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a Weinberg, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.
Actually, it doesn't predate Christianity. Christianity wasn't called "Christianity" until the new testament I believe; people just put a name to the belief. The actual belief has been around since the beginning of time.
Sure looks that way.
The Jews seem to have had polytheism until they were forced to spend some time in Babylon where they were exposed to Zoroastrianism.
The Prue-Babylonian, Jewish Yahweh was actually happily married to some cute goddess....
Another things they imposed into their theology during that period of exile were angels. Another detail straight out of Zoroastrianism.
But I wouldn't say that Christianity is directly based on Zoroastrianism.
It's more a case of the Jewish religion being very tightly interwoven with Zoroastrianism. Christianity on the other hand is a offspring of Judaism.
Isn't it fascinating?
That's one of the aspects attracts me to religion as an atheist....
yes, Zoroastrianism is one of the branches of Hinduism. Hinduism strongly believe hell and heaven so the Zoroastrianism. we call Mithra as brother. No doubt, Zorro predates Christianity but many Hindu rituals you can see in Zorro. Hinduism to Zoroastrianism to Christianity. The hell and heaven is the best example.
There really was such a person as Jesus Christ on earth. His story is true - there is academic consensus among scholars about this.
The idea that the story of Christianity was plagiarized from those of pagan gods is outdated theology from the previous century that modern scholars have abandoned long ago. It's embarrassing that some people still believe this nonsense.
The classical historian Michael Grant wrote:
"To sum up, modern critical methods fail to support the Christ myth theory. It has 'again and again been answered and annihilated by first rank scholars.' In recent years, 'no serious scholar has ventured to postulate the non historicity of Jesus' or at any rate very few, and they have not succeeded in disposing of the much stronger, indeed very abundant, evidence to the contrary. "
It's true the ORIGINAL Zoroastrianism PROBABLY Prue-dated Christianity, and named God as 'Aura Mazda' and Satan as 'Angara Manya'. I always thought the Savior figure was actually named "sashaying", and didn't appear as such until around the 10'Th century AD, as the article below asserts. I think it's really hard to date all this stuff--Did Zoroastrianism influence christianity or was it the other way around? Did zoroastrianism have some of the eternal truth, which was only fulfilled totally in Jesus, or is it all just a legend?
I don't believe it's a legend because it's a proven fact peoples' lives have been changed through belief in Jesus. Even right here on r&s you can talk to people like that!
Christianity, as it is, resembles a sloppy meal made of left-overs. It lacks any flavor of its own, and depth, and is little more than an assembly of second-hand parts from other religions.
Not in the least. Zoroastrianism really took hold about the 6Th Century B.C. in Iran, much later than the Hebrew monotheism, from which Christianity clearly developed.
It is really more likely that Zoroastrianism borrowed heavily from the Hebrews during their period of captivity there. Zoroastrianism is heavy into dualism (of which Judaism and Christianity have no part). The concept of the dying savior is clearly detailed in the Old Testament which came with the Hebrews into captivity.
Here's a link to a good question and answer page at Probe Ministries (WNW.probe.org) which I think you will find very, very helpful --
There are many similarities in both religions. There are also some differences, too. Some people say Zoroastrianism was the first Monotheistic religion. I disagree. I believe that Judaism said "The Lord our God is one God," before Zoroastrianism did. But I'm not a scholar. Maybe I'm wrong.
Some of the prophesies about the Messiah were written before Zoroastrianism was born so it wouldn't surprise me if the religion took some of the information from those prophesies.
Isn't Christianity based on Zoroastrianism?
