Christianity

An ancient manuscript rediscovered after 1,700 years takes a "contrarian" view of the relationship between Jesus and Judas, the disciple who handed him over for crucifixion. Instead of portraying Judas Iscariot as a traitor, as the canonical gospels of the New Testament do, this document — the Gospel of Judas — indicates that he acted at the request of Jesus to help him shed his earthly body.“Leta vigorous debate on the significance of this fascinating ancient text begin,” the Rev.

Donald Senior, president of the Catholic Theological Union of Chicago, said Thursday. Senior expressed doubt that the new gospel will rival the New Testament, but allowed that opinions are likely to differ on it.The text helps show the diversity of beliefs in early Christianity, added Marvin Meyer, professor of Bible studies at Chapman University in Orange, Calif. Elaine Pagels, a professor of religion at Princeton University, commented that “the people who loved, circulated and wrote down these gospels did not think they were heretics.”

Found in the 1970s in Egypt The papyrus manuscript was written around 300 A.D. in Coptic script, and is a copy of anearlier Greek text, said Terry Garcia of the National Geographic Society, which made the manuscript public. Discovered in 1970, the papyrus was kept in a safety deposit box for several years and began to deteriorate before conservators restored it. More than 1,000 pieces had to be reassembled. The manuscript was authenticated through radiocarbon dating as well as ink analysis, multispectral imaging and an analysis of the content for linguistic style and handwriting style, National Geographic reported. Garcia said the National Geographic Society has spent "north of a million [dollars] and south of $2 million" on the restoration so far, and "the bills are still coming in." Scholars are still analyzing two other unorthodox scriptures that were included in the same set of papyrus sheets, he said. Those works ......

Courtney Roberts: The year having come full circle, Christmas is upon us, once again. Each Christmas, we are faced with the familiar, yet mysterious images of the star and the Magi, the three wise men bearing gifts, crossing both the desert and the sky in search of the baby Jesus. The Magi of Matthew’s Gospel are such a fixture that Christmas wouldn’t be complete without them, and yet, even after 2,000 years, they still seem shockingly out of context in the Christian gospels; and all our attempts at explaining them—or explaining them away—have only deepened the mystery. The inclusion of the Star of Bethlehem, with all its pagan astrological implications, in the overture to the FirstGospel, has raised so many awkward questions for orthodox Christianity that one has to wonder how it ever made it into the Bible in the first place.

So why would the authors (and editors) of the Christian gospels choose Zoroastrian Magi and astrology to herald the coming of Jesus Christ? Did the Magi have some special significance then that we have since lost? After all, the New Testament narrative opens with them. Why? Who were they, and why would Matthew imply that their astrology lead them to Jesus? In pursuing answers to questions like these, I’ve come to believe that Matthew’s Magi have much more to offer than the traditional gifts for Jesus ascribed to them. In fact, once we begin to understand who the Magi were, how their astrology informed their beliefs, and how much those beliefs influencedtheir Jewish neighbors, some strikingly obvious conclusions emerge about their appearance. The priority of this story’s position within the Christian Bible, in the opening chapters of the very first book, is actually a testament to the widespread influence of the Persian Magi and their astrology in the rise of monotheism and Messianic expectations throughout the ancient world. Ultimately, Matthew’s Magi challenge our traditional understanding of how the three great monotheisms—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—evolved, and might even be telling us something new about our future prospects together.Who were the Magi?The Magi were a hereditary order of priests and sages; wise men, if you will, who originated among the tribes of Media. The region the Magi knew as Media is now north-western Iran,bordering t...

So was Jesus of Nazareth a Capricorn Sun Sign and born on December the 25th?Back in the days when the ancient (4th century AD) Church Fathers were looking around for an official date to celebrate the birth of Jesus, they were also busily engaged in the very serious endeavor of proselytizing and "christianizing" ancient Rome.Ancient Romans conveniently happened to have a popular pagan holiday (holy day) season called "Saturnalia." Saturnalia, originally celebrated by the Romans each year on December the 17th, was a special day set apart for honoring the Roman god Saturn. This was a day for nostalgically remembering the"Golden Age" of Saturn's beneficent rule.

Gifts were exchanged in remembrance of the bounty Saturn had once upon a time bestowed upon the Roman people. For the ancient Romans, Saturnalia was joyous celebration of "the good old days" when everything had "once-upon-a-time" been right in the world.

Rebirth of the Sun At some point in time, the holy day of Saturnalia had also been tied into being a celebration of the rebirth of the Sun - and, as such, Saturnalia was held each year about the time of the "winter solstice." Each year, the winter solstice marks the beginning of winter. The winter solstice is the day each year having the longest night and the shortest amount of sunlight hours. After the winter solstice, thedaylight hours slowly begin lasting longer and longer with each passing day, with this trend of increasing sunlight continuing on until the "summer solstice" in June. The summer solstice is marked as being the day with longest amount of daylight hours and is the official beginning of summer. Anyway, the winter solstice takes place each year around December the 21st to mark the rebirth of the Sun. In 4th Century AD, the Roman emperor at the time "officially" reset Saturnalia to be celebrated on December the 25th (there appear to be varying and sometimes contradictory resources regarding exactly how and why all this happened). Shortly thereafter, the Church Fathers likewise set the official date for celebrating the birth of Jesus as being December the 25th. What more appropriate day could the Church Fathers have"borrowed" for......

Is 25th December the correct date for celebrating Christmas ? Most of the Christians celebrate Christmas, birth date of Jesus Christ, on 25 December. But why "Most", why not all? Because few Christians still celebrate Christmas on 06 January, believed to be the correct date. In 354 some Western churches, including those of Rome, commemorated the birth of Christ on December 25th. But why was Dec 25th chosen as a date for celebrations.Actually, Christianity borrowed and then replaced Mithraism, which was the main religion in Persia and Rome. Followers of Mithraism used to worship the Sun-god "Mitra" or "Mithra". It was the birthday of Mithra, 25 December(winter solstice), that was taken by the early Christians as the birthday of Jesus as a need and urgency by the early Christians to compromise with existing traditions. The real birthday of Christ was abandoned in favor of the birthday of Mithra. The worshippers of Mithra were called "Soldiers of Mithra" which is the origin of the term "Soldiers of Christ." But how and why was Mithraism abandoned? To understand that we need to study the origin and spreading of Mithraism from India to Persia to Rome.

Origins of Mithraism The festival that is now known as Christmas was actually a celebration for the Vedic Solar Deity Mitra.

This Hindu deity Mitra was also worshiped by the Persians as Mithra, which later was adopted by Rome and remained even afterthe conversion to Christianity. In India, Mitra was recognized as 'God of Heavenly Light' as a form of the sun and an ally of Indra, King of Heaven. Mitra was often prayed to and invoked along with Varuna, the Hindu god of moral law and true speech. Jointly known as 'Mitra-Varuna', it was believed that together they would uphold order in the world while travelling in a shining chariot and living in a golden mansion with a thousand pillars and a thousands doors. "These two are the Almighty of the Gods, they are noble. They will make our people full of vigor. May we attain you, Mitra and Varuna, wherever Heaven and the days overflow." - Rig Veda vii.65 ( Mitra and Varuna are in all hymns to the Sun as the Divine Lord and Friend) Mitra was praised inthe ......