Pagan items adopted by Christianity

Temples and robes, crosses and chants, form an important part of Christian worship, yet their origins are far from Christianity

Crosses
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Fish <><
Candles
Wreaths
Crown of
Thorns
Icons
Churches
Processions
Vestments
Tonsure
Holy Days
Easter
Christmas
Days, Months,
Seasons
Rokuyo
Calendar
St. Valentine's
Day
Wedding Day
Wedding Dress
& Veil
Wedding
Rings
Kissing
Good luck!
Astrology
Superstition
Biorhythms
The Bible
Hymns &
Carols
Incense
Bells &
bell ringing
Healing
Prayer
Silence
Amen
Holiness
Forgiveness
Blessing
Glory

Y ARE U SO MUCH INTO XTIAN MATTERS

The Church

Many of today's customs used in the Church can be traced back to the 4th century, when Constantine permitted the process of converting the official religion of the Roman Empire from Paganism to Christianity.




Christianity

Even the word 'Christian' was coined by Pagans.

The Origin of the Symbols

In his 1878 Essay on the Development of the Christian Doctrine John H. Newman wrote:

"The use of temples, and these dedicated to particular saints, and ornamented on occasions with branches of trees; incense, lamps and candles; votive offerings on recovery from illness; holy water; asylums; holy days and seasons, use of calendars, processions, blessings on the fields, sacerdotal vestments, the tonsure, the ring in marriage, turning to the east, images at a later date, perhaps the ecclesiastical chant, and the Kyrie Eleison, are all of pagan origin, and sanctified by their adoption into the Church."

Holiness

The word 'holy' may have been derived from the Old English hālig, which means 'wholeness', or the Old High German hulis, meaning 'holly', which was considered a sacred plant to Pagans.

Christianity is a religion like other religions. Christianity was merged with paganism by constatine when he wanted christianity to be the worlds religion while he was an emperor.

Blessing

a Pagan concept?

As a collective noun for a mythical and mystical beast, we say "a blessing of unicorns". The word may well originate from Paganism and is truly mystical, yet often it is devalued.

Calendars


The names of our Days, Months and Seasons come from the heavens
Our way of measuring time (see hours, minutes and seconds) is based on an early Babylonian system, and our modern calendar is based on Pagan practices, astrology and mythology.

But whether we consider ourselves religious or not, we do not think of the calendar as a religious thing; it's merely a means to measure time, using things called days and months.

If someone believes a particular date (Easter, for example) has some mystical power, it is the value that person has placed on it. The same goes for the Bible, the cross, and all the other items adopted by Christians that have a Pagan origin.

Fish symbol


Sometimes called the 'Jesus Fish' because of its link to the ancient Greek Ichthys. Currently vogue, the fish symbol is not as widely recognised as a Christian symbol. It means nothing to most people and largely known only 'in-house'.

The fish is an ancient symbol used by other religions, such as Buddhism and Paganism. Our fish symbol page shows how Christians have hooked onto this symbol.

Pagan crosses


The cross is a remarkable shape. Usually just two intersecting lines, the symbol is used in mathematics, shows where people should stop at international border checkpoints, and stops (some) people parking their cars at the roadside. It's a kiss at the bottom of a love letter and it's a vote for a politician. A death cross in financial terms means a situation where long-term and short-term averages converge. The cross is used extensively in black magic and in innumerable religions.

The Cross – an Emblem of Christianity explains how this simple symbol has evolved from its Pagan roots. We explain how it has caused as much grief as it has comforted. A torture instrument, a threat to entire civilizations, and yet used as jewellery and sometimes worshipped. It has associations with illegal psychedelic drugs, BSE and bird flu, Prince Harry, hatred and despair, love, valour and heroism, World War I, World War II, the Crusades, the invasion of Iraq (again), mythology, Satan, and salvation.

Pagan clothing



How pope do dress is from paganism


Vestments and fancy garb do not make the wearer a priest.

They have always been little more than symbols of status; a tradition passed down through civilization, and added to along the way.

Look at the ecclesiastical finery sported by high churches – those that emphasize formality and resist modernisation.

Some feel such distinction in the church is inappropriate but the tradition continues.

Hmmmnnnnnnn



Make I koko eat for Easter I go come back later to comment

Church buildings and Pagan temples

Early Christians worshipped in whatever place was suitable and available: an existing temple, a hillside, river bank, or even somebody's home. The Early Church was dynamic and lively; the actual building design and architecture was unimportant. But like many other things in life, man's urge to enhance and improve things led to more elaborate, 'holy' structures.

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Pagan worship, it would feel natural for a church building to have a sacred altar on which to place sacrifices.

And even though teaching and believing that 'God is all around us', from the early days it must have felt necessary and natural to have a central focal point to which everyone would turn and bow. For everyone to show reverence to this focal point would in itself, be a way for the congregation to pool and synergise their worship. The focal point would be either to the east even though west points to the same place on a globe; or elevated, believing that heaven was up there, somewhere.

Icon worship – idolatry and iconolatry

Even today, there are Crusading 'Christians' who kill people, sincerely believing they are doing God's work whilst ignoring a basic Commandment "Thou shalt not kill". Consequently it is not surprising that most Christians ignore another: "Thou shalt not make to thee any graven image". (Jewish and Islamic laws about murder and idolatry are almost identical to Christian laws.)

This prohibition of idolatry is usually interpreted with some flexibility. Eastern Orthodox churches display icons; Roman Catholic churches contain statues; the pope hired Michelangelo; Protestant churches hang drawings; and almost all churches have one or more crosses.

Since pre-Christian times we have wanted to see God. But we cannot physically see into a different dimension, so we erect effigies of what we think God looks like. Or rather, we erect effigies of what we want God to look like, and that entices us to worship the effigies as idols.

An idol can be something coveted, like a statue, a cross, a Bible, a stained-glass window. It can be a deep green, ecological perspective of the earth; not far removed from Nature Worship.

"Our spiritual peril is the new idolatry – the worship of the God of Bigness and the God of Speed." (Mcilyar H. Lichliter)
Consider the millions of pilgrims, who for decades have touched the spiritual grotto at Our Lady of Lourdes in southern France. And since many have physically and spiritually benefitted from the visit, it's hardly surprising that people revere the place.

However, there is a grave danger that we push God to the side by placing undue attention and importance on idols.

If idols have any supernatural power at all, it must be the power to trick us into believing that we are not really worshipping them. The most popular idol does exactly that: The "Idollar". Without being aware, we sacrifice our time and energy, our family and friends, to the Idollar. Eventually we might discover that the money god doesn't love us or even like us, but usually we are oblivious to Idollartry [sic] and carry on worshipping it.

From Pagan bells to Church bells

A bell makes a sound – you probably knew that already. And that sound often has a profound meaning.

Even bells that are not rung may have great importance. For example, the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, USA, symbolises the nation's

18th century independence from Britain
19th century abolition of slavery
20th century Cold War icon of God Bless America.
The religious use of bells began in Paganism and has since been adopted by the Christian Church.

Church bells and their link to Paganism


Church bell at the Cathedral Church of Saint Matthew, Dallas, USA
(Photo by Sarum Blue, 2006)
Anyone who lives near a church with zealous bell ringers, who behave like latter-day Quasimodos, will know every Sunday morning that they make a bell-of-a-lot-of noise.

That's what bells are supposed to do; make a noise. They can even frighten grizzly bears.

In both secular use and religious use, bells are used to make an announcement.

Non-religious use includes

signalling when fire breaks out or some other calamity, or on buoys near rocks and shallow water;
in less enlightened times, victims of plaque and leprosy rang a bell to warn people to keep a good distance
announcing the time, such as waking you up for work.
Again!
In religion too, bells are used to announce the time. In Christianity the bell is rung to announce various important events, including:

the time to worship;
the impending consecration of the bread and wine;
the announcement of a wedding, funeral or remembrance service.
In Augusti's Antiquities of the Christian Church we read that bells ...

"...were unknown to the Hebrews, Greeks and Romans. Even if the tintinnabula of the Romans were bells, they were very inconsiderable in comparison with church-bells of later date. These were not in use earlier than the seventh century. The most probable opinion is that which ascribes the first introduction of them to Sabianus bishop of Rome, who succeeded Gregory the Great in the year 604.* In the seventh and eighth centuries they were in common use in the churches in France. Near the close of the ninth century the church of St. Sophia at Constantinople was furnished with bells.**"

* Polydorus Vergil. De invent, rer. lib. vi. c. 11: Centur. vi. c. 6: Hospinian. de orig. tempi, lib. ii. c. 26.
** Baron. Annales A. D. 865

Chants

Songs in the form of chants, poems, and later as hymns, cantatas, anthems, oratorios or motets, are useful mnemonic methods.

Singing makes us feel hearty and that's why we sing; whether it's a chant or any other form. Singing helps us feel young and energetic, even if we're not very proficient. Singing helps relieve tension. Singing is therapeutic. Communal singing turns an audience into participants.

Chanting has never been restricted to Christianity – Pagans used it as part of their worship too. Like the word Glory, chants are not even restricted to religion. They are used by squads of jogging soldiers, team-sports players in training, supporters at a match, cheerleaders, political convention crowds, children singing the Alphabet song and reciting nursery rhymes (not unlike political convention crowds).

One particular type of Christian hymn is called a carol, which is sung at Christmas time; another custom with Pagan roots:

Pagan Christmas traditions

Yule festivities are a mixture of customs and beliefs going back many years before Jesus was born.

Saturnalia was a festival held between 17 and 24 December, which began in the days of the Roman Empire. This was a week of feasting, gift-giving and an excuse for an orgy during the Northern Hemisphere's winter solstice. The objective of the debauchery and dancing around (carol was to give the sun a nudge and send a message to Mother Earth to begin reproducing for the spring. This seemed to work quite well because sure enough, in spring things started growing again.

Which burns longer; a green candle or a red candle?

Neither. They both burn shorter!
The traditional Christmas colours of red and green, being complementary colours, represent male and female, fertility and incubation. Pagan decorations still seen around Christmas include the red berries and green leaves of holly, mistletoe and wreaths.

@DeathStroke pls i wanna know your standing point. My post earlier is from a disciple of jesus point of view. I believe and i am certain that Jesus never founded christianity,paul did. Many of what christian does or practices are against Jesus teachings