What is Paganism And Where Did It Originate.docx

1. What is Paganism And Where Did It Originate? Not all people share the same religious beliefs. Some are Christians, some are Jews and some are Muslims, all three examples of religions that worship the God of Abraham, who is a central figure in all of these. Religions that do not follow this God are referred to, by Christians, as pagans and their belief system as paganism. To study, for example, pagan origins in today’s Christianity and other religions, it may be a good idea to have a look at the history of paganism. PAGANISM AND ITS HISTORICAL ROOTS Christianity as religion has its origins in the Roman Empire and has been developed from the first century AD. Its central belief system right from the start was that there is only one God, the God of Abraham, and that any other god is false and representative of idolatry, which is following, praying to and believing in something or someone that is not the God of Abraham. Look, for example, at the first of the Ten Commandments in the Bible (of Abraham’s God) which explicitly forbids idolatry, “You shall have no other gods before me.” The first use of the words ‘pagan’ and ‘paganism’ and related terms can be traced back to the 4th century, and possibly earlier, which shows that Christians already had a term for those that believed and worshipped differently to them. PAGANISM DISTINGUISHED FROM CHRISTIANITY From early on, therefore, paganism has been distinguished from Christianity and Christians who believed only the one true God of Abraham in the Bible is to be worshipped. It has to be mentioned, though, that even in Christian circles the term has been used to also refer to other Christians, (and not necessarily to only those that worshipped false gods, be they objects and idols that man created and built, or that they found in nature, such as a tree, the lightning in the sky – or the sun. It has to be mentioned too, that pagans hold nature and a natural way of life dear, and not necessarily a God that they cannot see.) In the 16th century, for example, after the emergence of Protestantism and the Reformation, many Christians started feeling (and still do today) that the Roman Catholic Church is a pagan organization for its many rituals and creating saints. Throughout history Christians have tried to convert so-called pagans to Christianity wherever they met them – in India with its strong Hindu following, in Africa, in South America and elsewhere. RENAISSANCE AND LATER The traditional idea of paganism has also evolved and developed over the centuries. Examples that refer can be found in, for example, the Renaissance that first started in Italy in the 14th century when there was, once more, great admiration for the Classical deities in the artwork of these times. And deities cannot be Abrahamic; they are pagan. It did not stop in Italy. As the Renaissance swept Europe, more pagan ideas were introduced into art, literature and teachings. Some writers even used the term ‘pagan’ to describe their work and define themselves. Out of paganism also developed the ideas of Wicca, which first emerged in England and then spread to the U.S. There are also Druidry and Heathenry. These, and other movements, may well be classed as pagan as they do not worship the one God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. PGANISM NOT ACCEPTABLE TO CHRISTIANS For believers in the one true God, paganism is to be avoided at all costs, which is why many of them have started to question the motives of the Catholic Church with its obvious veneration of ordinary people upon whom sainthood was and is bestowed, for example. Modern scholars and thinkers are questioning, every day, what the Church teaches, and they are concerned about all the traces of paganism found in many beliefs and teachings. About Us The Greatest Deception Against Christians is a book that researches the truth around the real Jesus and his teachings. It suggests that what modern man believes to be Jesus and what he was about, is more in line with pagan thinking and beliefs. It also points out various discrepancies and contradictions in the Bible that Christians read today. Today’s Christians, in contradiction to the teachings of the real Jesus, lean more towards paganism and are, therefore, not following the real Jesus and what he stood for; instead, modern man is moving away from God and what he intended for us. So many misconceptions are touched upon in this book, and the reader is given opportunities to look deeper into what could be called a deception of the true meaning of the Bible and the hopes of the real Jesus for mankind. To find out more about the author and this book, please visit http://www.researchthetruth.com/christian/home.html.