Excerpt #48 from my book, Religion, An Obstacle to Human Progress
Continuing from the previous blog about Mithra:
As the story goes, Mithra was born of a virgin.
Some versions of the story have Mithra being born out of a rock.
At his birth were adoring shepherds and magi kings.
Kings were commonly inserted into these stories to represent royalty, signifying that the birth was important.
Mithra’s birth — like many other supernatural gods — was celebrated on December 25, the same day the Christians adopted.
What’s so special about December 25?
It’s four days after the winter solstice (December 21) when in the Northern hemisphere the sun is at its lowest point.
By December 25, it was evident to the ancients that the sun (of God) was rising again.
It was a time for celebration and an auspicious day to be born.
The rising sun — the ascending sun — also provided the idea for ascension as the “sun of God” was rising.
In the tale of Mithra were stories of miracles, resurrection, and ascension.
The similarity in story lines made possible the easy conversion of Mithraism’s followers to Christianity.
WHAT WE BELIEVE IS OUR RELIGION.
Out of all of this a new story was created (which learned theologians agree is largely fiction) and a new religion born — Christianity.
With it came another god, “Christ,” from the Greek word Christos, an interpretation of the Hebrew word for messiah, or mashiakh, meaning the anointed one (as prophesied in the Old Testament).
At some point, somewhere, someone declared that these contrived stories were the divinely inspired and infallible words of god.
In other words, people were led to believe that the same god that they created in their earlier story was responsible for the later story they created.
THE FAITHFUL HAVE NO USE FOR LOGIC.