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the Mithras Cult and Christianity have many details in common

Christmas on December 25 is also birthday for Mithras
Dividing fact from fiction.


Christians celebrate December the 25th as the birthday of JESUS because the light has come. There is no indication that JESUS was born then. The question might be asked as to when JESUS was placed in Mary and she did carry HIM nine months.
 
How come?

Just by accident?

Or did Christians copy those details?

Yes, Christianity did deveop beliefs similar to Mithraism, but it's not a case of simply copying rituals and beliefs. There were many developing and competing religions at the time. It's natural that many of the beliefs and rituals developed would be similar. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote some studies which I think explain these similarities pretty well.

"The Influence of the Mystery Religions on Christianity"​

"The Greco-Roman world in which the early church developed was one of diverse religions. The conditions of that era made it possible for these religions to sweep like a tidal wave over the ancient world. The people of that age were eager and zealous in their search for religious experience. The existence of this atmosphere was vitally important in the development and eventual triumph of Christianity.

These many religions, known as Mystery-Religions, were not alike in every respect: to draw this conclusion would lead to a gratuitous and erroneous supposition. They covered an enormous range, and manifested a great diversity in character and outlook, “from Orphism to Gnosticism, from the orgies of the Cabira to the fervours of the Hermetic contemplative.”\[Footnote:] Angus, The Mystery Religions and Christianity, p. vii.\2 However it is to be noticed that these Mysteries possessed many fundamental likenesses; (1) All held that the initiate shared in symbolic (sacramental) fashion the experiences of the god. (2) All had secret rites for the initiated. (3) All offered mystical cleansing from sin. (4) All promised a happy future life for the faithful.\[Footnote:] Enslin, Christian Beginnings, pp. 187, 188.\

It is not at all surprising in view of the wide and growing influence of these religions that when the disciples in Antioch and elsewhere preached a crucified and risen Jesus they should be regarded as the heralds of another mystery religion, and that Jesus himself should be taken for the divine Lord of the cult through whose death and resurrection salvation was to be had.3 That there were striking similarities between the developing church and these religions cannot be denied. Even Christian apologist had to admit that fact.

Christianity triumphed over these mystery religions after long conflict. This triumph may be attributed in part to the fact that Christianity took from its opponents their own weapons, and used them: the better elements of the mystery religions were transferred to the new religion. “As the religious history of the empire is studied more closely,” writes Cumont, “the triumph of the church will, in our opinion, appear more and more as the culmination of a long evolution of beliefs. We can understand the Christianity of the fifth century with its greatness and weakness, its spiritual exaltation and its puerile superstitions, if we know the moral antecedents of the world in which it developed.”\[Footnote:] Cumont, Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, p. xxiv.\4 The victory of Christianity in the Roman empire is another example of that universal historical law, viz., that that culture which conquers is in turn conquered. This universal law is expecially true of religion. It is inevitable when a new religion comes to exist side by side with a group of religions, from which it is continually detaching members, introducing them into its own midst with the practices of their original religions impressed upon their minds, that this new religion should tend to assimilate with the assimilation of their members, some of the elements of these existing religions. “The more crusading a religion is, the more it absorbs.” Certainly Christianity has been a crusading religion from the beginning. It is because of this crusading spirit and its superb power of adaptability that Christianity ahs {has} been able to survive."
 
other parallels .... 12 diciples, death and resurrection
I don't think Mithraism has a component similar to a death and resurrection. Nor does it depict 12 disciples. It does have some sort of reference to the 12 signs of the Zodiac.
 
How come?

Just by accident?

Or did Christians copy those details?
That is why it is vital for a Christian to question/search for the truth of everything they've been taught...few do...

Discover the untold truth about Christmas traditions and their surprising pagan origins. From the Christmas tree and mistletoe to Santa Claus and the Yule log, learn how these practices are rooted in ancient customs God disapproves of. Through Bible verses like Jeremiah 10:2-4 and Deuteronomy 12:30-31, this video uncovers what Scripture says about adopting pagan practices. Don’t miss this eye-opening discussion on how to worship God the right way.

 
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