"Another influence in the early Christian Church was Mithraism- an ancient Oriental cult of the sun. This cult came to Rome in the first century A.D. and became popular in the second and third centuries. The central feature of this cult was the worship of the sun upon the first day of the week. Historians have written concerning the influence of Mithraism on Christianity" (Now that's clear, Leo Schreven, 1994, p101)

"as a solar festival, Sunday was the sacred day of Mithra; and it is interesting to notice that since Mithra was addressed, as Dominus, 'Lord," Sunday must have been 'the Lord's Day' long before Christian times." (Now that's clear, Leo Schreven, Seventh-day Adventist "Revelation Seminar speaker, Canada, 1994, p101, quoting, The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall, 1928, p136)

Arthur Weigall: The Church made a sacred day of Sunday ... "largely because it was the weekly festival of the sun; for it was a definite Christian policy to take over the pagan festivals endeared to the people by tradition, and to give them a Christian significance." (The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall, 1928, p136, as quoted by many Seventh-day Adventists to prove that Sunday is pagan)

• The historical claims of Samuele Bacchiocchi, Seventh-day Adventist, refuted
• According to Sabbatarians logic, as you will see, if Sunday originated with Mithraism, then the Sabbath originated with the Babylonians. For when you check their sources for the origin of Sunday, the same sources say Sabbath is a Babylonian origin! Of course all the quotes the Sabbatarians use are worthless because they are written by Bible haters who say all of Judaism and Christianity is of pagan origin!

A. Fuller texts of The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall

1. #28: The "Lord's Day" (Sunday) is of Pagan Origin: "The Hebrew Sabbath having been abolished by Christians, the Church made a sacred clay of Sunday, partly because it was the day of the resurrection, but largely because it was the weekly festival of the sun; for it was a definite Christian policy to take over the pagan festivals endeared to the people by tradition, and to give them a Christian significance. But, as a solar festival, Sunday was the sacred day of Mithra; and it is interesting to notice that since Mithra was addressed, as Dominus, 'Lord," Sunday must have been 'the Lord's Day' long before Christian times." (The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall, 1928, p136)
2. #29: Jewish Sabbath and the Sunday Lord's Day both of pagan origin: "In the early Christian Church there were no festivals, holy days, or Sabbaths" ... "I have, already mentioned that Sunday, too, was a pagan holy-day; and in this chapter I propose to discuss the origin of this custom of keeping one day in the week as a Sabbath, or "day of rest,' and' to show that the practice was forcefully opposed by Jesus Christ. The origin of the seven-day week which was used by the Jews and certain other peoples, but not till, later by the Greeks or Romans, is to be sought in some primitive worship of the moon, for the custom of keeping the day of the new moon and that of the full moon as festivals, which is widely found in antiquity, implies the recognition of a cycle of about 14 days, of which a week of 7 days is the half, the actual length of a week thus determined being 7 3/8 days. Now the Babylonians had a early adopted the seven-day week, and their calendars contain directions for the abstention from certain secular acts on stated days which seem to correspond to seventh days, and were called " Sabbaths "; and though the Jewish Sabbath cannot be directly traced to Babylonian usage, the institution is obviously derived from moon-worship and from the concomitant recognition of the number seven as calendrically sacred. The Jews attributed the holiness of the 'seventh day' to the fact that God was supposed to have rested from His six-days' creative labours on that day; but this was itself a legend derived from Babylonian mythology, and was not the original reason why the seventh day was a day of rest." (The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall, 1928, p209,210-211)
3. #30: Conclusion of entire book: Almost all of Christianity is of pagan origin! "A fact which must be clear to those who have read the foregoing chapters is that Christianity developed into a religion in a lurid pagan environment which could not fail to have its influence upon the new faith." (The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall, 1928, p242)

1. "The origin of the Sabbath is uncertain, but it is apparently connected with the Babylonian 'shapattu', the 15th day of the month, on which the full moon occurs, and the Babylonian cycle of 'evil days' every seventh day." (Microsoft Encarta 96 encyclopedia, "Sabbath")
2. The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol 5, "Sabbath", p850, has a long discussion of all the "attempts to find the origin of the sabbath outside of the Old Testament." It lists five popular extra-Biblical origins: 1. Babylonian 2. Kenite 3. Arabic 4. Ugaritic 5. Sociological. (The Anchor Bible dictionary takes the correct view that the Sabbath is of divine origin as the Bible records, but here merely notes many of the liberal views of bible hating scholars who could no more accept that the Sabbath is of divine origin, as the earth was created in 6 literal 24 hour days.)
3. So according to Sabbatarians logic, if Sunday originated with Mithraism, then the Sabbath originated with the Babylonians.
4. Of course neither is true! God established both the Sabbath for the Jews at Sinai and the Lord's day as Sunday when Jesus rose from the dead!
5. Sabbatarians should not quote from atheists and Bible haters like Arthur Weigall, who trash not only Sunday, but Sabbath, the virgin birth and resurrection of Christ! Click here to learn more.

1. Sure they viewed Sunday as a special day, but different pagan religions have viewed almost every day of the week including SATURDAY, as special.
2. Sabbatarians present the historical information as if Mithraism was "Sunday-keeping" with a formal worship service. This is absolutely undocumented anywhere in history!
3. There is a huge difference between viewing a day as special and holding regular worship services on that day.

1. "We have yet to determine the reason why many Christians abandoned the seventh day, the Jewish sabbath, for their worship services and selected an entirely different day, "the first day of the week." Since there is no evidence for a pre­Christian use of this day for religious worship on a weekly basis among Greco­Romans or Jews, the only convincing reason seems to be that worship on the first day of the week was a celebration of the day on which Jesus had risen from the dead (Mark 16:2, 9; Matt 28:1; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19: Justin I Apol. 67.7)." (Anchor Bible Dictionary, Worship, Early Christian, Vol 6, p 980.)
2. "Various efforts have been made to find a pre­Christian origin for the Christian observance of Sunday: (1) the pagan day of the sun (although there was a day named for the sun, a day that assumed special importance in the cult of Mithras, there remains no evidence of a Sunday celebration in paganism)" (Encyclopedia of early Christianity, Editor, Everett Ferguson, Sunday, p873)
3. "Sun worship" and "worshipping on Sunday" are two very different ideas Sabbatarians like to mix together to confuse the whole subject.

1. Baptism
2. a sacred meal
3. categorical ethics
4. belief in a final judgment
5. eternal life for the righteous
6. eternal punishment for the wicked
7. that the world would finally be destroyed by fire.
8. Did Christians borrow all these things above from Mithraism?
9. Note: Christians did borrow Christmas from Mithraism, (December 25, the birthday of the goddess, Mythra), however this was not until 354 A.D., far too late to be relevant to this discussion.

• "The association between the Christian Sunday and the pagan veneration of the day of the Sun is not explicit before the time of Eusebius (ca. A.D. 260-340). Though Christ is often referred to by earlier Fathers as 'True Light' and 'Sun of Justice' no deliberate attempt was made prior to Eusebius to justify Sunday observance by means of the symbology of the day of the Sun." (From Sabbath to Sunday", p 261, by Samuele Bacchiocchi, Seventh-day Adventist historian).
• Note, he admits there is no historical documentation prior to 260 A.D. that would connect Mithraism and Sunday as the Lord's day. In other words He admits there is no direct proof. ONLY SPECULATION AND ASSUMPTION.
• We note that if Bacchiocchi, a Seventh-day Adventist, admits this when it hurts his position we do admire his honesty.
• Also note that Bacchiocchi also claims that early Christians FIRST kept the sabbath before they worshipped on Sundays WITHOUT ANY PROOF.
• The historical claims of Samuele Bacchiocchi, Seventh-day Adventist, refuted

We Speak truth in LOVE
"you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth" Jn 8:40

Go To Start: WWW.BIBLE.CA