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Satanic Quote: Christianity Trasher
This is one of the Watchtower's Star Witnesses! Trashes whole of Core Christianity. Weigall, is a modernist and doesn't believe the Bible is God's word. He trashes 99% of what both JW's and Trinitarians believe as from Pagan origin. JW's leave the impression that Weigall would exempt JW's from his comments! In fact, Weigall specifically addresses the Watchtower/Arian/Jw view of God known as Angel-Christology, stating that "angel-Christology" is from Pagan origin! The premise of the entire book is that if something was taught before it was written in the Bible, it is of pagan origin. Problem is, Weigall claims to have found 27 major Bible doctrines to exist in Pagan religions before it was first recorded in the Bible. Such a conclusion is simply invalid and for this reason, it is utter deception for the Jehovah's Witnesses to use Weigall as proof that trinity is pagan, because the same identical logic would prove the virgin birth as pagan.
Weigall, Arthur: The Paganism in Our Christianity
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How the quote appears in "Should you believe in the Trinity", Watchtower, JW's booklet:
"The origin of the [Trinity] is entirely pagan." (The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall, as quoted in, Should you believe the Trinity?, Watchtower publication)
"Historian Arthur Weigall notes: "Jesus Christ never mentioned such a phenomenon, and nowhere in the New Testament does the word 'Trinity' appear. The idea was only adopted by the Church three hundred years after the death of our Lord."-The Paganism in Our Christianity." (The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall, as quoted in, Should you believe the Trinity?, Watchtower publication)
What Sabbatarians quote to prove Sunday is Pagan:
"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)
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, quoted by Seventh-day Adventists to prove that Sunday is pagan)
What they fail to tell the same article also says:
Jewish Sabbath and the Sunday Lord's Day both of pagan origin: "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 (The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall, 1928, p209,210-211)
Weigall Trashes the whole of Christianity as being of Pagan origin!
The Twelve Disciples Derived From Zodiac: p25
The 27 books of the New Testament Canon is invalid: p37
The name Mary is of pagan origin: p41
The virgin birth is of pagan origin: p44,47,60
The early life of Jesus is totally unknown: p49
Jesus born in a stable and wrapped in swaddling clothing is of pagan origin: p52
Miracles of Jesus are of pagan origin: p58
Jesus' 40 day temptation in wilderness is of pagan origin: p61
Earthquake at cross is false: p62
Jesus Crucifixion was a Jewish human sacrifice of pagan origin: p69,76
Jesus Side Pierced is of pagan origin: p83,84
Jesus never actually died, two angels were only men: p93,94
Ascension is of pagan origin: p100
Jesus suffering to save us is of pagan origin: p106
Jesus decent into Hades is of pagan origin: p113
Jesus "hung on a tree" is of pagan origin: p118
Jesus the "Rock of salvation" is of pagan origin: p129
Jesus the "slain Lamb of God" is of pagan origin: p131,132
"Washed in the Blood of the lamb" is of pagan origin: p132
Baptism and the Lord's Supper are both of pagan origin: p134, p146,147
Phrase "Soldiers of Christ" is of pagan origin: p135
Jesus as "the Shepherd" is of pagan origin: p136
Lords Supper is of pagan origin" p146,147
The idea of "blood atonement for sins" is of pagan origin: p152,158
Jesus "Begotten of God" is of pagan origin: p169
Incarnate Logos of Jn 1:1 is of pagan origin, The "pre-existent angel" is a 4th century concept: p172,173-175
The Trinity is of pagan origin: p182
The "Lord's Day" (Sunday) is of Pagan Origin: p209,210-211
Jewish Sabbath and the Sunday Lord's Day both of pagan origin: p136, p209,210-211
Conclusion of entire book: Almost all of Christianity is of pagan origin! p242
Our comment
Weigall, is a modernist and doesn't believe the Bible is God's word. He trashes 99% of what both JW's and Trinitarians believe as from Pagan origin. JW's leave the impression that Weigall would exempt JW's from his comments!
Jehovah's Witnesses actually try to defend Weigall!
Some Jehovah's Witnesses are so blind and deluded that they actually try to defend Weigall as a careful conservative scholar who attends church faithfully every Sunday, but warn that Christmas and Easter, for example, are pagan origin. Of course, Jehovah's Witnesses who suggest such things have never held the actual book in their hands or read it for themselves. We have both the book and have read it. The truth is, Wiegall really does trash the whole of Christianity. After reading the book it becomes clear that whenever Weigall shows "parallels" with Christian doctrine and paganism, what he is really saying, is that the doctrine is false and truly not part of genuine Christianity! Let me give you two examples of what Weigall actually believes himself about what he calls, "true Christianity."
On Page 249 Weigall himself rejects the personal existence of the devil, "The references of Jesus to Satan are so rare and so vague that one may personally suppose Him to have had no belief in a personal Devil, though he certainly believed in the powers of evil. The Christian idea of the Prince of Darkness seems to have entered the Faith through Mithraism, wherein Mithra was 'light' personified and hence Evil was 'darkness'; and Satan is simply the old Persian Ahriman... Christianity has concerned itself so much with this mythical devil"
On Page 252 Weigall rejects Paul's writings as false. Yes, he believes Paul wrote the very books that make up half the New Testament, but that Paul's writings are not true Christianity, "The mistaken attitude of Christianity is very largely the fault of St. Paul, whose figure, like a cloud, intervenes between the Christian and the [true] historic Jesus."
And what does Weigall think is the true historic Jesus? He tells us in his introduction on page 27, "Personally, however, I am quite certain that, when stripped of their supernatural trappings [Weigall is referring to the four gospels, which he things are full of errors], and when critically edited [again he shows he believes the gospels are full of errors and must be "critically edited"] they place before us with absolutely unmistakable authenticity the historic figure of a young man, the son of a carpenter, who went about the country preaching.... But around this historic figure a mass of pagan legends collected, and a great theological structure grew up [this theological structure to which Weigall refers, is the idea that Christ died for our sins, which he also rejects, see 'Blood Atonement' below] and today these have to be removed, so that we may get back to the real and credible Jesus."
Jehovah's Witnesses who try to "rescue their beloved watchtower booklet", Should you Believe in the Trinity, by saying we misrepresent what Wiegall is actually saying, are merely continuing the long tradition that the Watchtower has in engaging in Satanic deception and misrepresentation. It is us who have read the book and we have accurately represented Weigall. He trashes all of Christianity, except for " young man, the son of a carpenter, who went about the country preaching".
Deception Exposed:
Weigall is one of the "Star Witnesses" of the Watchtower booklet, "Should you believe in the Trinity?" They quote Weigall in the opening section, then again, with the same quote in a later section.
Weigall has one argument in his book: If a Bible doctrine is found in pagan religions, then the Bible doctrine had its origin in Paganism. Jehovah's Witnesses think it is logical to use Weigall as proof that trinity is pagan because Weigall claims that trinity is found in pagan religions. Yet Weigall also finds the virgin birth, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ in pagan religions. They key is that the argument that Weigall uses throughout his book , IS THE SAME for trinity and the virgin birth etc. Jehovah's Witnesses must either accept or reject the entire book as a whole.
All any honest Jehovah's Witness needs to be shown to trash the entire booklet's ("Should you believe in the Trinity?") credibility is this one quote by Weigall. If they can read all what Weigall says was pagan and not immediately label their own organization as dishonest on the spot, they are simply too blind to reason anything. As Jesus said: "leave them alone, they are blind guides".
It is utterly deceptive, dishonest and unscholarly to quote Weigall as proof that trinity is pagan, when the same book states that the JW's "begotten" theology is also pagan!
Just as bad that Sabbatarians will quote from Weigall to proves Sunday is pagan, when in the same sentence he states that the origin of the Sabbath is also pagan!
Full Texts:
The Twelve Disciples Derived From Zodiac: "There is evidence, it is
suggested, of the cult of a sun-god called Joshua or Jesus in primitive
times, whose, twelve disciples were the twelve signs of the Zodiac and just
as Jesus Christ with His twelve apostles came to Jerusalem to eat the
Paschal lamb, so Joshua crossed the Jordan with his twelve helpers and
offered that jamb on the other side, and so the Greek Jason -an identical
name- with his twelve retainers went in search of the golden fleece of the
lamb. It is pointed out that there are no contemporary or nearly
contemporary references to Jesus in history, with the exception of those in
the genuine Epistles of Paul and Peter, where, however, His life on earth
is hardly mentioned at all, nor anything which really establishes Him as a
historic personage" (The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall,
1928, p25)
The 27 books of the New Testament Canon is invalid: "Thus, the books
of the New Testament may be placed in the following order:-The genuine
Pauline Epistles, from A.D. 52 to 64; the first Epistle of St. Peter., from
A. D. 59 to 64; Revelation, from A.D. 69 to 93; the Gospel of St. Mark,
from A.D. 70 to 110; the Acts, from A.D. 80 to 110; the Epistles of St.
John, from A.D. 90 to 110; the Epistle of St. James, from A.D. 95 to 120;
the Gospel of St. Luke, about A.D. 100; the Gospel of St. Matthew, from
A.D. 100 to, 110; the Epistle of St. Jude, from A.D. 100 to 150; the Gospel
of St. John, from A.D. 100 to 160; and the Second Epistle of St. Peter,
about A.D 150. In this Twentieth Century it is astounding to hear Christian
people declare that the Bible, and particularly the New Testament, says
so-and- so, and that therefore it must be true. Do they not understand that
the New Testament is a collection of books of varying credibility put
together and accepted as canonical only in the 4th century A.D. by clergy
having the limited mentality of that very uncritical age? In quoting from
the New Testament the above mentioned dates should always be kept in mind;
and in regard to the Gospels it should be remembered that St. Matthew and
St. John are the least trustworthy, so many years having elapsed in. which
errors may have crept in. Nevertheless, when the element of the incredibly
Supernatural is removed, these canonical books provide us with a literature
which is of first. rate historical importance." (The Paganism in Our
Christianity, Arthur Weigall, 1928, p37)
The name Mary is of pagan origin: "the early Christians in the days
before Theology took hold of the Faith, that in His incarnation He was
simply the son of an obscure carpenter, named Joseph, and of his wife,
probably called Mary. I say 'probably' in the first place because there is
no certainty that the name of the mother of Jesus was Mary, the earliest
reference to her under that name being in a possibly interpolated passage
in Acts, which book was not written until between fifty and seventy years
after the Crucifixion; and, in the second plate, because so many gods and
semi-divine heroes have mothers whose names are variations of 'Mary'
Adonis, son of Myrrha; Hermes the Greek Logos, son of Maia; Cyrus, the son
of Mariana or Mandane; Moses, the son of Miriam; Joshua, according to the
Chronicle of Tabari, the son of Miriam; Buddha, the son of Maya; Krishna,
the son of Maritala; and so on, until one begins to think that the name of
our Lord's mother may have been forgotten and a stock name substituted."
(The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall, 1928, p41)
The virgin birth is of pagan origin: "It seems, in fact, that we
have to deal with a contradiction due to the later insertion of the story
of the Virgin Birth beside the earlier story of the descent of Jesus from
David through Joseph; and, in this case, we may place its inception
somewhere in the Second Century. The growth of such a story may well be
understood, for tales of the births of pagan gods and heroes from the union
of a deity with a maiden were common." ... "In view of these facts it seems
a pity that the Virgin Birth of Jesus should be insisted upon as an article
of the Creed." ... "The story of the Virgin Birth, as I have pointed out in
Chapter IV, is derived from pagan sources" (The Paganism in Our
Christianity, Arthur Weigall, 1928, p44,47,60)
The early life of Jesus is totally unknown: "Let us consider, then,
what parts of the accounts of our Lord's life may be regarded as
historical. In the first place we have to recognise that nothing is known
with certainty about his birth, childhood, and early manhood" (The Paganism
in Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall, 1928, p49)
Jesus born in a stable and wrapped in swaddling clothing is of pagan
origin: "In St. Matthew Jesus is born in a house; but in St. Luke He is
born in a stable,." and in later times this stable is generally represented
as being in a cave. The mythological origin of this idea, however, is so
obvious that the whole story must be abandoned. Firstly, as regards the
cave: the cave shown at Bethlehem as the birthplace of Jesus was actually a
rock shrine in which the god Tammuz or Adonis was worshipped, as the early
Christian Father, Jerome, tells us; and its adoption as the scene of the
birth of our Lord was one of those frequent instances of the taking over by
Christians of a pagan sacred site. The propriety of this appropriation was
increased by the fact that the worship of a god in a cave was a common
place in paganism: Apollo, Cybele, Demeter, Herakles, Hermes, Mithra and
Poseidon were all adored in caves, Hermes, the Greek Logos, being actually
born of Maia in a cave, and Mithra being ' rock-born. Then, as regards the
stable: St. Luke I says that when the child was born Mary wrapped Him in
swaddling. clothes and laid Him in a manger (Plane), that is to say a rough
trough, like the Greek 'liknon', which was a sort of basket used either for
hay or as an actual cradle, somewhat as the manger is represented in
Botticelli's picture of the Nativity. The author of the Gospel of St. Luke,
however, was here drawing upon Greek mythology; for the god Hermes was
wrapped in swaddling clothes when he was born and was placed in a 'liknon',
or manger-basket." (The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall, 1928,
p52)
Miracles of Jesus are of pagan origin: "The earliest of the Gospels,
that of St. Mark, did not assume its present form until between forty and
seventy years after the death of our Lord, and the other Gospels are still
later in date; and it is absolutely incredible that the stories about Him
should have remained unexaggerated and unaugmented during that period.
Tales about a popular hero invariably expand; and in the case of those
relating to Jesus, who was accepted by His early followers at first as the
God sent Messiah and then as the Son of God incarnate on earth, it is
impossible to believe that they would not gradually have been embellished,
or that some of them would not have been developed around an insignificant
nucleus, or unconsciously borrowed from other sources, or even invented.
'The marvel is not that there are so many, but that there are so few,
improbable stories told about Him, since He was acknowledged to be divine,
and therefore was presumed to have performed miracles and to have been the
cause of miraculous occurrences. Far more incredible stories have been told
about other people than about Jesus. To take a single instance: just before
Julius Caesar was assassinated, all the doors and windows of his. house'
are said to have burst open suddenly and of their own accord; strange
lights were observed in the. sky; weird noises were heard; phantoms glowing
Eke red-hot metal were seen fighting; and so forth. These, and hundreds of
similar stories in connection with other persons, were the talk of the
world at the time of the composition of the Gospels. Everybody believed in
miraculous events, in signs and wonders; and it was always assumed that
saintly or divine personages showed their. power by performing miracles.
Plotinus, the philosopher, is said, to have performed them; Apollonius of
Tyana is credited with many miracles; and those told of the early Christian
saints are far more numerous and far more extraordinary than are those of
the Founder of the Faith." (The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur
Weigall, 1928, p58 )
Jesus' 40 day temptation in wilderness is of pagan origin: "The
story of the forty days in the wilderness and of the temptation by Satan is
very briefly recorded in St. Mark, the earliest Gospel.' We are told no -
more than that Jesus was in the wilderness for this length of time, that He
was tempted by the Devil, and, that the angels ministered to Him : the
whole story is dismissed in one verse and there is no mention of His
fasting. The Gospel of St. John does not relate the story at all. Only St.
Luke (A.D. 100) and St. Matthew (A.D. 110) give the account of how Jesus
fasted, how Satan took Him on to a mountain and on to. a pinnacle of the
Temple, how he tempted Him, and how the Evil One was defeated in argument.
The retirement to the wilderness may well be an 'historical fact, but the
story of the' temptation is an obvious allegory to be understood in a
spiritual sense, though the source of some of the details may be traced.
The hoofed god Pan is the prototype of Satan, and there is a pagan legend
which relates how the young Jupiter was led by Pan to the top of a mountain
from which he could see the countries of the world. This mountain was
called the 'Pillar of Heaven..' which perhaps explain the introduction of
the pinnacle of the temple into the story. Zoroaster, the founder of the
Persian religion, went into the wilderness, and was tempted by the Devil;
Buddha did likewise, and was tempted; Moses and Elijah had both dwelt in
the wilderness, and the former fasted on Sinai forty days, while the latter
fasted on Horeb forty days; Ezekiel had to bear the iniquity of the house
of Tudah for forty days; the destruction of mankind in the Deluge lasted
forty clays; there were forty nights of mourning in the mysteries of the
pagan Proserpine; there were forty days of sacrifice in the old Persian
'Salutation of Mithra'; and so forth." (The Paganism in Our Christianity,
Arthur Weigall, 1928, p61)
Earthquake at cross is false: "In regard to the miraculous events
which took place at the death of Jesus, the Gospel of St. John says
nothing, and those of St. Mark and St. Luke speak only of the rending of
the veil of the temple and of the darkness or overcasting of the sky for
three hours. The story of the earthquake, the upheaval of the rocks, the
bursting open of the graves, and the appearance of the dead, is alone
related in St. Matthew's Gospel, written nearly eighty years after the
event, and is therefore not certainly authentic. Of course there is no
reason why an earthquake should not have occurred on that day, but if it
had really taken place it is almost inconceivable that none of the three
earlier Gospels should have mentioned it." (The Paganism in Our
Christianity, Arthur Weigall, 1928, p62)
Jesus Crucifixion was a Jewish human sacrifice of pagan origin: "I
believe that the Crucifixion of Jesus was regarded by the Jews as a sort of
human sacrifice, and that therefore the similarity of the procedure
described in the Gospels to the old sacrificial ritual, far from providing
evidence that the story was invented, indicates that the account is
authentic history. But to prove my argument it must be shown firstly that
the Jews of those days did practise some kind of human sacrifice by
crucifixion annually on the eve of the Passover and, secondly, that Jesus
was their chosen victim for that year's sacrificial ceremony." ... "To sum
up, then, if this theory be accepted, the fact that our Lord was put to
death by crucifixion, and not, as in the case of John the Baptist, by
decapitation, is explained; the reason why He was executed on the eve of
the Passover becomes apparent; the purpose of dressing Him up in royal
robes is shown; the significance of the release of ' Barabbas ' is made
clear; and the presence of the two malefactors is accounted for. In this
way the critical argument that the Gospel story of the Crucifixion is too
similar to an account of a human sacrifice to be believed is disposed of It
was a human sacrifice." (The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall,
1928, p69,76)
Jesus Side Pierced is of pagan origin: "Then, again, there was the
fact that the side of Jesus had been pierced by a lance. Actually what had
happened was that a soldier had pricked His side to ascertain that He was
dead, just as Panteus pricked the bodies of Cleomenes and his companions to
see if life were extinct." ... "But the Gentile followers of our Lord must
have seen in this incident a further indication that He was indeed a
mystical sacrifice; for the infliction of such a wound on a sacrificial
victim was a widespread custom. Strabo tells us that the primitive
Albanians used to sacrifice a human being to the moon-goddess by piercing
his side with - a sacred spear; and in the spring sacrifice at Salamis the
human victim was similarly pierced by a lance. So, also, in the human
sacrifices to Odin the victims were strung up on the sacred tree, and, when
dead, were pierced by a spear; A and in the worship of Mithra, the bull,
which was identical with Mithra himself, was stabbed in the side, as can be
seen in the well-known Mthraic sculptures." (The Paganism in Our
Christianity, Arthur Weigall, 1928, p83,84)
Jesus never actually died, two angels were only men: "Jesus had not
passed beyond recall upon the cross, but that, having Sunk into a condition
indistinguishable from death He was carried to the sepulchre, where He
recovered, and was perhaps given somebody's clothes to wear, which led to
His being mistaken for the gardener. In this case the supposed angelic
figures seen by the two Marys would have been mortal men who had helped our
Lord during the night. In support of this theory it is to be observed that
He had not been much hurt by being crucified. It was not the custom to
drive nails through the feet, for the victim usually stood upon a block
projecting from the cross; and the Gospel of St. John speaks of His hands
being wounded but not His feet." ... "This theory is not so heretical as it
seems, and though the ordinary Christian will protest that our Lord's
resurrection from the dead is the very foundation of the faith, careful
thought will show that actually no faith would be worth consideration which
based itself merely on the apparent coming to life of a dead body. To the
modem religious mind, in fact, there can be very little difference in
saying, as do the orthodox, that Jesus, was temporarily dead, but after a
few hours came to life again, and saying, as do the critics, that He passed
into a condition indistinguishable from death, and 'then returned to life."
(The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall, 1928, p93,94)
Ascension is of pagan origin: "Now the fact that there is, thus,
only one clear record of the Ascension, this being in a work written some
fifty to seventy years after the supposed event, must make one very chary
in accepting the story; and one's doubts are increased when it is realised
that such an ascension into the sky was the usual end to the mythical
legends of the lives of pagan gods, just as it. was to the very legendary
life of Elijah. The god Adonis, whose worship flourished in the lands in
which Christianity grew up, was thought to have ascended into the sky in
the presence of his followers after his resurrection; and, similarly,
Dionysos, Herakles, Hyacinth, Krishna, Mithra, and other deities went up
into heaven. But if Jesus Christ did not at a specific moment ascend into
heaven, what was His end? Some critics suppose that He lived on in
retirement, and that He was actually seen by St. Paul in that experience
which is usually thought to have been only a vision, and which may have
taken place as early as two or three years after the Crucifixion. In
support of this theory, it is to be noted..." (The Paganism in Our
Christianity, Arthur Weigall, 1928, p100)
Jesus suffering to save us is of pagan origin: "The worship of
suffering gods was to be found on all sides, and the belief in the torture
of the victims in the rites of human sacrifice for the redemption from sin
was very general. The gods Osiris, Attis, Adonis, Dionysos, Herakles,
Prometheus, and others, had all suffered for mankind; and thus the Servant
of Yahweh was also conceived as having to be wounded for' men's
transgressions. But as I say, this conception had passed into the
background in the days of Jesus" (The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur
Weigall, 1928, p106)
Jesus decent into Hades is of pagan origin: "But there is one
feature of the Gospel story which seems really to have been borrowed from
the Adonis religion, and, in fact, from other pagan religions also, namely,
the descent into Hell. The Apostles Creed and Athanasian Creed say that
between the Friday night and the Sunday morning Jesus was in Hell or Hades;
but this is omitted in the Nicene Creed, and Bishop Pearson IL has shown
how frequently it was omitted in other early statements of the Faith, while
Bishop Goodwin I feels that the article 'may be put on one side." It has no
scriptural foundation except in the ambiguous words of the First Epistle of
Peter; it did not appear in the Church as a tenet of Christianity until
late in the Fourth Century; and its pagan origin is shown by its appearance
not only in the legend of Adonis, but in those of Herakles, Dionysos,
Orpheus, Osiris, Hermes, Krishna, Balder, and other deities. In the case of
Orpheus it is to. be observed that his connection with Jesus in the minds
of early Christians is shown by the frequency of his appearance in the
paintings in the Catacombs." (The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur
Weigall, 1928, p113)
Jesus "hung on a tree" is of pagan origin: "The Popular and
widespread religion of Osiris and Isis exercised considerable influence
upon early Christianity, for these two great Egyptian deities, whose
worship had passed into Europe were revered in Rome and in several other
centres, where Christian communities were growing up. Osiris and Isis, so
runs the legend, were brother and sister and also husband and wife; but
Osiris was murdered, his coffined body being thrown into the Nile, and
shortly afterwards the widowed and exiled Isis gave birth to a son, Horus.
The coffin, meanwhile, was washed up on the Syrian coast, and became
miraculously lodged in the trunk of a tree, so that Osiris, like other
sacrificed gods, could be described as having been.' slain and hanged on a
tree.' This tree afterwards chanced to be cut down and made into a pillar
in the palace at Byblos, and there Isis at length found it. She detached
the coffin from it and mourned over it; but the. tree or pillar itself she
swathed in linen and placed in the temple, like the sacred tree of Attis.
She then took the body of Osiris back to Egypt, where it was found by the
evil powers, who tore it to pieces; but these pieces were put together
again, and the god rose from the dead.' Afterwards, however, he returned to
the other world to reign for ever, as King of the Dead; and meanwhile
Horus, having grown to manhood, reigned on earth, later becoming the third
person of this great Egyptian trinity." (The Paganism in Our Christianity,
Arthur Weigall, 1928, p118)
Jesus the "Rock of salvation" is of pagan origin: "Mithra was born
from a rock, as shown in Mithraic sculptures, being sometimes termed 'the
god out of the rock,' and his worship was always conducted in a cave; and
the general belief in the early Church that Jesus was born in a cave is a
direct instance of the taking over of Mithraic ideas. The words of St.
Paul, 'They drank of that spiritual rock . . . and that rock was Christ'
are borrowed from the Mithraic scriptures; for not only was Mithra but one
of his mythological acts, the Rock. which. also appears in the acts of
Moses, was the striking of the rock and the producing of water from it
which his followers eagerly drank. Justin Martyr complains that the
prophetic words in the Book of Daniel regarding a stone which was cut out
of the rock without hands were also used in the Mithraic ritual; and it is
apparent that the great importance attached by the early Church to the
supposed words of Jesus in regard to Peter "Upon this rock I will build my
church " was due to their approximation to the Mithitaic idea of the Theos
ek Petras, the "God from the Rock.'" (The Paganism in Our Christianity,
Arthur Weigall, 1928, p129)
Jesus the "slain Lamb of God" is of pagan origin: "Thus the
paramount Christian idea of the sacrifice of the lamb of God was one with
which every worshipper of Mithra was familiar; and just as Mithra was an
embodiment of the seven spirits of God, so the slain Lamb in the Book of
Revelation has seven horns and seven eyes 'which are the seven spirits of
God.'" ... "the Picturing of Christ as a lamb, owing to the Paganism
involved in the idea." (The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall,
1928, p131,132)
"Washed in the Blood of the lamb" is of pagan origin: "The
ceremonies of purification by the sprinkling or drenching of the novice
with the blood of bulls or rams were widespread, and were to be found in
the rites of Mithra. By this purification a man was born again and the
Christian expression 'Washed in the blood of the Lamb' is undoubtedly a
reflection of this idea, the reference thus being clear in the words of the
Epistle to the Hebrews: "It is not possible 'that the blood of. bulls and
of goats should take away sins." (The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur
Weigall, 1928, p132)
Baptism and the Lord's Supper are both of pagan origin: "In this he
must be referring both to the baptismal rite and also to the Mithraic
Eucharist, of which Justin Martyr had already complained when he declared
that it was Satan who had plagiarised the ceremony, causing the worshippers
of Mithra to receive the consecrated bread and cup of water. The ceremony
of eating an incarnate god's body and drinking his blood is, of course, of
very ancient, and originally cannibalistic, inception, and there are
several sources from which the Christian rite may be derived if, as most
critics think; it was not instituted as an actual ceremony by Jesus; but
its connection with the Mithraic rite is the most apparent." (The Paganism
in Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall, 1928, p134)
Phrase "Soldiers of Christ" is of pagan origin: "The worshippers of
Mithra were called 'Soldiers of Mithra', which is probably the origin of
the term 'Soldiers of Christ' and of the exhortation to Christians to 'put
on the armour of light', Mithra being the god of Light." (The Paganism in
Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall, 1928, p135)
Jesus as "the Shepherd" is of pagan origin: "The most frequent theme
is that of Christ as the Good Shepherd; and although it is generally agreed
that the figure of Jesus carrying a lamb is taken from the statues of
Hermes Kriophoros, the kid-carrying god, Mithra is sometimes shown carrying
a bull across his shoulders, and Apollo, who in his solar aspect and as me
patron of the rocks, is to be identified with Mithra, is often called 'the
Good Shepherd.' At the birth of Mithra the child was adored by shepherds,
who brought gifts to him" (The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur
Weigall, 1928, p136)
Lords Supper is of pagan origin: "These facts show clearly, I think,
that the Lord's Supper had been changed from an actual meal into a
sacramental rite under Mithraic and other ancient influences; and
therefore, we must look for the origin of its new sacrificial character in
the older religions. In primitive days cannibalism had been very widely
practiced so for the purpose of acquiring the virtues of the dead person by
eating his flesh and drinking his blood. It was customary to eat the flesh
of a sacrificial victim, either human or animal, and in the cases in which
such victims were identified with the deity to whom they were offered, the
flesh was eaten and the blood drunk in order to effect communion with the
divinity." ... "The early Christians, in fact, must thus have been quite
familiar with the idea of the sacramental eating of a god's body; and,
indeed, one may say that such phrases as 'Except ye eat the flesh of the
Son of Man and drink. his blood . . ." could only have been written by one
who had been brought up amongst rites based on an immemorial cannibalism
and to whom the idea of devouring his god was perfectly normal." (The
Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall, 1928, p146,147)
The idea of "blood atonement for sins" is of pagan origin: "The
Origin Of The Idea Of The Atonement: Actually, it is of pagan origin, being
indeed the most obvious relic of heathendom in the Faith; and, as I shall
show in the next chapter, it is not, of course, supported by any thing
known to have been said by Jesus Himself. In the ancient world there was a
very wide-spread belief in the sufferings and deaths of gods as being
beneficial to man. Adonis, Attis, Dionysos, Herakles, Mithra, Osiris, and
other deities, were all saviour-gods whose deaths were regarded as
sacrifices made on behalf of mankind; and It Is to be noticed that in
almost every case there is clear evidence that the god sacrificed himself
to himself." ... "It is not to be wondered at, then, that the dark and
savage doctrine of the Atonement became the central dogma of the new Faith:
it is only a matter of astonishment that it is still preached in the
Twentieth Century." (The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall,
1928, p152,158)
Jesus "Begotten of God" is of pagan origin: "The fact that St. Paul
regarded Jesus Christ as the Son of God does not in itself imply, as we are
carelessly inclined to suppose, that he thought of Him as God. The Messiah
was called the Son of God, but no Jew ever thought of him actually as God;
and even Adam could be Called the Son of God, while all believer's were
reckoned as sons of God. It Must be remembered that in the days of the
earliest Christians the idea was Prevalent that god's were in the habit of
begetting sons on earth; Perseus was the son of Zeus by a mortal woman.
Hercules was the son of Zeus by the lady Alcmene; Plato was thought by some
to be the son of Apollo; Pythagoras was the son of a god; Apollonius Of
Tyana, a contemporary of Jesus, was the son of the god Proteus; and so
forth. This was quite a logical mental conception in view of the fact that
the gods themselves were believed to be but aggrandised human beings: Zeus,
or Jupiter, was a big, bearded man; Apollo was a clean-shaven youth; and
even Jehovah could walk in a garden to enjoy the cool of the evening. These
old deities, though immortal, had lived and died on earth,' and hence were
much like men; the tomb of Zeus was to be seen in Crete, the tombs of
Dionysos and Apollo were at Delphi, the tomb of Kronos was in Sicily, that
of Hermes at Hermopolis, that of Aphrodite in Cyprus, and so on. The gods
were just supermen, and thus could, of course, have sons. But in pagan
thought a son of 'God' was not necessarily himself a deity: he was a
product of 'God' and thus possessed divinity, but only to a limited extent.
Nevertheless, St. Paul believed that the Christos, though not God, was an
eternal agent of God, who had existed before the Creation, and who 'thought
it not robbery to be equal with God,' although not identical with Him."
(The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall, 1928, p169)
Incarnate Logos of Jn 1:1 is of pagan origin, The "pre-existent
angel" is a 4th century pagan concept: "Throughout the First Century,
indeed, nobody would have dreamed of regarding Jesus as God: He was the
Christ, the God-sent Saviour, the Son of God, the Mediator between God and
man; and in some mysterious manner He had always existed at the right hand
of God, even before His incarnation. But He was not to be confused with the
Supreme Being. In the Gospel of St. John, however, written some time in the
Second Century but not widely accepted at first, there is a development :
Jesus is now called the 'only begotten Son of God, a term not- use
elsewhere except, in the First Epistle of St. John; but, even so, He was
still distinct from the Father. He was now the incarnate Logos, or ' Word,'
which was the 'divine dynamic,' the active Agency by which God revealed
Himself.' yet was not understandably God Himself, though such a phrase as
'the Word was with God, and the Word was God' could be used, and Thomas
could call Jesus 'My Lord and my God,'" ... "The gradual acceptance of the
Logos theory, which had been adopted by the author of the Gospel of St.
John from the philosophy of Philo, a Hellenized Jew of Egypt, went a long
way towards establishing the identification Of Jesus Christ with God, and
certainly carried the definition of our Lord's nature right away from that
of the Christians of the First Century. Pagan thought, in fact, was now
having an influence upon Christianity, and, indeed, the idea of the Logos
itself was pagan, though it was introduced in early times into Judaism
there is considerable indication of it, I may mention, in Mithraism, Mithra
being regarded as the power which upheld the sun, rather than the sun
itself, an idea already appearing in the worship of Aton in Egypt in the
Fourteenth Century B.C. Mithra was considered to be both begotten by, and
also co-equal with, Ormuzd, the Creator. Adonis, who had died and risen
from the dead, was himself 'God'; Attis ' who also had died and risen, was
in one aspect ' God the Father'; Osiris who, again, had died and risen, was
a Father-God; and so on. It was only natural, therefore, that Christianity
should also identify its Founder with God; yet though the idea passes
through the minds of the Christian writers of the Second and Third
Centuries, it was widely opposed. At the beginning of the Fourth Century
Lactantius, 'a Christian Father', stated that Jesus was Chief of the
Angels, and never pretended to be God, but only God's, messenger ; and as
late as A.D. 330 APhraates, another 'Father,' declares that He was not God.
It was the trouble with the Arians which brought about the general adoption
by the victorious Athanasians, of the doctrine of Christ's godhead." (The
Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall, 1928, p172,173-175)
The Trinity is of pagan origin: "The idea of a co-equal Trinity,
however, offers a reasonable means of expressing the inexpressible; but it
must not be forgotten that Jesus Christ never mentioned such a phenomenon,
and nowhere in the New Testament does the word 'Trinity' appear. The idea
was only adopted by the Church three hundred years after the death of our
Lord; and the origin of the conception is entirely pagan. In the Fourth
Century B.C. Aristotle wrote: 'All things are three, and thrice is all: and
let us use this number in the worship of the gods; for, as the Pythagoreans
say, everything and all things are bound by threes, for the end, the
middle, and the beginning have this number in everything, and these compose
the number of the Trinity.' The ancient Egyptians, whose influence on early
religious thought was profound, usually arranged their gods or goddesses in
trinities: there was the trinity of Osiris, Isis, and Horus, the trinity of
Amen, Mut, and Khonsu, the trinity of Khnum, Satis, and Anukis, and so
forth. The Hindu trinity of Brahman, Siva, and Vishnu is another of the
many and widespread instances of this theological conception. The early
Christians, however, did not at first think of applying the idea to their
own faith. They paid their devotions to God the Father and to Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, and they recognized the mysterious and undefined existence
of the Holy Spirit; but there was no thought of these three being an actual
Trinity, co-equal and united in One, and the Apostles' Creed, which is the
earliest of the formulated articles of Christian faith, does not mention
it." (The Paganism in Our Christianity, Arthur Weigall, 1928, p182)
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)
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)
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)
Go To Alphabetical Index Of Deceptive Quotes
Written By Steve Rudd, Used by permission at: www.bible.ca
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