I was watching a Fry and Laurie thing in which some guy named Mithras was being discussed.

In this clip they talked about how much Christianity resembled this pagan religion and how it ended up being influenced by it. Here are some of Mithras’s claims to modern Christianity:

1. Mithra was born of a virgin on December 25th in a cave, and his birth was attended by shepherds.
2. He was considered a great traveling teacher and master.
3. He had 12 companions or disciples.
4. Mithra’s followers were promised immortality.
5. He performed miracles.
6. As the “great bull of the Sun,” Mithra sacrificed himself for world peace.
7. He was buried in a tomb and after three days rose again.
8. His resurrection was celebrated every year.
9. He was called “the Good Shepherd” and identified with both the Lamb and the Lion.
10. He was considered the “Way, the Truth and the Light,” and the “Logos,” “Redeemer,” “Savior” and “Messiah.”
11. His sacred day was Sunday, the “Lord’s Day,” hundreds of years before the appearance of Christ.
12. Mithra had his principal festival of what was later to become Easter.
13. His religion had a eucharist or “Lord’s Supper,” at which Mithra said, “He who shall not eat of my body nor drink of my blood so that he may be one with me and I with him, shall not be saved.”
14. “His annual sacrifice is the passover of the Magi, a symbolical atonement or pledge of moral and physical regeneration.”
15. Shmuel Golding is quoted as saying that 1 Cor. 10:4 is “identical words to those found in the Mithraic scriptures, except that the name Mithra is used instead of Christ.”
16. The Catholic Encyclopedia is quoted as saying that Mithraic services were conduced by “fathers” and that the “chief of the fathers, a sort of pope, who always lived at Rome, was called ‘Pater Patratus.’”

Source: [Link]

Mythraism was derived from Persian Zoroastrianism. Christianity already existed outside of Mythraism, however it was St. Paul who combined the two scripturally adding a Messiac theme from Judaism. Mythraism and Christianity became politically (by that I mean officially) merged by Emperor Constantine. Along the way, the symbol of its eucharists were taken from the Egyptian phallic symbol, the cross, which also manifested itself throught the Ankh (☥). Source [Link]

As much as I discouraged myself from looking up stuff from wikipedia, I ended up sneaking a peak at it and found this…

Caption: Detail of sculpture (left) showing scorpion attacking the bull’s testicles

Where was that in the Old Testament?

Source [Link]