SOME OF CHRISTIANITY’S BIGGEST MYTHS ARE ZOROASTRIAN

First, recall, that the Jews spent considerable time in Persian exile, in Babylonia, and that prior to that time, they did not have ideas of good versus evil or of a Satanic figure which causes evil and etcetera, then read the following:

“The actual mythology of the Persians, on the other hand, was not of Isaiah, but of Zarathustra (Greek, Zoroaster); and since it was to exert considerable influence not only on Judaism, but also on the whole development of Christianity, we shall do well to pause with it a moment before proceeding in our survey to the mythologies of peace.

“The World Creator, according to this view, was Ahura Mazda, a god of truth and light, whose original creation was perfect. However, an opposing evil power of darkness and deception, Angra Mainyu, infused into it evils of all kinds, so that there occurred a general Fall into ignorance and there is in progress now a continuing conflict between the powers of light and of darkness, truth and deception. These, in the Persian view, are not particular to any race or tribe but are cosmic, general powers, and every individual, of whatever race or tribe, must, through his own free will, choose sides and align himself with the powers either of goodness or of evil in this world. If with the former, he will contribute through his thoughts, words, and deeds to the restoration of the universe to perfection; if however, with the latter, to his own great grief in a Hell appropriate to his life.

“As the day of the ultimate world-victory approaches and the powers of darkness make their final desperate stand, there will come a season of general wars and universal catastrophe, after which there will arrive the ultimate savior, Saoshyant. Angra Mainyu and his demons will be utterly undone; the dead will be resurrected in bodies of immaculate light; Hell vanishing, its souls, purified, will be released; and there will follow an eviternity of sheer peace, purity, joy, and perfection—forever.

“According to the view of the ancient Persian kings, it was they who, in a special way, were the representatives on earth of the cause and will of the Lord of Light. And so we find that in the great multiracial and multicultural empire of the Persians—which, in fact, was the first such empire in the history of the world— there was a religiously authorized imperialistic impulse, to the end that, in the name of truth, goodness, and the light, the Persian King of Kings should become the leader of mankind to the restitution of truth. The idea is one that has had a particular appeal to kings and has been taken over, accordingly, by conquering monarchs everywhere. In India the mythic image of the Chakravartin, for example, the universal king, the illumination of whose presence would bring peace and well-being to mankind, is a figure inspired largely by this thought. It is to be recognized in the royal emblems of the first Buddhist monarch, Ashoka, ca. 262—248 a.c. And in China, immediately following the turbulent period known as Chun Kuo, “of the Warring States,” the first ruler of a united empire, Shih Huang Ti (221—207 B.c.), governed, according to his claim, by the mandate of Heaven, under Heaven’s law.

“It is then hardly to be wondered if the enthusiastic Hebrew author of Isaiah 40—55, who was a contemporary of Cyrus the Great and living witness of the Persian restoration to Jerusalem of its people, gives evidence in his prophecies of the influence of Zoroastrian ideas; for example, in the famous passages of Chapter 45: “Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus . . . ‘I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe, I am the Lord, who do all these things.’” It is in these chapters of the so-called Second or Deutero Isaiah that we find the earliest celebrations of Yahweh not simply as the greatest and most powerful god among gods, but as the one God of the universe, in whom not only Jews but also the gentiles are to find salvation: “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth!” we read, for instance. “For I am God, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:22). Moreover, whereas the earlier idea of the Messiah of the pre-exilic prophets had been simply of an ideal king on David’s throne, “to uphold it,” as in Isaiah 9:6—7, “with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and for evermore”; in the post-exilic period, and particularly in the very late, apocalyptic writings of the Alexandrian age—as, for instance, in the Book of Daniel 7:13-27—there is the notion of one who, at the end of historic time, should be given, over “all peoples, nations, and languages,” “an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away.” And at that time, furthermore, “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2).

“There can be no doubt of the influence of Zoroastrian eschatology on such ideas as these of the end of the world and resurrection of the dead. Moreover, in the Essene Dead Sea Scrolls of the last century B.C., the influence of Persian thought is apparent at every turn. Their period itself, in fact, was one of such terrible tumult that the end of the world and coming of the savior Saoshyant might well have been expected by anyone familiar with the old Zoroastrian theme....” (MYTHS TO LIVE BY, Joseph Campbell, pp. 188-190)

These undeniable historical truths reveal just how much Christianity is not some original plan of the Universe cooked up by some sole puppet maker in the sky, but just one tale and piece of the entire mythological range of ideas of the times from which it emerged and by which it was altered and changed again and again. These tales disappear back into prehistory, change upon change, altering with the fortunes of the humans who believed in them. Christianity is a myth just like the other myths which preceded it and which followed it and will follow modern Christianity. For instance, I’d say that any honest man must conclude that the Christians of today are not the least like the Christians of the past and that those early Zoroastrian/Christians would be appalled by the beliefs of modern Christians, even the most evangelical of our modern Bible-beaters. This awareness of its roots being in other more ancient religious traditions alone should undermine any Judeo-Christian belief in some eternal god who lives up in the sky, like some modern day Zeus. Most honest Christians would have to admit by the evidence that they are part Zoroastrian and part Essene and part Christian. Otherwise, they deny their history and the real truths of their Bible tales.
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“Learning to dislike children at an early age saves a lot of expense and aggravation later in life.” —Robert Byrne