Zoroastrianism Case
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Zoroastrianism
According to www.pyracantha.com “Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Christianity have many features that there must be some kind of connection between them. Then we ask ourselves do these connections really exist?” The answer is simple. Yes, there were a great deal of similarities of Zoroastrian influence on Judaism and Christianity. However, the biggest problem was it is hard to document this exactly, at least in the early stages of Judaism.
As an important Middle Eastern religion, it has influenced almost any other religion. The influence on Christianity was significant: the dualistic idea of two independent deities is ingrained in Christianity as an independent Satan, who is not an emissary of God.
In Judaism, the Satan is one of Gods angels, commissioned by God to do the nasty jobs God sometimes needs to be done, and serving as Gods prosecutor in Heavenly Court. In Judaism, the Satan does nothing without Gods approval, direct order, or commission. The important aspect if the difference is that in Christianity Satan is independent, for all practical purposes a deity, whereas in Judaism the Satan is just an angel, a subordinate of God.
Therefore, Judaism was influenced by Zoroastrian ideas while keeping its monotheistic basis, while Christianity absorbed the dualistic idea in a more direct nature as is appropriate for a faith that had a pantheon in the first place. Interestingly, also Zoroastrianism claims to be monotheistic even though it is not, just like Christianity.
I am a Christian and have been for all of my adult life, and became a Catholic in 2005. My beliefs are the same as Christians, I believe that there is one God and he is a Loving and caring God. However, I also believe that he protects those who do not believe in God, even though they do not believe in God.
Did Christianity come from Zoroastrianism? The argument that people have is that Judaism is the ideal savior, which comes from Zoroastrianism, and I believe that there was a strong savior figure in Zoroastrianism, which died, and then resurrected, and judged the dead.
According to www.probe.org “People claim that when the Jews were taken in Babylon they were exposed to this faith and adopted parts of it as their own; they say this explains why the idea of a savior figure emerges in the parts of the Bible that were written during or after the Jews stay in Babylon.” It goes on to say that, “Zoroastrianism developed many cults, particularly among Romans, about the time of Jesus that claimed a divine figure will come to earth and defeat “the bull” or something like Satan or the devil, and then judge everyone.”
So my thoughts on Zoroastrianism, To tell you the truth I have never heard about this religion til now. So it must have been a big deal back in the beginning, but not that big of a deal to make it in my studies