Before we go further it is important to understand these points:
Catholicism is expressed as the Universal faith, the truth faith, thus it follows that it can be believed by all.
God created the world, the cosmos and basically everything.
The birth of Christ was a cosmic event, Christ the Son, the second member of the Trinity, essentially God, came into the world.
"And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself." John 12:32
The old testament for shadows the New
Now that we understand these points, we can conclude that since God created everything , it naturally has his imprint on it. From the creation of the world Christ's birth and death were prophetical express, in cultures, not only the Jewish culture, but even Pagan cultures. Thus we see that even pagan cultures blindly stumbled upon knowledge about Christ, but this knowledge was either veiled , as it was for the Jews, or it was only a shadow, as it was for the Pagans.
Pagan cultures naturally had these myths, these fragments of the truth. When Christ's mystical body the church spread and came into contact with these myths, it did not adopt them, rather it Illuminated them, brought them to perfection. Thus for example in Greek Mythology we see Heracles (A fore shadowing of Christ) defeating the Hydra (the serpent aka Satan), a fore shadowing of the future event.
Anyone who has read the bible or has any knowledge prophesies know , that the deeper meaning is veiled behind symbols. That Universal truths are veiled behind Symbols. The liturgy expressed this perfectly, the Mass is a truth (the actual offering of the Body and Blood of Christ) expressed in symbols, the bread , wine and the ritual.
God created the world, the cosmos and basically everything.
The birth of Christ was a cosmic event, Christ the Son, the second member of the Trinity, essentially God, came into the world.
"And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself." John 12:32
The old testament for shadows the New
Now that we understand these points, we can conclude that since God created everything , it naturally has his imprint on it. From the creation of the world Christ's birth and death were prophetical express, in cultures, not only the Jewish culture, but even Pagan cultures. Thus we see that even pagan cultures blindly stumbled upon knowledge about Christ, but this knowledge was either veiled , as it was for the Jews, or it was only a shadow, as it was for the Pagans.
Pagan cultures naturally had these myths, these fragments of the truth. When Christ's mystical body the church spread and came into contact with these myths, it did not adopt them, rather it Illuminated them, brought them to perfection. Thus for example in Greek Mythology we see Heracles (A fore shadowing of Christ) defeating the Hydra (the serpent aka Satan), a fore shadowing of the future event.
Anyone who has read the bible or has any knowledge prophesies know , that the deeper meaning is veiled behind symbols. That Universal truths are veiled behind Symbols. The liturgy expressed this perfectly, the Mass is a truth (the actual offering of the Body and Blood of Christ) expressed in symbols, the bread , wine and the ritual.
This is a very deep and profound subject that we could write books about, I do not have the time to do so, but it is simple false to say Christianity is Pagan Sun worship. But Christianity brought Pagan Sun Worship to perfect, it transformed the Sun not into a giant ball of Gas, but into a symbol of Christ, the source of all life. Catholicism, is as Cardinal Ratzinger stated in his book the Spirit of the Liturgy, the synthesis of all Religious thought.
1 comment:
This is an excellent article. The Church Fathers were well aware that the legends of Classical times prefigured the redemption by Christ, and used them at times to make Christianity easier to understand and relate to.
Since I came (back) to Catholicism through reading Ancient Greek philosophy, I well understand how the difficulties and shortcomings of philosophy were finally resolved in Christ and his Church ie. through faith.
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