How are Christianity and Paganism similar?

Answer 1

Christianity is an Abrahamic faith and Hinduism a has Dravidic origins. As a result the cultural memes present ar e different. Both are deity related (have a god system for instructing humanity) and believe the deity created thee Universe, belive that being "good" is essentially the better path, have religious texts and a priesthood. Common points of comparison are:

Hinduism

• Believes in reincarnation porwntiallly leacing to a paradise which is temporary
• Believes in a single god represented in several avatars
• Can't eat meat (So that they don't risk eating a reincarnated family member)

Christianity

• Believes in heaven/hell in the afterlife which is an ultimate goal or condition
• Believes in one god represented (by many Christians) as 3 aspects
• Have no eating restrictions although many foods are not eaten by cultural edicts

Answer 2

I love answering this question! There are various differences; and I'll illustrate them for you right now.

Christianity - There is only one God. There are 10 Commandments. Their holiest symbol is the crucifix. There is a religious book common to all Christianity: The Bible. There is a belief of both heaven and hell, one in which you will eternally stay when dead.

Paganism (I do not claim to speak for all pagans just our own Eclectic/Family Tradition)

- There is both a god and a goddess, that can be and are called from several pantheons. The goddess is most commonly invoked in the triple aspect as Maiden, Mother & Crone, the god in his triple aspect as Sun King, Greenman and Dark Hunter. We (my personal path) also call a third entity of non-gender.

- We do not follow the Wiccan Rede, it is too vague for us. We do have a few rules however, the Threefold Law is the basic one, but we teach our young folk to take responsibility for their own actions.

- We do not have a single "sacred" symbol. The pentacle has too many old negative connotations for some of us, the Celtic cross shows up here as much as anything and the eight spoked wheel is pretty common as well.

- We do have a group Book of Shadows, as well as each of the practitioners in our group having their own and in some cases the Books of Shadows of their Family Traditions and or ancestors.

- Belief in the afterlife is as diverse as the people in our group, we are currently teaching our young folk that life is kind of like school used to be. We are each here to learn a lesson or lessons, and if we fail to learn it, we are destined to relive the lesson until we get it right. There is also the belief that we may be living through someone else's lessons, and/or here to teach some of the lessons. We also teach that we chose to return to this plain of existence to continue the lessons.

As a clarification to the above on re-incarnation. The lives we progress through alternate between male and female, the disruption in the forms does not effect orientation.

Wicca

(I'm a Wiccan, but our beliefs intersect with Paganism.)There's both a God and a Goddess, both of who are capable of good and bad.There is only the Wiccan Rede - an it harm none, do as ye will.Our holiest symbol is the pentacle.There is no fixed religious book, but each follower normally possesses their own Book of Shadows, which is theirs to keep and change.We believe that when you die, you're at rest in Summerland or Otherworld for a while, and after that, you're reborn. Sort of like recycling. Fun fact: If a woman is reborn as a man (or vice versa) the person has a big chance of becoming bi- or homosexual.There's a Three-fold Law, which is very much like karma. It states that whatever we do, good or bad, comes back to us in threefold.

* Note, The above comment on gender and reincarnation is a personal one - the Eastern belief concerning reincarnation is that the soul alternates gender as it cycles through this plane. It is important for a soul to have the experiences of all life, which is why the belief also suggests the soul cycles through the lives of insects, animals etc. However, in most cases, if a person undertakes "past life recall" they generally only recall the experiences of past lives of their current gender.

Answer 3

These have many similarities. They are the heavenly religions believing in the ONENESS of same Almighty God, the Sole Creator, sustainer and Ruler of the Universe. They believe in Prophethood, Angels, Heavenly Books, Life hereafter, Day of Judgment, Heaven and Hell. They believe in euality of all human, sactit of human life, truth and Justice.

Answer 4

Christians and pagans have both sinned, but Christians have repented and found forgiveness from God. Christians have been spared from hell and are actually going to enter God's kingdom.

A lot of the old Pagan rituals and celebrations have been included into Christian festivals. Such as Christmas and easter.

To make conversion easier for the pagans, they were allowed to keep their rituals, but given Christian significance.

Answer 5

First, let's define the term Paganism so we can have a foundation to start to answer from:

Paganism

Paganism is a broad group of religions, including modern pagan religions, indigenous religions and historical polytheistic religions. Modern knowledge of old pagan religions comes from several sources, including: anthropological field research records, the evidence of archaeological artifacts, and the historical accounts of ancient writers regarding cultures known to the classical world.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paganism

Most often, paganism refers to polytheistic or animistic and almost never monotheistic religions. It is said to include any 'non-Abrahamic' religions like Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Based upon this definition then, there are very few if any 'similarities' other than those that come from the mind of man and then it is limited. It appears the questioner is referring to 'Islam' which is not considered a 'pagan' religion but an Abrahamic based religion. But this worldwide religion has many differences when compared to the other 2: Judaism and Christianity. Allow me to elaborate:

Globally speaking then, many 'religions' have commonality in the number of god beings and their character traits. After all, most all have been devised in the minds of mankind. In reality, however, concerning this question, there really is no similarity to best describe the Judeo-Christian beliefs of God to the presumed (paganism) Muslim Islamic belief.

Judaism and Christianity have the Old Testament in common. Islam believes both OT and NT have been partially corrupted in transmission while the Koran is believed by Muslims to be the final and infallible revelation of God's will.

Though Muslims believe in God which they call Allah, Islam teaches that Allah is all-powerful, sovereign and 'unknowable' while Judaism and Christianity both teach the Creator God to be revealed as merciful, compassionate and knowable (see Jeremiah 9:24 and John 17:3). Additionally, Jesus Christ taught love of all no matter what, but Islam's founder wrote or had recorded more than 2 dozen 'Suras' or verses which teach violence and death of any/all who are not followers of Islam.

The Christian text teaches the God of the Old Testament was the Word and it was He who Abraham and the other patriarchs and prophets worshiped. 'Islam teaches the Word, aka Jesus 'as one of perhaps 124,000 messengers or prophets Allah has sent and is one of the 25 listed in the Koran - but He is not the redeemer' (Marvin Olasky, "Islam vs. Liberty," World, Sept 10, 2011).

All in all, there are more differences and conflicts between the Judeo-Christian texts and the Muslim text, as well as how the Koran conflicts with secular history.

Answer 6

Christianity assimilated Pagan beliefs and rituals to enlarge the Christian demographic . CS

Answer 7

Absolutely nothing. Light has nothing in common with darkness.