My own quest for the truth... THE BEGGINNING

As far back as I can remember, I have always felt that all religions contribute some aspect of the truth. To me you could say that all religions were like giant puzzle pieces, that fit together to make one big picture. It became a matter of filtering out biases, uncovering similarities and differences and attempting to piece them together. The only thing I had was a deep loving respect for God, without any religious affiliations. It was as if something inside me could accept some teachings but not all. I could find some truth and some things that didn’t resonate in all popular faiths. I did not judge anyone for their beliefs but I myself could not belong to any one in particular. Something inside me just felt the need to understand how the pieces fit together because the idea of fighting over differences just didn’t make sense to me.

I began studying ancient history and started looking into pagan faiths. I wanted to understand its origins, their customs and their beliefs. I have no idea why I chose this point of origin specifically, it is just what I did. I wasn’t looking to adopt practices, it was more or less a quest to understand the religion without any biases such as calling them Satan worshipers, witches or devils.

I discovered all kinds of things from its primitive beginnings, that included a deep respect for nature and their misinterpreted views of punishment or angry Gods due to what we now call natural disasters. I discovered the origins of “live” sacrifice and how it died out although some still believe in this practice. It is in fact no different from its own Judeo-Christian origins that believe in animal sacrifice or blood sacrifice to appease some sort of angry God.

I looked into symbolism behind beautiful ceremonies and their respect for nature. In fact most traditionally considered Christian symbols are actually Pagan to include many rituals, candles, prayers, blessings, measure of time such as calendars, seasons, days of the week, trees, animals such as bunnies, doves, angels, crosses, clothing of priest, pastors and rabbis, temples and churches, posture during prayer as well as the word AMEN. The list is in fact endless.

I looked into how their understanding and attempts to explain all life’s mysteries had evolved. I understood how they were able to tap into the power of their mind through deep inner meditation, clear projected focus and were able to create what people consider to be “magick”

As I dug deeper I discovered that they had rituals for baptism, cleansing of the soul through element of holy water, they had rituals for marriage called hand-fasting where they tie their left hands together with a cord in a symbolic gesture of love and union- at the end of the ceremony they were considered to be married --which is where the idea of the ring and marriage derives from. Regardless of how much it is modified, to pretend it isn’t similar would be silly, as it is obviously original idea that has evolved over time. Some choose to keep with the original tradition while others adopt the Christian or religious belief of their choice.
Other things I learned include all the so called Christian holidays such as Easter, Christmas and the like all have their origins in what is considered “PAGAN” or my favorite way of referring to it as the old religion, mystery religions or the mother of all religions.

I use that word “PAGAN” with absolutely no bias, hatred, judgment or separation. I have come to understand it as, the history of human civilization, it is in essence the prehistoric roots of man’s attempt to understand the divine and are found all over the world. It connects the world to its medical and scientific roots as well as its spiritual ones. I do not belong to any faith but I do understand its origins, its contributions and how it has evolved to become the foundation of many beliefs. It is not something that I deny nor will I cover up because I do not have any shame associated with it.

Now that being said, I will continue to describe other connections I have found for those of you that do not understand and make a huge effort to separate and dissociates yourselves from these origins. Many of you that seek to point fingers and create the separation never once take into consideration that these pagan customs are in fact the mother of your own religious beliefs. For example the tradition of the Eucharist, the resurrection and eating of the body of the god for salvation, all find its origins and roots in ancient Babylonian culture, Greek myths, and all other pagan goddess and customs that predate the ones mentioned.

Easter for example derives its name in honor of the goddess “Oestre” or “Eastre“, and in Germany by the name of “Ostara.” The idea of resurrection derives its origin in the Babylonian goddess Ishtar or Sumerian goddess Inanna. These are of course the oldest written records as the oral history predates this time. All of these goddess were known as a symbol of fertility and it is also where women derive the origins of the female hormone known as “estrogen” So it is no wonder where the “Easter egg or bunny ” come from, both being traditionally known for its connection with fertility. I won’t go into too much detail of what happened afterwards or before because you all can take the time to find this on your own.

One example of the “eating of the body of Christ” can be found in Mithraic communion and the prayer that follows: “He who will 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." The followers of Adonis, Attis

Similarly, the origins of the virgin mother and the sacrifice of the god all find its origin in pagan beliefs. Truth be told there at least a few dozen instances of virgin births mostly of religious figures that I can think of alone that predate that of “JESUS” I can name a few lets see there is:
-The Greek- Demeter and Persephone, Rhea and Zeus, Apollo
-The Egyptian -virgin mother Isis and Horus
-The Phrygia-Attis was born of the virgin Nama
- In China - A nymph bathing in a river touched by a lotus plant, from which the divine Fohi is born
-In Siam- a wandering sunbeam caresses a girl in her teens and the great and wonderful deliverer, Codom, is born
-Buddha descended on his virgin mother Maya was born from her right side to save the world,
The Aztecs and Mayans -Quetzalcoatl not only did he have a virgin birth, but he was associated with the planet Venus, the morning star, as was Jesus
Persian-Mithra who was also a virgin birth, born on December 25th and resurrection is celebrated as Easter --The prophet Zoroaster was also born of a virgin,
In India- the God Krishna was born of the virgin Devaki
In Tibet-Indra was born of a virgin

I can go on and on forever but I would start naming a time that you all wouldn’t be the least bit familiar with so I won’t. The similarities of course did not end there as many of the above mentioned GODs not only had miraculous supernatural virgin births, they were known as the truth, the light, the salvation of humanity. Some of them turned water in wine, others healed the sick and preformed miracles. Some of the above mentioned gods had wise men announcing their births. Many were crucified or killed and resurrected, many of their exact teachings or sayings were regurgitated versions of what I had previously believed were exclusive to Jesus.

While I continued to uncover the various similarities, I also wondered just how much of what is in the bible, is really attributed to “JESUS”? I couldn’t say for sure if he had in fact done any of the things that are related to him because of all the other “gods” who shared the same or similar story! I suppose I could have gotten stuck in this rut and decided there was no Jesus, that I had been lied to, or manipulated. I could have decided his story was fake and well become atheist but something inside me still had to know where did these stories come from and why are they all the same? What could possibly be the point of maintaining the plot and only changing the names of the main characters?

The idea of limiting my quest for answers to one single solitary source called “ THE BIBLE“ or “ THE ONLY WORD OF GOD” just seemed asinine to me. How could I possibly ignore the similarities, how could I not want to find out if Jesus even existed. I didn’t set out to prove that there wasn’t a God or Jesus, I merely needed to understand the connections I had made. I needed to find the answers to the many questions I had. I really wanted to know if there was a deeper meaning behind these stories, why preserve them and hide them in plain sight? This of course is only the beginning of my quest for the truth. I was left with more questions than answers. The more I uncovered, the more I realized just how much I didn’t know.....