Straight Hate

I've been doing some basic reading on this faith, and I must say it has certain attractive qualities. Asserting that this universe is a battle ground between the force of good and evil (Ahura Madza and Angra Mainyu, respectively), humans are given the free will to choose which side they're to be on; the 'hell' being only temporary until the world is reborn free of evil. Zoroastrianism is often touted as being the first monotheistic religion, and one which paved the way for the resulting Judeo-Christian tradition.

What do you folks think? Any claims of a higher power are hard for me to swallow period - that much is for certain - but the basic worldview of the faith seems much more concrete and cohesive (dare I say advanced?) than the more widely followed Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Plebe

Yes, Zoroastrianism and Mithraism is where the pantheon of Angels and Devils, the idea of a last judgement, hell and a host of other attributes of the Christian and late Jewish and even Islamic religion come from.
If you key in Zoroastrianism at this site you will find a number of articles addressing this.
It was during the Babylonian captivity that the Jews first embraced the ideas of the Persians and this explains the evolution from vague ideas of "Sheol" in the older writings of the Jews to ideas of hell, resurrection and last judgment.
If you want to find out in further detail about this faith which by the way believes in menstrual seclusion and is against homosexuals and prostitutes with a whole host of rituals attendant here is their website <a href="http://www.zoroastrianism.com/" target="_blank">http://www.zoroastrianism.com/</a>
For detail about their faith see this at their site <a href="http://members.ozemail.com.au/~zarathus/tenets33.html" target="_blank">http://members.ozemail.com.au/~zarathus/tenets33.html</a>
To my thinking, it is yet another belief system requiring faith in things not provable or disprovable.

[ September 14, 2002: Message edited by: Plebe ]</p>

Ojuice5001

I tend to blame Zorastrianism for a certain tendency I see in Christianity--the one that first made me leave Christianity. Namely, Zorastrianism believes that the world is well seen as a battleground between good and evil. "Attractive" is the last word I would use to describe the Zoraster-influenced tendencies in Christianity.

Christianity and Islam separate four aspects of the world into good and evil, leaving little or no room for neutrality. I have generally blamed Zorastrianism for this, although Judaism must shoulder quite a bit of the blame.

In Christianity, everyone goes to either heaven (a very good fate) or hell (a very bad fate). This cannot be just, since almost no one's character is such that rational people should feel comfortable saying that they deserve either heaven or hell.

Angels and devils. Why do Christians find angels and devils plausible, and Roman gods much less so? Jupiter, Satan, and Michael are all the same kind of entity, in the same sense as all humans are the same kind of entity. The only real reason Christians believe angels and devils exist, and pagan deities don't, is that angels and devils are fighting in a war between good and evil, and Roman gods aren't. Christians apparently think that unlike humans, angels always use their free will to be either pure good, or demonically evil.

Fundamentalist views on politics. Why do many fundies think that all non-Christian individuals, institutions, and religions are evil? It's because they see the world as ruled by Satan and a target of conquest for God (or vice versa). This idea came from Zorastrianism.

Morality. The Puritans are a good example of this one. Some Christians have been known to say that all actions are morally positive or negative, rather than some being neutral. I have always found this view of ethics hard to defend, since there's no real way to praise or condemn the act of reading a magazine. And yet, some Christians, like the Puritans, would say that the act of reading a magazine must be bad unless it is morally positive.

The four people who had the biggest influence on Christianity were Abraham (or whoever the first Jew was), Zoraster, Jesus, and Paul. Jesus wasn't that bad, so much so that I sometimes wish he had been a polytheistic Roman. But I don't like the parts that came to us from Abraham and Zoraster, and they are why I am not a Christian. Paul is like the Catholic Church--he actually isn't so bad, except for his views on anything sexual.

Anti-Creedance Front

I keep promoting that informing current Christians of the origins of their religions would be our most significant tool against fundamentalism. It might destroy it, but it will at least encourage a bit of questioning. The church elders don't like questioning. That's why they've kept part of the Apocrypha and told worshippers God should not be questioned. But really, when you look at it, if you were a Christian, and you found out many of the fundamental tenets of your religion were from all these different pagan sources, wouldn't you start getting skeptical? I have done so much research into Mithraism, Zoroastrianism, and Mesopotamian mythology that I couldn't post it all here. I just want someone to listen to what I'm saying. But I'm not going to get frustrated, I'll keep pressing on.

hinduwoman

don't know about Christianity but in Islam they solved the problem by declaring that the original religion at creation of the world was Islam, but it got corrupted until Muhammad came to purify it.
So saying that previous religions influenced Islam does not matter --- it was Islam that influenced them.
<img src="graemlins/boohoo.gif" border="0" alt="[Boo Hoo]" />

Heathen Dawn

Zoroastrianism is binary dualistic sh*t. True/False. Good/Evil. Clean/Unclean. Heaven/Hell. The thing that's brought so much enmity and bloodshed onto the world.

Mix Zoroastrianism and Judaism and you have the most violent religions on earth: Christianity and Islam.

"An it harm none, do what thou wilt" is the whole of the law.

Plebe

<a href="http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcpa.htm" target="_blank">http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcpa.htm</a>

It's not only Zoroastrianism that influenced late Judaism and Christianity, check out the link above on Pagan influences. At the end of the essay, Part II you will find plenty of good book recommendations if you're interested in reading up on that type of thing.
Hinduwoman, thanks for that info on Islam. I learned long ago from working with some Persians that in Islam they get baptized too! Heathen Dawn: "An it harm none, do what thou wilt." I couldn't agree more with the sanity of that or your argument that dualism has brought more harm and misunderstanding into the world!

never been there

Kathall, if you're interested in a portrayal of everyday life in a Zoroastrian family, try Rohinton Mistry's Such a Long Journey. I actually paused after a couple of chapters to quickly read up on Parsi customs so that I could put in perspective the daily prayers, etc.

Straight Hate

Wow - amazingly replies! It's good to hear the other side of the truth.

never been there: Thank you for the recommendation! I will add that to my list.

Greg2003

Might I add this link which I think offers a strong argument that Persian "priests" sent to Jerusalem by Cyrus and Darius essentially wrote the entire mythic/epic history of Isreal to make the Isrealites more like Zoroastrians and to make them loyal vassels of the Persian Empire.

Please check out:
<a href="http://www.askwhy.co.uk/judaism/index.html#Is%20Dating%20Phony%20Too?" target="_blank">http://www.askwhy.co.uk/judaism/index.html#Is%20Dating%20Phony%20Too?</a>