Vorkosigan

Google the term "ansata cross" also "tau cross" and start digging. Offhand I cannot tell you what the oldest exemplar of the Egyptian cross is, but it must predate Jesus by many centuries.

Vorkosigan

Vorkosigan

The old... "It's not a parallel unless it is an exact parallel" defense. Crosses are very old symbols, in a vast variety of forms, found around the world. Toto is absolutely right. The fact that you can't confuse an ankh with its Christian cousin doesn't mean they aren't two versions of the same thing, just as you can't confuse a stretch limo with a Volkswagon beetle even though they are both cars.

Vorkosigan

Roger Pearse

You mean the swastika? I'd have thought not.

Each little detail of India is a conundrum. Painted above door-frames you see the Sanskrit meditative om bracketted by a pair of backward-facing swastikas. The "swastika" is really just a Hindu symbol for self-energization and the accomplishments of life. (The Nazis bent the arms in the other direction and swiped it for the cool look.) Nonetheless, the message over the doors seems to read, Sieg heil inner peace sieg heil. -- P.J.O'Rourke, "The CEO of the sofa", p.236.

All the best,

Roger Pearse

Roger Pearse

While there is truth in this, surely the opposite extreme also needs to be guarded against? A donkey is the same as a spacecraft, if you draw your categories loosely enough, both being methods of transportation. Is it sensible to say these are both 'the same', using the argument above?

All the best,

Roger Pearse

mata leao

why did Mithraism, with the support of the Roman army fail, and Christianity (the "weak" gospel based on turning the other cheek) prevail? how did the lamb defeat the lion?

Djugashvillain

The lion became the lamb, so to speak.

Vorkosigan

I can point to many different types of crosses used in antiquity. It is up to you to show that the Christian cross is some kind of radical break with these, especially since Christian groups used many different kinds of crosses. In fact, as Magaret Barker has pointed out:

"Signing with a cross was also a custom from the first temple. When Ezekiel received his vision of the destruction of Jerusalem, he saw the six angels of destruction and a seventh, who was instructed to pass through the city and mark a letter tau on the foreheads of those who were faithful to the Lord (Ezek 9.4). In the old Hebrew alphabet, the tau is a diagonal cross, the sign which was also used when the high priest was anointed on his forehead (b. Horayoth 12a)."

Vorkosigan

Vorkosigan

Probably because Christianity was never the lamb.

John A. Broussard

Constantine's army turned the other cheek?

Mithraism made the mistake of assuming women didn't have souls. Even second-class status afforded by Christianity was an improvement. So the wives dragged their reluctant Mithraic husbands off to agape feasts.

Never underestimate the power of women.

And, keep in mind,

Microscopic parasites can kill elephants.

Doug Shaver

You can't be serious.