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What distinguishes Christianity from contemporary pagan cults and Judaism are the concepts of sin, repentance, salvation, and atonement. In Christian theology G

What distinguishes Christianity from contemporary pagan cults and Judaism are the concepts of sin, repentance, salvation, and atonement. In Christian theology God sacrificed Jesus to offer people the option of "paying off their sin debts" which they otherwise wouldn't have been able to pay. This is in stark contrast to the mystery cults for which enlightenment came through secret knowledge. Romans in general didn't really think in terms of sin. That said, we don't know exactly what rituals the earliest Christians practiced and to outsiders they may have looked similar to the rituals of the mystery cults. Especially since Christians at times were persecuted all over the Roman empire and therefore may have had to keep a low profile.

bregma 2y ago
Offering a human sacrifice to an angry god to redeem us of our sins is not that uncommon and certainly not unique to Christianity. Perhaps what makes Christianity unique is the ritualistic cannibalism in many major sects, but there is much less archaeological remains of such practices in other religions and lack of evidence is not proof.
- bjourne 2y ago
  Sin is orthogonal to sacrifice. Pagans had sacrifice, but not sin. Jews had sacrifice and sin. Christians had sin but not sacrifice. That was the whole point of the religion, you did not have to "pay up" because God had already paid for you. At the time it was a novel (even revolutionary) idea and most certainly contributed to Christianity spreading so quickly because poor people generally had very little to sacrifice.
cmrdporcupine 2y ago
What makes Christianity unique is its attempt at universalism. Prior to it there weren't really belief systems that tried to make a claim to being both exclusively true and universal across all people. e.g. Judaism was/is explicitly for the Jewish people, the Romans freely borrowed from other pantheons and had no concern about other peoples worshiping whatever gods they wanted, etc. etc. Christians are the first major belief system we know of that declares not only that it is universal for all humans, but that if you don't believe/practice its specific faith you are damned, and that it is the duty of every Christian to convert others to the faith. This is one of the reasons why many in pre-Constantine Rome found it so objectionable and disruptive. Islam obviously followed in the same tradition. Various strands of Christianity go even further, making your practices almost entirely irrelevant and the inside of your thoughts being the key determinant on whether you are eternally damned or not. Ancient belief systems were very concerned about rituals and practices and sacrifices etc, vs e.g. strains of modern evangelical Protestantism that is obsessed with your feelings/thoughts/internal mental state.

bregma 2y ago

Offering a human sacrifice to an angry god to redeem us of our sins is not that uncommon and certainly not unique to Christianity. Perhaps what makes Christianity unique is the ritualistic cannibalism in many major sects, but there is much less archaeological remains of such practices in other religions and lack of evidence is not proof.

bjourne 2y ago
Sin is orthogonal to sacrifice. Pagans had sacrifice, but not sin. Jews had sacrifice and sin. Christians had sin but not sacrifice. That was the whole point of the religion, you did not have to "pay up" because God had already paid for you. At the time it was a novel (even revolutionary) idea and most certainly contributed to Christianity spreading so quickly because poor people generally had very little to sacrifice.

cmrdporcupine 2y ago

What makes Christianity unique is its attempt at universalism. Prior to it there weren't really belief systems that tried to make a claim to being both exclusively true and universal across all people. e.g. Judaism was/is explicitly for the Jewish people, the Romans freely borrowed from other pantheons and had no concern about other peoples worshiping whatever gods they wanted, etc. etc. Christians are the first major belief system we know of that declares not only that it is universal for all humans, but that if you don't believe/practice its specific faith you are damned, and that it is the duty of every Christian to convert others to the faith. This is one of the reasons why many in pre-Constantine Rome found it so objectionable and disruptive. Islam obviously followed in the same tradition. Various strands of Christianity go even further, making your practices almost entirely irrelevant and the inside of your thoughts being the key determinant on whether you are eternally damned or not. Ancient belief systems were very concerned about rituals and practices and sacrifices etc, vs e.g. strains of modern evangelical Protestantism that is obsessed with your feelings/thoughts/internal mental state.