@@Smitty-op4ld The Bible does not say that Jesus took a vow as a Nazarite. He was a Nazarene meaning person living in or coming from Nazareth. The nazarene vow included abstaining from wine and all grape products. We know Jesus drank wine.
I just love how straight forward this page is, in its work. No bias, no religiosity, just straight up discussing evidence as dutifully observed. A breath of fresh air in an era where everyone seems to be picking a side when discussing the history of religion.
Yeah, the story of how religions interact with a culture, and vice versa, is always fascinating. Though, if asked, it would be hard to put my finger on exactly why it's interesting.
That's why this is one of my favorite channels. I think if such a thing existed back during my youth, I would probably would have ended up a religious studies major myself, haha
100% and the reason it's so informative. I'm not worried about accepting a bias as a fact, it presents the history we have and details what we do and do not know
Love your videos! I am Coptic Christian, and it is common belief among Copts that Christianity took a hold in Egypt because of how similar it was to ancient Egyptian religions and it wasn’t hard to transition from their previous religion to Christianity. The Ankh is one example of this and is often explicitly thought of in this manner, that ancient Egyptians used it and it’s likeness to represent the Cross when Christianity was introduced to Egypt (through St. Mark). Great videos once again. Another one is the burial hymn we sing at the end of Good Friday is said to use the same tune of the burial songs sang when they would bury pharaohs.
Christianity Borrowed a lot of symbols and customs from a lot of places that it spread and coptic Egypt is no different. One of my favourite example of Christian syncretism is the veneration of El Tío in bolivia, the local miners who are majority catholic leave pagan style offering and sacrifices to the lord of the mines to prevent cave ins .
@LagiNaLangAko23 Yeah. He originates from Supay, who is an ancient incan underworld god but he has been syncretised with the Christian idea of the devil. so he is like half Indigenous and half Satan.
I am from a Muslim background and the old women in my morrocan town used to paint a even cross mostly in purple on the walls of their homes. Later on I did my research and found out it is mostly cross of Ishtar tied to the Carthaginian civilization.
Yes, its a tactic to convert easily, in india it is happening currently, where jesus wears a tika(hindu culture), offered garlands(hindu), images are made where he is playing with our kid gods, there are jagrata(hindu) for him, coconut is broken in front of him(hindu).... 2000 years of history gives them major psychological points of conversion....
Dont forget that Christmas is actually based on a norse holiday called jol or yol(not entirely Christmas, but the feast and gathering the lights and Christmas trees all of it was based there) and the date dec 25th was the birth of a roman god which was a special holiday, people couldnt know whether jesus was born on september or august so instead they put it in 25 so it could be a special day for them.
@Blessed Priest The statue of liberty is a gift from the French. What do you mean it's Ishtar? According to the internet it's a statue of Libertas, a Roman god. Why is it a Mesopotamian god to you?
As an artist that works in symbolism, I often feel that our society's view on symbols is influenced by branding, logos, and copyright laws. I hear a lot of people speak about symbols is that context. Symbolism and culture doesn't really work that way though. It is more complicated. I really enjoy you videos.
In this case, the anch is a magic mushroom, which is the key/device/tool/instrument that produce the immortal experience. As an artis you probably already knew that.
@@vamshilifevlogs I'd say if he existed he may have visited india. Egypt too! I think people have it in their heads that biblical figures only walked from village to village.. all these borders are a modern construct. I like to think people moved around quite a bit. Columbus wasn't the first to navigate the waters. Pyramids are a global phenominal.
@@lallyoisin Pyramids are global because of physics. From an engineering perspective, if you want very tall buildings the top must be narrower than the base.
@@disapearingboi so no shared knowledge as far as you are concerned!? When its regarded as fact that ancient races could circumnavigate the globe dont forget those that thought a lil deeper than you! I'll extend you an olive branch.. google image Machu Picchu and then google image ruins of irish monasteries. The most overlooked were the Irish and it took only 800 years to render us in a state of amnesia!
@@lallyoisin I'm Irish myself and I've even been to Machu Picchu. Inca Stone work is more complicated than it looks - they used large interlocking stones at the base and looser uncut stone near the top. This was a unique earthquake resistant measure - interlocking or polygonal masonry is unknown in Irish ruins. Ireland has an extensive written history - if Clonmacnoise or Cashel were in contact with Inca sites then there would be mentions of them. There are no gothic motifs in Inca sites but Ireland is full of them. The differences between these cultures are immense. The only reason the ruins look similar is because all you can see left are the bare bones.
I read somewhere that the Catholic rosary co opted historical designs, originally going back as far as 5,000 years ago, including the Ankh as a sort of inspiration. Anyhow, don't know much, and am excited to learn more. Since early Christianity used symbols from religious predecessors, it seems there would be an interesting story about the rosary, too.
Did you see the news that they may have found items that date back to the sack of Jerusalem's sack by Babylon? I know it's detailed in cuniform but aren't these items important since that time period is missing
The Ankh also looks like an Akwaaba doll of The Ashanti people of Ghana. They are fertility dolls used as a prayer for the health of a pregnant woman or for one who wishes to be so.
5:07 Incubation was ancient slang for inception :) I was fascinated with the tablets found in Asclepion's temples, where believers expressed their gratitude to this God that revealed in a dream something helpful in their lives, from cures to prophecies. Amazing stuff!
I love your videos. You speak so knowledgeably about the topic while remaining objective. I'm a Religious Studies teacher in the UK and I will, most definitely, be recommending your channel to my students. Keep up the amazing work.
@ZaqueHunzahua Well it's like how Mexicans celebrate Day of the Dead despite it originating as an Aztec holiday before being associated with Christianity. Old traditions die hard.
NGOLA KINGDON lol they weren’t black , despite what you’d like to believe . There’s a incredible amount of detailed history both from Ancient Egypt & the countries that area of the world & NO they don’t say that they were black .
Talking of crosses, it would be cool if you made a video explaining the history and meaning of the different styles of crosses different Christian groups use.
There's an Ante-Nicene work entitled, The Octavius of Minicius Felix, which had to have been written after 197 CE, but before 248 CE. The author, Marcus Minucius Felix, a prominent advocate who'd practiced law at the Roman bar and an Christian, recounts a dialogue between his dear friend Octavius, an Christian convert, and a pagan named, Caecilius Natalis. Caecilius offers one criticism after another about Christianity and Octavius attempts to defend Christianity, while making corrections as to the faulty information Caecilius has about the Christian belief-system, etc. When Caecilius claims that the Christians worship "a man punished by extreme suffering for his wickedness" and "the deadly wood of the cross," Octavius responds thusly (Chap. XXIX): "Crosses, moreover, we neither worship nor wish for! You, indeed, who consecrate gods of wood, adore wooden crosses perhaps as parts of your gods. For your very [military] standards, as well as your banners; and flags of your camp, what else are they but crosses glided and adorned? Your victorious trophies not only imitate the appearance of a simple cross, but also that of a man affixed to it. We assuredly see the sign of a cross, naturally, in the ship when it is carried along with swelling sails, when it glides forward with expanded oars; and when the military yoke is lifted up, it is the sign of a cross; and when a man adores G-d with a pure mind, with hands outstretched. Thus the sign of the cross either is sustained by a natural reason, or your own [pagan] religion is formed with respect to it." Why Christians use the symbol of the cross is beyond me. I guess it's a good thing that the man they've deified wasn't executed by electrocution or they'd be wearing little electric chairs attached to a necklace. :heavy sigh:
YES. coincidence. Just like the ankh, the broken cross, a symbol of peace corrupted by the Nazis and other crosses around the world. Havent you ever noticed, say, to change the subject for a moment, how widely disparate cultures that have never had any contact with each other have many of the same structures like the pyramids, Stonehenge type structures, and maybe a few others that I cant think of at the moment? Its because their ancient ancestors all had a common source.
@@abimukeshs8229 The cross Jesus was on had to have room at the top for nailing a sign. It was a t. Even if it was a Tau SO WHAT........Jesus died on a cross, that is fact that is not made up. Other cultures having adopted and incorporated bible prophecy into their legends adopted the cross as part of their histories as I have already said
I used to work for a company that printed “About Us” books designed by churches. I had one book that looked like a perfectly ordinary Baptist church-except the photos showed an ankh in the front of the sanctuary instead of a cross. Not gonna lie, I was very weirded out.
This was a really good assessment of the facts. Especially the writings of the early church fathers. I would also add that not all crosses and or crucifixes are the same within liturgical denominations. Yes, a very fine job indeed. Thank-you!
the crux ansata and a variation with a latin cross inside the circle are also widely used symbols of gnostic christians, possibly originating with the early egyptian gnostics
"The earliest known example of a crux ansata comes from a copy of the Gospel of Judas from the 3rd or early 4th century AD." From the Wikipedia -age on the ankh symbol
My old algebra would feed me conspiracy theories and would grade us on proving them right. He totally did that 'Christianity is a knockoff' thing as well, after showing us the movie Zeitgeist. Although I am no longer Catholic, I still don't like people lying to me about the religion. Thank you for correcting the misinformation in my head.
It's not uncommon for people to hang on to symbols, rituals and customs from something they grew up in or joined. I grew up as a Catholic and even though I am longer Catholic I still tend to keep some of symbols. I still keep a crucifix (Jesus on the cross). I no longer use a rosary for prayer but I still keep one or more. I still use Holy Water when I can think of getting some. But if you think about it Christians shouldn't be even using any symbol since God strictly says no idols of any kind. People have a hard time letting go of religious traditions. That is our downfall.
I’m so grateful for your videos and your efforts to educate people about religion without being religious. Love your videos and can’t wait for your next video.
Maoist98 I agree. I just talk with a bunch of atheists who write off anyone who is religious and when I send them to this page they can’t refute him bc he isn’t trying to convert them.
This is something people, especially edgy new atheists, don't understand: culture doesn't just completely change overnight and it's absolutely normal to see elements of older religions mixed in with Christianity, it's just how culture works and it's not evidence of some nebulous conspiracy theory as you said. Well done, keep it up
@ZaqueHunzahua so basically they were huge hypocrites I guess atheists have better culture. Imagine believing in imaginary gods and having ridiculous beliefs as culture.
@ZaqueHunzahua you are confusing communism with atheism. both are separate ideologies. Religion itself is the biggest propaganda btw also Culture and religion are not the same either, the belief in god doesn't make one cultural at all. you are trying to credit something to religion for which they shouldn't be. Religion if i remember did nothing but push back civilization, science and technology.
@Caleb Clark they actually didn't there's very little proof from non Christian sources that Christians were persecuted to the degree they claim they were
The cross.goes back to Tamuz. But the Ankh is older than people.think. The ancient or dynastic egyptians stumbled across the megalythic sphinx and pyramids. The y didnt have the knowledge required to build in that fashion.
Shane fields study an area in Southern Africa called the Blombos caves. You will see the earliest use of the Ankh way before they moved up the Nile and established civilizations such as Egypt
Agreed on the more likely "embedded" assimilation interpretation, just like the Egyptians did for some of their iconography (like the ankh descending from the prehistoric-neolithic sun crosses).
Could you do an episode on how the cult of virgin Mary developed and whether it was influenced by the Egyptian religion. I heard some strange theories about it but I'm unable to tell if they're true or false.
I'm reading the Bible codes by satinover atm. In it he refers to the Samaritan Torah scribes being less exact than the Jewish scribes. The world has not ended so I presume the the KJV is the best English readers can hope for.
The Greek Cross at 2:50 has a very interesting symbol at the base. The golf tee six point symbol is a complete version of what the cuneiform star was only a half symbol of. I have seen this in numerous Sumerian reliefs and noticed it being open towards the 'left' with the triangle forms to the right, but only in that form. I wonder if they were intending to draw from that symbology or it was subliminal? Excellent article, by the way. Keep noticing the Tatooine poster and gotta ask if you've seen the Mandolin series yet? If not, I'd encourage you to do so asap. It's finally a true homage to the Original StarWars IV, V, VI! Thanks for sharing your insights and clarity of thought with all of us. It's truly a blessing.
My research and time in Egypt taught me that the ankh meant eternal life, not just life. That’s why it was used in the death ceremony in opening the mouth.
This reminds me of the possible adaptation of the Isis lactans and the Madonna and child representations, or the addition of the blue grecian matiasma, or 'evil eye', to many of their Christian symbols.
Great Video! Well done. Suggestion for future videos: you should do a series on important scholars of religion such as J.Z. Smith, Mircea Eliade, and J.G. Frazer. Those guys are so interesting and important in the study of religion but most people don't know who they are.
@Noah Scheid Yeshu was and still is no name. Yehochoua יהושע exists. הושעה as well. יש"ו Yesh"u exists also but as the acronym for" Let his name and memory be erased".
Amy Angell it’s not. It was used in Egypt. You can find plenty of information of where it came from and where the oldest Ankh carving found to date was found
“The ankh or key of life is an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol that was most commonly used in writing and in Egyptian art to represent the word for "life" and, by extension, as a symbol of life itself.”
Because it was a three-dimensional Priapean torture stake. Irenaeus said the _crux_ had five ends or high points: two lengthwise, two widthwise, and one in the middle - on which last rests he who is affixed with nails. Justin Martyr said that point was shaped like a horn and even looked like a horn on which 'rode' those who were crucified. And Tertullian called it the well-known projecting / excessive seat and the pale at / from the middle of the stake. Nuff said!
Its actually very possible. The most common paintings of Jesus on the cross were made by people who'd never seen someone die from crucifixion before, and its likely that the cross a historical Jesus would have died on was very different then what we think of today. So it is also very possible that those artists took inspiration for the cross in their paintings from somewhere else, perhaps even the Egyptian Ankh.
In the artefact record of at least the first four centuries we only have a record of people who call themselves Chrestians(The good/useful ones) with an eta and not the later iota. Followers of Jesus Chrestos(Jesus the good). These artefacts include papyrus, Suetonius, Tacitus and inscriptions. Even Codex Sinaiticus in the three places "christians" is found in modern bibles is found "chrestians" in the original greek(Photos of all pages are available online where you can verify). It is not until Codex Alexandrinus of the 6th-8th century that we have our first artefact that uses the word "christian". If you can find an earlier artefact please reply as I have been search for three years looking for one. The gnostic texts speak of "The Great Sabaoth, the Good" as the heavenly "god" who gave Jesus the Good his earthly power. What relates to the subject of this video is the ancient use of "+" or "x" to mark something as "good", in say the margin of a text. There is also pre "christian" evidence of the Chi Rho also being used to designate "chrest". It seems too much of a coincidence for this to not have some bearing on the origin.
Can you do some videos on pre Abrahamic religions. Also on how religions "evolved/developed" thru time. And how Judaism or the first followers of Abraham came to be. Thanks
Thanks for the video, but am I missing something out? You are talking about the "T-shaped cross", and I know that this was a popular shape to get the job done, because it makes sense. But the christian cross is not T-shaped, or it wouldn't be a cross, but... umm... a "T", you know? I have heard and read this explanation several times and it never satisfied me - why put this upper pole on top of it? It doesn't serve a practical purpose! Going with this the christian symbol should be a T, not a cross. Why does nobody ask this question? Is it me? Is it too obvious to even mention it? What do I miss here? Is it just to put that "INRI" sign on top of it? Are there actual drawings or clear descriptions from the time showing the cross shape as a common design to crucify people?
Imagine tying two beams together. You wouldn’t do it right at the very top because you’re tying it with rope. So there isn’t another extra piece at the top. One beam is just 3/4 up the other tied on top. If that makes sense. Still 2 beams never cut
@@JCsammy True. Plus, even if they used nails, there's the INRI inscription. Note that INRI is a shortcut, specifically, an acronym. The actual text is the sentence "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" written in Latin (IESVS NAZARENVS REX IVDÆORVM), Greek ( Ἰησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων), and Hebrew (ישוע הנוצרי ומלך היהודים). Or at least, that's how it's been told...
That's because the cross the Romans used which the Christians adopted wasn't used for executions but rather everything from military yokes to trophies of victory. Minucius Felix, _Octavius_
I think it's about time that subscribe to your channel.. because I want to simply be educated not with the judgement that comes from videos who's pointing fingers and ego driven by who's right who's wrong . Just give me enough info so I can do my own research and due diligence 😁 thank you bunches now I have a foundation that's what all of us ought to do . Research with having a solid foundation is a good start and waaaaayyy less confusion IMHO 😁
Maybe this is from more recent times, but I've heard something about Christian symbols being prohibited in Egypt, so the Christians used the Ankh instead, because hieroglyphs were allowed.
Seems unlikely - Egypt has a large Christian minority, with ancient, still active monasteries and churches. I don't know when 'Christian symbols' would have been fully forbidden. Roman times? In Muslim Egypt, hieroglyphs would have been seen as pagan and at least as bad as Christian signs, even if various amulets etc survived in folk belief, such as the Eye of Horus.
This is honestly my favorite channel on youtube, as you've said yourself we all can use more religious scholarship in our lives. Thank you for all your work
Interesting, the relationship between Egyptian religion and current day religion! I love your videos, it's so refreshing to hear your opinion from a historical perspective. I think it would be really cool and helpful to many viewers if you could 'react' to the religion portion of the old "Zeitgeist" videos (floating around on TH-cam). They claim a lot of similarities between Biblical Characters (i.e. Jesus) and other historical characters (i.e. Egyptian Horus) but the average person doesn't have any way of really confirming or debunking all of these claims which are rapidly delivered without giving the viewer time to consider if they are accurate. The video also claims the common point connecting many of these stories is the Zodiac Astrological signs such as the age of Taurus being related to the worship of the golden calf, and the age of Aries the Ram ushered in with Moses, and the Pisces age related to Jesus... I would be very interested to hear your historical 'corrections' or confirmations to even just a few of the claims they make! This video has been floating around for probably a decade now, and if it's misinforming people it would be great to know how.
I can't remember if it was this TH-cam channel or another one, but there was an episode that debunked the widespread rumor about the Egyptian story (Horus) and Mitrha that mimicked the story of Jesus being born to a virgin, dying and rising 3 days later. Bill Maher once used that to attack Christians on his show, but there is no evidence for a story like that. A lot of Athiests commented saying they had used that in their arguments against Christians, and would not do so anymore. I found some videos on it, but I'm not sure if this is what I watched before: th-cam.com/video/xdkxdiPDlkw/w-d-xo.html Edit: This one is from ReligionForBreakfast on Mithras: th-cam.com/video/xlF0gVedODE/w-d-xo.html
@@Mr-E. thanks for this reply! Yes, I had watched the Mike Winger "debunk" but I find a response from a pastor less credible than one from a historian like Andrew Henry on the ReligionForBreakfast channel. For one, Winger doesn't cite any resources, and for two, he is a pastor who is biased and literally NEEDS to prove it wrong for his career. Andrew, however, always does a fantastic job staying neutral and sharing a much more accurate depiction of what the historical evidence shows. And. Thank you for sharing the second link to the ReligionForBreakfast video on Mithras. That's exactly what I was looking for! I like how he says just because different religions were fighting for something like the december 25th holiday doesn't mean that the religions stemmed from the same origin. What neither of these videos adress, however, is the Astrotheology theory and whether it holds any truth.
Ya I have a Jesus Ankh Cross necklace. It means life and Jesus is the bread of life. Bread was invented in the Garden of Eden aka the Nile Delta! See my videos on Eden in Egypt.
Regarding relics, I think there may be a bit of a misunderstanding in how relics are understood not only in early Christianity, but many do not understand how relics are understood in orthodox Christianity today. The excerpt below may be helpful. Also, you even see in more modern times orthodox Christians in Alaska with the native Americans adapting their cultural understanding with orthodox beliefs as a fulfillment. St Justin Martyr in the patristic period of early Christianity spoke of this as well, but not in the way a modern cultural understanding would think of religious syncretism though. I’ll include an excerpt about that below the following if it fits. “To many Christians the honoring of relics seems weird, primitive, a sick sort of magical fetishism. It sounds incompatible with Christian faith, not only because skeletons are creepy, but also because the human body, in fact the entire material world, is inherently suspect. If “God is spirit” (John 4: 24), the world of matter must be at best illusory, at worst fatally deceitful, in its seductive allure. Though this is widely assumed to be a tenet of Christian faith, it’s actually a misunderstanding. In ancient Christianity, as in classic Judaism, God does not stand apart from his creation and require us to choose. Instead, he permeates and fills it. “‘ Do I not fill heaven and earth?’, says the LORD” (Jer. 23: 24), and Isaiah heard the angels cry, “The whole earth is full of his glory” (Isa. 6: 3). An often-used Orthodox prayer to the Holy Spirit says that he is “everywhere present and filling all things.” As the Psalmist says: ‘Whither shall I go from your Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Let only darkness cover me, and the light about me be night,” Even the darkness is not dark to you, the night is bright as day; for darkness is as light with you.’ (Ps. 139: 7-12) Ancient Judaism recognized God as present throughout his creation. Not in a merely analogical sense-“ If God made this, he must be like that”-but actually permeating and pervading it. This isn’t pantheism; the idea is not that the material world contains God, as an animist might think that there’s a god inside a tree. Instead, God simultaneously fills his creation and infinitely exceeds it. We don’t have to puzzle over the question of whether God is immanent (present in this world) or transcendent (vastly beyond it). He’s both. St. Paul expressed this idea several ways: • “In [Christ] all things hold together” (Col. 1: 17). • “Through [Christ] are all things and through [him] we exist” (1 Cor. 8: 6). • God the Father “is above all and through all and in all” (Eph. 4: 6). • To the Athenians he quoted the poet Epimenides of Knossos: “In [God] we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17: 28). • “Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made” (Rom. 1: 20). Earlier I said that, when I was newly Orthodox, I felt like some unidentifiable thing was really different about it, compared with all the other sorts of Christian faith I’d known. When I came upon the little word “energy,” I felt I’d found one of the clues. You’ll probably be surprised to learn that energeia and its relatives occur dozens of times in the New Testament-surprised because we don’t see “energy” in our English translations.† Most New Testament uses of energeia occur in St. Paul, for he often speaks of God “energizing” within us: • “God is energizing in you, both to will and to energize for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2: 13). • “The word of God . . . is energizing in you believers” (1 Thess. 2: 13). • St. Paul sometimes combines it with dynamis, “power”: “For this I toil, striving according to the energy of him energizing in me with dynamis” (Col. 1: 29). • The coming of the evil one will be “according to the energy of Satan . . . with all dynamis and with signs and false wonders” (2 Thess. 2: 9). If you could read the Bible with those energy words leaping out at you, it would be easier to grasp how God is present within this physical world. He is present in a supernatural way, energizing people and producing miracles; he is also present in a natural way, for he animates all creation (“ I am . . . the life,” John 11: 25; 14: 6). He even manifests himself at times in his Uncreated Light, as at the burning bush (Exod. 3) and Christ’s Transfiguration (Mk. 9: 2-8) There is an essence to God, an ousia, that we can never grasp, but his energies surround and fill us in natural and supernatural ways. This term energy should not be taken to mean that God is present only when things get noticeably lively, but rather that he is the life that underlies everything in existence. His energy is what gives us bodies and breath, and also makes us more than bodies and breath: it gives us awareness and individuality, and enables us to see others and love them. “In him was life, and the life was the light of all people” (John 1: 4, NRSV). So why don’t we see those energy words in our English Bibles? Because when St. Jerome (AD 331-420) was translating the Bible from Greek into Latin, there wasn’t a good equivalent. “Energy” wasn’t a Latin concept. An earlier Latin translator had just transliterated energeia, and it might have been adopted into Latin that way. But St. Jerome chose instead to use the term operatio, which means “operation” or “work.” We have the word energy in English now, of course, and it could be popped right into place when new translations are made. But we’ve read the Bible for too many centuries with the assumption that God “works” and “operates” instead. Yes, “working” and “energizing” are somewhat similar, but the energy words have a different feeling, don’t they? If God is “energizing” in his creation, his life is coursing through every molecule. If, on the other hand, he is “working” in it, he can set it up and walk away, like the watchmaker in the Enlightenment-era analogy who put his masterwork together and then left it to run on its own. In the last century quantum physics has made discoveries that disrupt our sense of matter as stolid and inert. We learn that within each atom there is ceaseless motion, that matter and energy are somehow equivalent, and that the apparent solidity of the visible world is an illusion. Everything we can see is, in a sense, alive, vibrant-as if God were continuously calling it into existence. It’s worth repeating that God’s energies, by which we experience him in this world, are not all there is to God. In his essence, his unknowable inner reality, God is beyond anything we could sense or think. He is beyond existence, and also beyond anything we might imagine “nonexistence” to mean; he is beyond “being” and “nonbeing,” beyond any pair of opposites you could name. It is true that “God is love” (1 Jn. 4: 8), and yet we could also say that God is not love, because what we mean when we say the word “love” is utterly inadequate. Whatever we think or picture when we say “love” is too shallow to describe the reality.”-Frederica Mathewes-Green, Welcome to the Orthodox Church As far as relics and God’s energy go I recommend considering these verses as well: 2 Kings 13:21, Mark 5:21-34, Acts 5:15, Numbers 21:8, Exodus 3:1-15. Some modern Christians who have adopted a type of neo-gnostic metaphysical view will have trouble with this metaphysical view of early Christians and modern orthodox Christians. “... Religions are not all the same. They do not all worship the same “God.” This observation ought to be obvious to anyone who takes religious believers at their word when they describe their beliefs. Yet at the same time, we can recognize that there is truth in all religions and philosophies. St. Justin Martyr, in the second century, called this the spermatikos logos, the “Logos in seed form.” The Logos, or “Word,” is Jesus Christ (John 1: 1-16), and St. Justin believed that all belief systems had within them the seeds of His revelation. Because all human beings are created according to the image of God, Jesus Christ, they are not capable of being wrong all the time...”-Fr. Stephen Andrew Damick
No no no. Demons and the devil always love to mimic things the all mighty does. I don’t care which is old there hieroglyphics or the Bible but I do know that god blesses me in ways I never thought. And I do know that Satan always loves to deceive
@@risingmoontarot199God may well bless you but doesnt change the fact that the hieroglyphics were in existence LOOONNNNGGG before the bible was written by scribes
In the Western Sahara, I noticed that many of the Kel Aïr tribe of Tuareg nomads wore a necklace pendent in the form of a cross with a circular top, very similar to both the Ankh and the Crux Ansanta. The Tuareg are Muslims, but don't fit well into most people's ideas of Muslim culture. For example, men are veiled and women are not, and they preserve many pre-Islamic laws and customs. Inheritance is matrilineal, and women hold a much higher position than among other Muslims. They still revere an ancient founding Queen. The "Tuareg Cross" was confusing to visiting Christians, though the Kel Aïr vigorously deny that it has any connection to Christianity. I'm told that some scholars think it's a remnant of the Christian presence in the North African Roman Empire and the Vandal state before the arrival of Islam. Others think that it comes from the symbolism of the Phoenician/Carthagenian cult of Tanis, which we know had a continuing influence in the Sahara. But just at a glance, when I first saw one on someone's neck, I mistook it for an Ankh. The Tuareg speak a Berber language, an ancient linguistic family that long predates the Romans and Carthaginians, and is more closely related to ancient Egyptian than to either Arabic or the Punic language of the Carthaginians. In fact, one Berber language is still spoken in the Siwa Oasis of Egypt.
i gave you a thumbs up, but you have to stop misusing the term 'conspiracy theory'. The theory that the Christian cross might derive from the Egyptian ankh is not a conspiracy....theory. Those who believe in this theory (I'm personally agnostic on the matter) never claimed that some group conspired to adapt the ankh to the Christian cross. It's a theory, but no conspiracy involved. Don't use words so loosely please.
3:15 to 3:26 Yikes! That amulet shows a totally shameful and horror and terror-inducing crucifixion. Note the legs are suspended in mid-air with knees akimbo and the arms connected to the patibulum (crossarm) with ligatures (straps or ropes). This sort of crucifixion is impossible unless the person was also impaled. Knowing what Seneca said, this was probably quite common.
They all borrow from each other. It was just a question of what "flavor" (hellenism, etc) an up and coming religion/mystery cult would take. Baptism/lords supper/personal salvation was all the hype at the time.
@@stephengloss5364 Yeah Judaism practically plagiarized Egyptian beliefs. Then along came Zoroastrianism later that influenced Christianity & Islam since they both came after Zoroastrianism. People need to study their history to connect the dots. Religion is man made & not real. Only the philosophies & literature are real but the supernatural from these books aren’t.
@jay i don't know where the ankh evolved from. i have no interest in pagan symbols. but the christian cross was used as symbol because christ died on the cross. it has absolutely nothing to do with egyptian paganism nor the abkh.
Leon Jan are you one of those everyone else is stupider than me type of people, I’m asking you to back up your statement with sources, with facts not “common sense” that’s usually what people say when they cannot produce any. I’ve heard your claim before and want to simply know the source of your claim, googles a wonderful tool yes but I want to hear it from the man who said it. Biblically there are 12 names for each of the twelve disciples so are you saying that they only counted 11 of them plus Mary? You’re just missing a person is what I am saying or having Mary being represented as two different roles. Just ain’t adding up
I respect your view and its well explained. I dont think we should debate if Egypt influenced Christianity cause its simple. The bible was based in which continent. We all know how many things outside of the the Ankh which was learnt in Egypt. Christianity was in Egypt 150 years before the Romans know what Christianity was. Europeans only learnt how to decipher the hieroglyphics in the 1800s so alot of things they didnt understand culturally about the Egyptians. Its crucial we look at timelines when we explain our versions so that we don't confuse those who arent sure about the topic.
Hey! I’ve been binging on these videos for about two weeks now and love the content you put out. I would love to buy and wear a RFB hoodie and tee and I’m sure others feel the same, if you ever thought about offering some channel merch :)
All ur videos seem pretty christian biased, so far all I've seen is videos of u trying to prove christianity legitimacy when nothing prooving any opposition against it.
An unbiased analysis will lead to the conclusion that Christianity is true. The "evidence " against the historical facts of Christianity doesn't hold water. I do not mean the theology. I mean that a Jewish man we call Jesus was born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, preached in Galilee and Judea. That the Jewish leaders felt threatened and got the Romans to crucify Him. And that His followers were convinced that He rose from the dead. To the point of being willing to die before recanting or worshiping Ceasar.
Where is he arguing the legitimacy of Christianity as a religion? He is presenting the known facts of history and culture. He is not "proving" nor "disproving" anything. It is not the place of a scholar to argue either for or against any religion. He takes the same approach for other religions. If you want apologetics or polemics, you need to go to a channel based on supporting or discrediting a given religion.
0:23 *No such thing as a Christian cross.* That is a graven image. Exudos 20:4 *"You shall not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens above, on the earth beneath, or in the waters below."*
@@franklinweston6408 *Nothing is pagan about Christianity!* It is the Catholic church who hijacked Christianity and mixed it with paganism. I was a pagan 10 years ago. *AGAIN CHRISTIANITY USES NO SYMBOLS INCLUDING THE CROSS!* Deuteronomy 5:8 *You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of ANYTHING in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.*
Expose Evil then what about the Stone Tablets of the Commandments? Or the Ark of the Covenant? Are they not symbols of the Old Testament? Are you suggesting that these are not symbols of God?
@@habibingmaligaya What are you talking about? The stone tablets are just a list of forbidden acts. Try reading the bible. It makes no sense to talk about something you lack knowledge in. I can tell you about Egypt and the Ankh. I have researched this and believed in Hermetics aka Thoth book of the dead.
Please look for "prayer for logos" on youtube. It's a surprising analysis of the Sigrdrifa prayer. The prayer is a system that predates Christianity, so it doesn't really contradict the notion of Christ as Logos, it's just older and comes from an other tradition. You might find it interesting.
I also wonder how it might have been a way to ‘hide in plain sight’, since the forcefull conversion only came later with Augustine, right? So disguising or appropriating symbols might have been a way to be able to practice your faith in places where it might not have been accepted. Also, the overlap of meaning around the concept of life might have been a consideration, as the ankh stood for life and the cross stood for a sacrifice that gives others life. fascinating stuff. Thank you.
Maybe the cross as we generally know it is because scripture says a sign was nailed above Jesus' head proclaiming him King of the Jews. A T-shape would not lend itself well to that narrative. I like the ankh and think it would be a fine Christian symbol in that Christ gives life everlasting. I think the meaning is similar in Egyptian tradition.
Recent findings, including the early depictions of the chi rho symbol, have shown how impractical the T shape cross is for crucifixion, and that an X shaped cross was the original cross used for crucifixion. The Chi Rho sign shows a P over an X. The upright of the P is the support for the X shaped cross with the P also depicting Christ's head. It is known that other saints were crucified on X shaped crosses. The T shaped cross seems to be a later introduction, as early Christian pictographs do not show it, just the Chi Rho .
Papyrus 66 shows a tau-rho symbol which shows the T shaped cross was perfectly feasible. And those fabrications actually had projecting horn-shaped projections the person who was nailed up was forced to sit on, upping the shame to the utmost.
Great video, I am ashamed of my phase as new ager where I used to believe in that nonsense, so seeing why this was wrong here helped me to close that phase of my life more. Also can you do a video why the Old testament and New testament are not at odds with one another and why the "But it was the old testameeeeeeennt" excuse doesn't work.
Yeah, "whether the OT and the NT are at odds" is a Christian theological question. They are collections of different texts from very different historical contexts (from Iron age all the way to the Roman period). I def want to finish an archaeology of the Bible series that I'm writing tho where I get into a lot of the Hebrew Bible texts.
As others have mentioned that's a different field, but can I recommend a podcast for that sort of theological analysis? It's called "Almost Heretical" and is run by a couple of guys who have made theology their lifelong study and really know their stuff. They have excellent arguments that the bible presents a cohesive philosophy, just maybe not in the way you'd expect.
Zu it’s pretty much a hodge-podge of all religions. Just believe in your own God and we’ll worship together and manifest our desires yet desire is bad, and Jesus taught us how to rise above desire but wait, you are in control of your life with your mind and can really be your own God. But wait you need to pray and give a little to receive. In other words new age is complete BS.
I 've seen all your videos and liked all of them. Congrats! You are doing a trully great work. If I may notice something, you always pronounce wrongly Greek words. In this video, for example, the monogram XP is pronounced "He-Rho", not "Chi(Kai)-Ro", and the Greek letter T is pronounced "Taf", not "Taou". I would be glad to help you, if you want; just let me know! Congrats again, and thank you!
Great video caught my attention! Next I’m thinking dive into the symbolism of the sun - the cross - all used ALL over the world & before Christian Times!
The pre- Christian Irish worshiped the sun and carved circles into standing stones as a sun symbol. These stones were later "Christianized" by carving a cross through the circle. Hence the celtic cross.
I appreciate the videos on this channel for being unbiased, but as soon as I hear "conspiracy theory" it immediately sounds bias. Why is the object Jesus died on so relevant? If a friend of mine was killed, I'd never as "what kind of gun was it?" I wouldn't need that information to honor his/her death. In fact, we would all find that weird. And yet Christians are obsessed with the cross. I can't imagine the apostles walking around with a cross around their neck to honor Jesus. They would have honored him in their heart and through their actions. Why does what he died on matter so much?
If you heard your friend died suddenly, you would ask "how?" (In order to find out whether the death took a long time, was painful etc. ) Christians remember the cross because it was an embarrassing and torturous way to die, the saviour they believe in went through that. From that perspective it makes sense as to why Christians pay such attention to the way their Messiah died. Was that a good enough answer?
@@yedidiabouah1581 To each their own, I guess. If it was a friend of mine, yes, I would ask how, but I wouldn't honor them by the object that killed them. Would that be how they would like to be remembered? I know I wouldn't. I would want to be remembered for who I was, so I do my best to honor Jesus in the same way. His main focus wasn't doctrine or even his sacrifice but rather on love and being loving - the most powerful quality in the world- so I do my best to honor his sacrifice by incorporating that in my life first and foremost, just as the Apostles likely would have done.
@@sarahgutierrez7065 His main focus was fulfilling the prophecy of dying for the sins of mankind so we may have a chance at salvation. That is the gospel. So we acknowledge him fulfilling the prophecy of dying for us through the means he died for us.
@@yedidiabouah1581 Yes, he came down to die for us, and to honor his sacrifice would be to, not simply believe, but put into practice what he taught, which is all based on love. Our faith is shown through what we put into practice, not just what we believe. That is what it is to be a follower of Christ. Maybe we are saying the same thing?
This is similar to a paper I wrote recently about pagan motifs in Christian Anglo-Saxon charms. I was trying to push against the idea that peasants in the countryside were just "improperly converted" instead proposing that these ideas and traditions are being brought into a new Christian worldview
It was a paper for a university course. But I've submitted it to the Yale Undergraduate History Journal so hopefully it will be there in the Fall 2019 issue when that comes out!
Mr. Elfarlaur, I was searching for an appropriate word for "converts" from their native faith to Christianity or Islam ,particularly in Indian subcontinent These converts while adopting the main features of their new faith in the matter of belief in their God-head and mode of worship, overwhelming retained most of their pagan practices particularly their hierarchical status in old society, some marriage customs intermingling with new faith. Even in religious matters, they transported the ritual practices of mother-goddess worship to the worship of Mother Mary in the case of Christian followers. This hybrid mode of practices are so entrenched that even though their ancestors were converted long-back , the converted still hang-on to the old practices. I am particularly interested to know what psychological impact the conversion creates in the minds of the converts due to the adjustments ,the converts are required to make to the new condition. Can you please suggest me book(s) or any other sources for further reading.
Matthew 2:15 out of Egypt I called my son he's obviously in denial he's oblivious his Pope's prays to Ra serve ... in the basement but come up with Jesus in The Pavilion during the Roman Conquest the Roman soldier's prayed onto...would bath in blood goats wild beasts for the ritual the hundred 42 laws of ma'at it Council of Nicea 310 flavius Society who have said typified or complicit thoughts of the Roman tale of Jesus crafted in Jewish Torahs....christ a was and is a GOD..inflesh...with color...jesus was not a Roman citizen never been the Rome he was neither Greek obviously a middle eastern man Israel is northeast of Africa.Period Black matter ....in the beginning.....
The ankh represents life, the cross represents death, the cross was introduced by the vatican to furthermore convince the people that Jesus died on the cross which he did not.
I am black and African...the cross of Christ is the way and it means spirit led voluntary giving over self to suffering and death so that the flesh may be destroyed and the spirit may live The other cross seems to like engaging self so that you may live forever in a circle of suffering
Next watch: The Reason Why They Gave Jesus a Beard: th-cam.com/video/7DUekrCnye8/w-d-xo.html
Not true
Why wouldn't HE have had a beard? Why would HE have shaved when it was against Jewish Law and against the Vow of the Nazarite
easily disproven religious propaganda only feeds blind faith.
Its not very Christian of you to misguide the flock.
@@Smitty-op4ld The Bible does not say that Jesus took a vow as a Nazarite. He was a Nazarene meaning person living in or coming from Nazareth. The nazarene vow included abstaining from wine and all grape products. We know Jesus drank wine.
@@Smitty-op4ld www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/les-nicholls/the-surprising-origins-of-customs-superstitions-fairy-stories-nursery-rhymes-and-other-things/ebook/product-zwe8ew.html?page=1&pageSize=4
I just love how straight forward this page is, in its work. No bias, no religiosity, just straight up discussing evidence as dutifully observed. A breath of fresh air in an era where everyone seems to be picking a side when discussing the history of religion.
Yeah partisanship annoys me SO much.
Well yeah, this isn’t a theology channel, it’s about the study of religion.
Yeah, the story of how religions interact with a culture, and vice versa, is always fascinating. Though, if asked, it would be hard to put my finger on exactly why it's interesting.
That's why this is one of my favorite channels. I think if such a thing existed back during my youth, I would probably would have ended up a religious studies major myself, haha
100% and the reason it's so informative. I'm not worried about accepting a bias as a fact, it presents the history we have and details what we do and do not know
The Coptic Church still uses the ankh.
Yes, but they also have their own "Coptic Cross" as well.
iam a Coptic ,yes we still use ankh cross but to denote our nationality as Egyptian not Arabs
Cern Green
Correct, There are “Coptic” crosses carved on ancient Ægyptian pillars.
Gerald McFarlin so is the ankh but that’s just half of the meaning
@@harveywabbit9541 absolute nonsense.
You can take them out of Egypt but you can't take Egypt out of them.
Egypt is a dead theology
@@SM-4359 Egypt is a country.
The cross represents the death of Jesus
Moses came down to end all the magic in Egypt
@@xAsSaSsInZx1 Moses and Jesus never existed
Love your videos! I am Coptic Christian, and it is common belief among Copts that Christianity took a hold in Egypt because of how similar it was to ancient Egyptian religions and it wasn’t hard to transition from their previous religion to Christianity. The Ankh is one example of this and is often explicitly thought of in this manner, that ancient Egyptians used it and it’s likeness to represent the Cross when Christianity was introduced to Egypt (through St. Mark). Great videos once again. Another one is the burial hymn we sing at the end of Good Friday is said to use the same tune of the burial songs sang when they would bury pharaohs.
Many believe that this kind of syncretism occurred in Rome and Persia too.
you are so lost smh. don't feel bad though I also grew up Christian
How did islam come to dominate eygpt
@@janeslater8004 Convert or die.
@@janeslater8004War and Conquest in the name of Allah
This guy doesn't get anywhere near the number of thirsty comments he deserves.
This is a valid point.
@The Stammering Dunce Tell me about the Gnostic gospels... daddy
glad I'm not the only one
He looks like Markiplyar
Not gonna lie, it's crossed my mind
3:09 had no idea that ancient graffiti could look so much like MS-paint 4chan memes.
People don’t change haha
Came for the iconographic history, stayed for the beard.
Me too!
Here for the beard, left right after
came for the ✝️ Stayed for the ---->🧔🏻
❤️👍
I must admit, he seems to have grown into his beard over the years.
Christianity Borrowed a lot of symbols and customs from a lot of places that it spread and coptic Egypt is no different.
One of my favourite example of Christian syncretism is the veneration of El Tío in bolivia, the local miners who are majority catholic leave pagan style offering and sacrifices to the lord of the mines to prevent cave ins .
@LagiNaLangAko23 Yeah. He originates from Supay, who is an ancient incan underworld god but he has been syncretised with the Christian idea of the devil. so he is like half Indigenous and half Satan.
I am from a Muslim background and the old women in my morrocan town used to paint a even cross mostly in purple on the walls of their homes. Later on I did my research and found out it is mostly cross of Ishtar tied to the Carthaginian civilization.
Yes, its a tactic to convert easily, in india it is happening currently, where jesus wears a tika(hindu culture), offered garlands(hindu), images are made where he is playing with our kid gods, there are jagrata(hindu) for him, coconut is broken in front of him(hindu).... 2000 years of history gives them major psychological points of conversion....
Dont forget that Christmas is actually based on a norse holiday called jol or yol(not entirely Christmas, but the feast and gathering the lights and Christmas trees all of it was based there) and the date dec 25th was the birth of a roman god which was a special holiday, people couldnt know whether jesus was born on september or august so instead they put it in 25 so it could be a special day for them.
@Blessed Priest The statue of liberty is a gift from the French. What do you mean it's Ishtar?
According to the internet it's a statue of Libertas, a Roman god. Why is it a Mesopotamian god to you?
As an artist that works in symbolism, I often feel that our society's view on symbols is influenced by branding, logos, and copyright laws. I hear a lot of people speak about symbols is that context. Symbolism and culture doesn't really work that way though. It is more complicated. I really enjoy you videos.
In this case, the anch is a magic mushroom, which is the key/device/tool/instrument that produce the immortal experience. As an artis you probably already knew that.
High cross in Ireland along with Cathar cross in France have a cross encompassed by a pagan circle. Old habits die hard!
In some Indian churches with new converts, Jesus looks and dresses up like Hindu Gods
@@vamshilifevlogs I'd say if he existed he may have visited india. Egypt too! I think people have it in their heads that biblical figures only walked from village to village.. all these borders are a modern construct. I like to think people moved around quite a bit. Columbus wasn't the first to navigate the waters. Pyramids are a global phenominal.
@@lallyoisin Pyramids are global because of physics. From an engineering perspective, if you want very tall buildings the top must be narrower than the base.
@@disapearingboi so no shared knowledge as far as you are concerned!?
When its regarded as fact that ancient races could circumnavigate the globe dont forget those that thought a lil deeper than you!
I'll extend you an olive branch.. google image Machu Picchu and then google image ruins of irish monasteries.
The most overlooked were the Irish and it took only 800 years to render us in a state of amnesia!
@@lallyoisin I'm Irish myself and I've even been to Machu Picchu. Inca Stone work is more complicated than it looks - they used large interlocking stones at the base and looser uncut stone near the top. This was a unique earthquake resistant measure - interlocking or polygonal masonry is unknown in Irish ruins.
Ireland has an extensive written history - if Clonmacnoise or Cashel were in contact with Inca sites then there would be mentions of them. There are no gothic motifs in Inca sites but Ireland is full of them.
The differences between these cultures are immense. The only reason the ruins look similar is because all you can see left are the bare bones.
I take the title of this series seriously and am watching it while eating my breakfast... :)
I read somewhere that the Catholic rosary co opted historical designs, originally going back as far as 5,000 years ago, including the Ankh as a sort of inspiration. Anyhow, don't know much, and am excited to learn more. Since early Christianity used symbols from religious predecessors, it seems there would be an interesting story about the rosary, too.
Did you see the news that they may have found items that date back to the sack of Jerusalem's sack by Babylon? I know it's detailed in cuniform but aren't these items important since that time period is missing
The Ankh also looks like an Akwaaba doll of The Ashanti people of Ghana. They are fertility dolls used as a prayer for the health of a pregnant woman or for one who wishes to be so.
The Ashanti are natives to ancient Egypt. The real kemites of Egypt
5:07 Incubation was ancient slang for inception :)
I was fascinated with the tablets found in Asclepion's temples, where believers expressed their gratitude to this God that revealed in a dream something helpful in their lives, from cures to prophecies. Amazing stuff!
Your videos are great Andrew, very interesting coverage of unique aspects of religion and religious history. Keep up the good work!
2:30 Roman Philosopher Seneca
3:30 Gospels not mention shape
4:09 God Serapis
4:30 christianization and syncretism
5:14 Incubation with Asclepius
I love your videos. You speak so knowledgeably about the topic while remaining objective. I'm a Religious Studies teacher in the UK and I will, most definitely, be recommending your channel to my students. Keep up the amazing work.
So the people who are the descendants of Ancient Egyptians still use ancient Egyptian symbol?
Who would’ve thunk it?
Yep pretty much. The Coptic language is influenced by Middle Egyptian language too.
ZaqueHunzahua true, but symbols that old rarely tend to die so easily.
@perakole I thought demotic was a dead language
@ZaqueHunzahua Well it's like how Mexicans celebrate Day of the Dead despite it originating as an Aztec holiday before being associated with Christianity. Old traditions die hard.
NGOLA KINGDON lol they weren’t black , despite what you’d like to believe . There’s a incredible amount of detailed history both from Ancient Egypt & the countries that area of the world & NO they don’t say that they were black .
Talking of crosses, it would be cool if you made a video explaining the history and meaning of the different styles of crosses different Christian groups use.
There's an Ante-Nicene work entitled, The Octavius of Minicius Felix, which had to have been written after 197 CE, but before 248 CE. The author, Marcus Minucius Felix, a prominent advocate who'd practiced law at the Roman bar and an Christian, recounts a dialogue between his dear friend Octavius, an Christian convert, and a pagan named, Caecilius Natalis. Caecilius offers one criticism after another about Christianity and Octavius attempts to defend Christianity, while making corrections as to the faulty information Caecilius has about the Christian belief-system, etc. When Caecilius claims that the Christians worship "a man punished by extreme suffering for his wickedness" and "the deadly wood of the cross," Octavius responds thusly (Chap. XXIX):
"Crosses, moreover, we neither worship nor wish for! You, indeed, who consecrate gods of wood, adore wooden crosses perhaps as parts of your gods. For your very [military] standards, as well as your banners; and flags of your camp, what else are they but crosses glided and adorned? Your victorious trophies not only imitate the appearance of a simple cross, but also that of a man affixed to it. We assuredly see the sign of a cross, naturally, in the ship when it is carried along with swelling sails, when it glides forward with expanded oars; and when the military yoke is lifted up, it is the sign of a cross; and when a man adores G-d with a pure mind, with hands outstretched. Thus the sign of the cross either is sustained by a natural reason, or your own [pagan] religion is formed with respect to it."
Why Christians use the symbol of the cross is beyond me. I guess it's a good thing that the man they've deified wasn't executed by electrocution or they'd be wearing little electric chairs attached to a necklace. :heavy sigh:
Exactly. Christians today do not know where their iconic symbol originated from!
Lucian: "The cross used for crucifiction is the exact same shape as the letter tau! Coincidence??? I think not!"
YES. coincidence. Just like the ankh, the broken cross, a symbol of peace corrupted by the Nazis and other crosses around the world. Havent you ever noticed, say, to change the subject for a moment, how widely disparate cultures that have never had any contact with each other have many of the same structures like the pyramids, Stonehenge type structures, and maybe a few others that I cant think of at the moment? Its because their ancient ancestors all had a common source.
Of course.. early Christians used Tau as a symbol.., now also Friars Capuchin Fathers use this symbol..
@@abimukeshs8229 Early Christians did not use the T tau symbol for Jesus' cross was not a tau shape
@@christinadouglas3975 well the capital letter Tau is like that..
@@abimukeshs8229 The cross Jesus was on had to have room at the top for nailing a sign. It was a t.
Even if it was a Tau SO WHAT........Jesus died on a cross, that is fact that is not made up. Other cultures having adopted and incorporated bible prophecy into their legends adopted the cross as part of their histories as I have already said
I used to work for a company that printed “About Us” books designed by churches. I had one book that looked like a perfectly ordinary Baptist church-except the photos showed an ankh in the front of the sanctuary instead of a cross. Not gonna lie, I was very weirded out.
This was a really good assessment of the facts. Especially the writings of the early church fathers. I would also add that not all crosses and or crucifixes are the same within liturgical denominations. Yes, a very fine job indeed. Thank-you!
the crux ansata and a variation with a latin cross inside the circle are also widely used symbols of gnostic christians, possibly originating with the early egyptian gnostics
Any more info on this?
"The earliest known example of a crux ansata comes from a copy of the Gospel of Judas from the 3rd or early 4th century AD." From the Wikipedia -age on the ankh symbol
My old algebra would feed me conspiracy theories and would grade us on proving them right. He totally did that 'Christianity is a knockoff' thing as well, after showing us the movie Zeitgeist. Although I am no longer Catholic, I still don't like people lying to me about the religion. Thank you for correcting the misinformation in my head.
Ugh, I hate it when teachers force their opinions on their students...
except its not a conspiracy
It's not uncommon for people to hang on to symbols, rituals and customs from something they grew up in or joined. I grew up as a Catholic and even though I am longer Catholic I still tend to keep some of symbols. I still keep a crucifix (Jesus on the cross). I no longer use a rosary for prayer but I still keep one or more. I still use Holy Water when I can think of getting some. But if you think about it Christians shouldn't be even using any symbol since God strictly says no idols of any kind. People have a hard time letting go of religious traditions. That is our downfall.
I’m so grateful for your videos and your efforts to educate people about religion without being religious. Love your videos and can’t wait for your next video.
ameribeaner Is it would possible to not be religious?
ameribeaner you can be religious and still have this level of intellect
Maoist98 I agree. I just talk with a bunch of atheists who write off anyone who is religious and when I send them to this page they can’t refute him bc he isn’t trying to convert them.
This is something people, especially edgy new atheists, don't understand: culture doesn't just completely change overnight and it's absolutely normal to see elements of older religions mixed in with Christianity, it's just how culture works and it's not evidence of some nebulous conspiracy theory as you said.
Well done, keep it up
ThePainkiller9995 Precisely 👌
@ZaqueHunzahua so basically they were huge hypocrites I guess atheists have better culture.
Imagine believing in imaginary gods and having ridiculous beliefs as culture.
@ZaqueHunzahua you are confusing communism with atheism. both are separate ideologies. Religion itself is the biggest propaganda btw
also Culture and religion are not the same either, the belief in god doesn't make one cultural at all. you are trying to credit something to religion for which they shouldn't be.
Religion if i remember did nothing but push back civilization, science and technology.
@Zu the pagan death cults and ritual human sacrifice practices of the past.
@Caleb Clark they actually didn't there's very little proof from non Christian sources that Christians were persecuted to the degree they claim they were
im watching this while having breakfast
Appropriate
Me too
I did the opposite
@@gunjfur8633 you had this while watching breakfast?
@@RanchElder
*opposite time
I just learned so much. Thank you.
The cross.goes back to Tamuz.
But the Ankh is older than people.think.
The ancient or dynastic egyptians stumbled across the megalythic sphinx and pyramids.
The y didnt have the knowledge required to build in that fashion.
Shane fields study an area in Southern Africa called the Blombos caves. You will see the earliest use of the Ankh way before they moved up the Nile and established civilizations such as Egypt
@@jrossjr98 pure ignorance 🤦🏿♂️ You don’t have the knowledge to type a proper comment.
@@blacsteve is that so?
What is the Ankh?
Please explain
@@jrossjr98 if you have to ask that question, you shouldn’t be speaking about the ankh 🤦🏿♂️
Agreed on the more likely "embedded" assimilation interpretation, just like the Egyptians did for some of their iconography (like the ankh descending from the prehistoric-neolithic sun crosses).
0:11 based and ankhpilled
Could you do an episode on how the cult of virgin Mary developed and whether it was influenced by the Egyptian religion. I heard some strange theories about it but I'm unable to tell if they're true or false.
Please make videos on the sources of the Bible like Samaritan Pentateuch. Would love to have info on that.
I'm reading the Bible codes by satinover atm. In it he refers to the Samaritan Torah scribes being less exact than the Jewish scribes. The world has not ended so I presume the the KJV is the best English readers can hope for.
I cant stress enought how much I love this channel and this guys methodological, critical approach to facts and suppositions.. this is great.
I cant believe i missed this one. Its fascinating. Keep up the great work & God bless
And I suspect the shape of the cross is more an ergonomic influence rather than romans drawing from the spiritual iconography
The Greek Cross at 2:50 has a very interesting symbol at the base. The golf tee six point symbol is a complete version of what the cuneiform star was only a half symbol of. I have seen this in numerous Sumerian reliefs and noticed it being open towards the 'left' with the triangle forms to the right, but only in that form.
I wonder if they were intending to draw from that symbology or it was subliminal?
Excellent article, by the way.
Keep noticing the Tatooine poster and gotta ask if you've seen the Mandolin series yet?
If not, I'd encourage you to do so asap. It's finally a true homage to the Original StarWars IV, V, VI!
Thanks for sharing your insights and clarity of thought with all of us. It's truly a blessing.
OMG! The pomegranates on his shelf! Beautiful!
My research and time in Egypt taught me that the ankh meant eternal life, not just life. That’s why it was used in the death ceremony in opening the mouth.
Thank you Andrew for the great scholarly works and for putting it clearly and precisely. Keep it up... Looking forward for more.
Please keep making these amazing videos!
This reminds me of the possible adaptation of the Isis lactans and the Madonna and child representations, or the addition of the blue grecian matiasma, or 'evil eye', to many of their Christian symbols.
@@watermelonlalala That's what I meant - that the matiasma was used to repel evil.
Great Video! Well done. Suggestion for future videos: you should do a series on important scholars of religion such as J.Z. Smith, Mircea Eliade, and J.G. Frazer. Those guys are so interesting and important in the study of religion but most people don't know who they are.
Joseph Atwill's Caesar's Messiah opened my eyes and it made a lot of sense why the Romans invented Jesus.
@Noah Scheid Yeshu was and still is no name. Yehochoua יהושע exists. הושעה as well. יש"ו Yesh"u exists also but as the acronym for" Let his name and memory be erased".
It’s hilarious that homie’s got 3 bongs on the shelf behind him.
Hello mom it's a lamp...and this here where you turn it on...
I used to have a necklace of this cross but I didn't know it was Egyptian at the time .....
Amy Angell i'm sure Amy
Put it back on Amy
Amy Angell it’s not. It was used in Egypt. You can find plenty of information of where it came from and where the oldest Ankh carving found to date was found
Yes the ankh is 100% Egyptian
“The ankh or key of life is an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol that was most commonly used in writing and in Egyptian art to represent the word for "life" and, by extension, as a symbol of life itself.”
Awesome video, great info! Confirmed my suspicion. And a good looking presenter, pleasant to see! Suscribed! 💛
Hang on, if the cross wasn't cross-shaped then why did the Romans call it crucifixion from "crux"?
Because it was a three-dimensional Priapean torture stake. Irenaeus said the _crux_ had five ends or high points: two lengthwise, two widthwise, and one in the middle - on which last rests he who is affixed with nails. Justin Martyr said that point was shaped like a horn and even looked like a horn on which 'rode' those who were crucified. And Tertullian called it the well-known projecting / excessive seat and the pale at / from the middle of the stake. Nuff said!
Its actually very possible. The most common paintings of Jesus on the cross were made by people who'd never seen someone die from crucifixion before, and its likely that the cross a historical Jesus would have died on was very different then what we think of today. So it is also very possible that those artists took inspiration for the cross in their paintings from somewhere else, perhaps even the Egyptian Ankh.
In the artefact record of at least the first four centuries we only have a record of people who call themselves Chrestians(The good/useful ones) with an eta and not the later iota. Followers of Jesus Chrestos(Jesus the good). These artefacts include papyrus, Suetonius, Tacitus and inscriptions. Even Codex Sinaiticus in the three places "christians" is found in modern bibles is found "chrestians" in the original greek(Photos of all pages are available online where you can verify). It is not until Codex Alexandrinus of the 6th-8th century that we have our first artefact that uses the word "christian". If you can find an earlier artefact please reply as I have been search for three years looking for one.
The gnostic texts speak of "The Great Sabaoth, the Good" as the heavenly "god" who gave Jesus the Good his earthly power.
What relates to the subject of this video is the ancient use of "+" or "x" to mark something as "good", in say the margin of a text. There is also pre "christian" evidence of the Chi Rho also being used to designate "chrest". It seems too much of a coincidence for this to not have some bearing on the origin.
Can you do some videos on pre Abrahamic religions. Also on how religions "evolved/developed" thru time. And how Judaism or the first followers of Abraham came to be. Thanks
Thanks for the video, but am I missing something out? You are talking about the "T-shaped cross", and I know that this was a popular shape to get the job done, because it makes sense. But the christian cross is not T-shaped, or it wouldn't be a cross, but... umm... a "T", you know? I have heard and read this explanation several times and it never satisfied me - why put this upper pole on top of it? It doesn't serve a practical purpose! Going with this the christian symbol should be a T, not a cross. Why does nobody ask this question? Is it me? Is it too obvious to even mention it? What do I miss here? Is it just to put that "INRI" sign on top of it?
Are there actual drawings or clear descriptions from the time showing the cross shape as a common design to crucify people?
Imagine tying two beams together. You wouldn’t do it right at the very top because you’re tying it with rope. So there isn’t another extra piece at the top. One beam is just 3/4 up the other tied on top. If that makes sense. Still 2 beams never cut
That's because the cross, like all holidays were recycled from various pagen religions .
The Roman's used poles traditionally and rarely T shaped , but I've never found true historical proof of a cross.
@@JCsammy True. Plus, even if they used nails, there's the INRI inscription. Note that INRI is a shortcut, specifically, an acronym. The actual text is the sentence "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" written in Latin (IESVS NAZARENVS REX IVDÆORVM), Greek ( Ἰησοῦς ὁ Ναζωραῖος ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων), and Hebrew (ישוע הנוצרי ומלך היהודים). Or at least, that's how it's been told...
That's because the cross the Romans used which the Christians adopted wasn't used for executions but rather everything from military yokes to trophies of victory. Minucius Felix, _Octavius_
I think it's about time that subscribe to your channel.. because I want to simply be educated not with the judgement that comes from videos who's pointing fingers and ego driven by who's right who's wrong . Just give me enough info so I can do my own research and due diligence 😁 thank you bunches now I have a foundation that's what all of us ought to do . Research with having a solid foundation is a good start and waaaaayyy less confusion IMHO 😁
Maybe this is from more recent times, but I've heard something about Christian symbols being prohibited in Egypt, so the Christians used the Ankh instead, because hieroglyphs were allowed.
Seems unlikely - Egypt has a large Christian minority, with ancient, still active monasteries and churches. I don't know when 'Christian symbols' would have been fully forbidden. Roman times? In Muslim Egypt, hieroglyphs would have been seen as pagan and at least as bad as Christian signs, even if various amulets etc survived in folk belief, such as the Eye of Horus.
This is honestly my favorite channel on youtube, as you've said yourself we all can use more religious scholarship in our lives.
Thank you for all your work
Have you done a video on why & when the symbol for Christianity changed for the chi rho to the "Latin" cross?
Interesting, the relationship between Egyptian religion and current day religion! I love your videos, it's so refreshing to hear your opinion from a historical perspective. I think it would be really cool and helpful to many viewers if you could 'react' to the religion portion of the old "Zeitgeist" videos (floating around on TH-cam). They claim a lot of similarities between Biblical Characters (i.e. Jesus) and other historical characters (i.e. Egyptian Horus) but the average person doesn't have any way of really confirming or debunking all of these claims which are rapidly delivered without giving the viewer time to consider if they are accurate. The video also claims the common point connecting many of these stories is the Zodiac Astrological signs such as the age of Taurus being related to the worship of the golden calf, and the age of Aries the Ram ushered in with Moses, and the Pisces age related to Jesus... I would be very interested to hear your historical 'corrections' or confirmations to even just a few of the claims they make! This video has been floating around for probably a decade now, and if it's misinforming people it would be great to know how.
I can't remember if it was this TH-cam channel or another one, but there was an episode that debunked the widespread rumor about the Egyptian story (Horus) and Mitrha that mimicked the story of Jesus being born to a virgin, dying and rising 3 days later. Bill Maher once used that to attack Christians on his show, but there is no evidence for a story like that. A lot of Athiests commented saying they had used that in their arguments against Christians, and would not do so anymore. I found some videos on it, but I'm not sure if this is what I watched before: th-cam.com/video/xdkxdiPDlkw/w-d-xo.html Edit: This one is from ReligionForBreakfast on Mithras: th-cam.com/video/xlF0gVedODE/w-d-xo.html
@@Mr-E. thanks for this reply! Yes, I had watched the Mike Winger "debunk" but I find a response from a pastor less credible than one from a historian like Andrew Henry on the ReligionForBreakfast channel. For one, Winger doesn't cite any resources, and for two, he is a pastor who is biased and literally NEEDS to prove it wrong for his career. Andrew, however, always does a fantastic job staying neutral and sharing a much more accurate depiction of what the historical evidence shows. And. Thank you for sharing the second link to the ReligionForBreakfast video on Mithras. That's exactly what I was looking for! I like how he says just because different religions were fighting for something like the december 25th holiday doesn't mean that the religions stemmed from the same origin. What neither of these videos adress, however, is the Astrotheology theory and whether it holds any truth.
Ya I have a Jesus Ankh Cross necklace. It means life and Jesus is the bread of life. Bread was invented in the Garden of Eden aka the Nile Delta! See my videos on Eden in Egypt.
Regarding relics, I think there may be a bit of a misunderstanding in how relics are understood not only in early Christianity, but many do not understand how relics are understood in orthodox Christianity today. The excerpt below may be helpful. Also, you even see in more modern times orthodox Christians in Alaska with the native Americans adapting their cultural understanding with orthodox beliefs as a fulfillment. St Justin Martyr in the patristic period of early Christianity spoke of this as well, but not in the way a modern cultural understanding would think of religious syncretism though. I’ll include an excerpt about that below the following if it fits.
“To many Christians the honoring of relics seems weird, primitive, a sick sort of magical fetishism. It sounds incompatible with Christian faith, not only because skeletons are creepy, but also because the human body, in fact the entire material world, is inherently suspect. If “God is spirit” (John 4: 24), the world of matter must be at best illusory, at worst fatally deceitful, in its seductive allure.
Though this is widely assumed to be a tenet of Christian faith, it’s actually a misunderstanding. In ancient Christianity, as in classic Judaism, God does not stand apart from his creation and require us to choose. Instead, he permeates and fills it. “‘ Do I not fill heaven and earth?’, says the LORD” (Jer. 23: 24), and Isaiah heard the angels cry, “The whole earth is full of his glory” (Isa. 6: 3). An often-used Orthodox prayer to the Holy Spirit says that he is “everywhere present and filling all things.” As the Psalmist says:
‘Whither shall I go from your Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Let only darkness cover me, and the light about me be night,” Even the darkness is not dark to you, the night is bright as day; for darkness is as light with you.’ (Ps. 139: 7-12)
Ancient Judaism recognized God as present throughout his creation. Not in a merely analogical sense-“ If God made this, he must be like that”-but actually permeating and pervading it. This isn’t pantheism; the idea is not that the material world contains God, as an animist might think that there’s a god inside a tree. Instead, God simultaneously fills his creation and infinitely exceeds it. We don’t have to puzzle over the question of whether God is immanent (present in this world) or transcendent (vastly beyond it). He’s both.
St. Paul expressed this idea several ways:
• “In [Christ] all things hold together” (Col. 1: 17).
• “Through [Christ] are all things and through [him] we exist” (1 Cor. 8: 6).
• God the Father “is above all and through all and in all” (Eph. 4: 6).
• To the Athenians he quoted the poet Epimenides of Knossos: “In [God] we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17: 28).
• “Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made” (Rom. 1: 20).
Earlier I said that, when I was newly Orthodox, I felt like some unidentifiable thing was really different about it, compared with all the other sorts of Christian faith I’d known. When I came upon the little word “energy,” I felt I’d found one of the clues. You’ll probably be surprised to learn that energeia and its relatives occur dozens of times in the New Testament-surprised because we don’t see “energy” in our English translations.† Most New Testament uses of energeia occur in St. Paul, for he often speaks of God “energizing” within us:
• “God is energizing in you, both to will and to energize for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2: 13).
• “The word of God . . . is energizing in you believers” (1 Thess. 2: 13).
• St. Paul sometimes combines it with dynamis, “power”: “For this I toil, striving according to the energy of him energizing in me with dynamis” (Col. 1: 29).
• The coming of the evil one will be “according to the energy of Satan . . . with all dynamis and with signs and false wonders” (2 Thess. 2: 9).
If you could read the Bible with those energy words leaping out at you, it would be easier to grasp how God is present within this physical world. He is present in a supernatural way, energizing people and producing miracles; he is also present in a natural way, for he animates all creation (“ I am . . . the life,” John 11: 25; 14: 6). He even manifests himself at times in his Uncreated Light, as at the burning bush (Exod. 3) and Christ’s Transfiguration (Mk. 9: 2-8) There is an essence to God, an ousia, that we can never grasp, but his energies surround and fill us in natural and supernatural ways.
This term energy should not be taken to mean that God is present only when things get noticeably lively, but rather that he is the life that underlies everything in existence. His energy is what gives us bodies and breath, and also makes us more than bodies and breath: it gives us awareness and individuality, and enables us to see others and love them. “In him was life, and the life was the light of all people” (John 1: 4, NRSV).
So why don’t we see those energy words in our English Bibles? Because when St. Jerome (AD 331-420) was translating the Bible from Greek into Latin, there wasn’t a good equivalent. “Energy” wasn’t a Latin concept. An earlier Latin translator had just transliterated energeia, and it might have been adopted into Latin that way. But St. Jerome chose instead to use the term operatio, which means “operation” or “work.”
We have the word energy in English now, of course, and it could be popped right into place when new translations are made. But we’ve read the Bible for too many centuries with the assumption that God “works” and “operates” instead. Yes, “working” and “energizing” are somewhat similar, but the energy words have a different feeling, don’t they? If God is “energizing” in his creation, his life is coursing through every molecule. If, on the other hand, he is “working” in it, he can set it up and walk away, like the watchmaker in the Enlightenment-era analogy who put his masterwork together and then left it to run on its own.
In the last century quantum physics has made discoveries that disrupt our sense of matter as stolid and inert. We learn that within each atom there is ceaseless motion, that matter and energy are somehow equivalent, and that the apparent solidity of the visible world is an illusion. Everything we can see is, in a sense, alive, vibrant-as if God were continuously calling it into existence.
It’s worth repeating that God’s energies, by which we experience him in this world, are not all there is to God. In his essence, his unknowable inner reality, God is beyond anything we could sense or think. He is beyond existence, and also beyond anything we might imagine “nonexistence” to mean; he is beyond “being” and “nonbeing,” beyond any pair of opposites you could name. It is true that “God is love” (1 Jn. 4: 8), and yet we could also say that God is not love, because what we mean when we say the word “love” is utterly inadequate. Whatever we think or picture when we say “love” is too shallow to describe the reality.”-Frederica Mathewes-Green, Welcome to the Orthodox Church
As far as relics and God’s energy go I recommend considering these verses as well: 2 Kings 13:21, Mark 5:21-34, Acts 5:15, Numbers 21:8, Exodus 3:1-15.
Some modern Christians who have adopted a type of neo-gnostic metaphysical view will have trouble with this metaphysical view of early Christians and modern orthodox Christians.
“... Religions are not all the same. They do not all worship the same “God.” This observation ought to be obvious to anyone who takes religious believers at their word when they describe their beliefs. Yet at the same time, we can recognize that there is truth in all religions and philosophies. St. Justin Martyr, in the second century, called this the spermatikos logos, the “Logos in seed form.” The Logos, or “Word,” is Jesus Christ (John 1: 1-16), and St. Justin believed that all belief systems had within them the seeds of His revelation. Because all human beings are created according to the image of God, Jesus Christ, they are not capable of being wrong all the time...”-Fr. Stephen Andrew Damick
So just coincidence then? Funny, there seems to be many coincidences mirroring Kemet belief systems
I'm with you, how can the coincidences be so close
They're just scared, cuz deep inside, they know that they're living a lie.
Sorry that the facts are uncomfortable for you.
No no no. Demons and the devil always love to mimic things the all mighty does. I don’t care which is old there hieroglyphics or the Bible but I do know that god blesses me in ways I never thought. And I do know that Satan always loves to deceive
@@risingmoontarot199God may well bless you but doesnt change the fact that the hieroglyphics were in existence LOOONNNNGGG before the bible was written by scribes
I’d love to see you do some conspiracy theory debunking!
Also interested in how the Staff of Hermes ended up in the hands of Orthodox Leaders....
Just like the Catholic staff has a plant on it representing Aaron's rod the Eastern Christian staff has snakes representing the staff of Moses.
In the Western Sahara, I noticed that many of the Kel Aïr tribe of Tuareg nomads wore a necklace pendent in the form of a cross with a circular top, very similar to both the Ankh and the Crux Ansanta. The Tuareg are Muslims, but don't fit well into most people's ideas of Muslim culture. For example, men are veiled and women are not, and they preserve many pre-Islamic laws and customs. Inheritance is matrilineal, and women hold a much higher position than among other Muslims. They still revere an ancient founding Queen. The "Tuareg Cross" was confusing to visiting Christians, though the Kel Aïr vigorously deny that it has any connection to Christianity. I'm told that some scholars think it's a remnant of the Christian presence in the North African Roman Empire and the Vandal state before the arrival of Islam. Others think that it comes from the symbolism of the Phoenician/Carthagenian cult of Tanis, which we know had a continuing influence in the Sahara. But just at a glance, when I first saw one on someone's neck, I mistook it for an Ankh. The Tuareg speak a Berber language, an ancient linguistic family that long predates the Romans and Carthaginians, and is more closely related to ancient Egyptian than to either Arabic or the Punic language of the Carthaginians. In fact, one Berber language is still spoken in the Siwa Oasis of Egypt.
i gave you a thumbs up, but you have to stop misusing the term 'conspiracy theory'. The theory that the Christian cross might derive from the Egyptian ankh is not a conspiracy....theory. Those who believe in this theory (I'm personally agnostic on the matter) never claimed that some group conspired to adapt the ankh to the Christian cross. It's a theory, but no conspiracy involved. Don't use words so loosely please.
3:15 to 3:26 Yikes! That amulet shows a totally shameful and horror and terror-inducing crucifixion. Note the legs are suspended in mid-air with knees akimbo and the arms connected to the patibulum (crossarm) with ligatures (straps or ropes). This sort of crucifixion is impossible unless the person was also impaled. Knowing what Seneca said, this was probably quite common.
Thanks for this. As an atheist even I get sick from the whole "Jesus is a copy of "X" mythology"
They all borrow from each other. It was just a question of what "flavor" (hellenism, etc) an up and coming religion/mystery cult would take. Baptism/lords supper/personal salvation was all the hype at the time.
sunday is my day of x 24 6666 74 26 i 33
@@stephengloss5364 Yeah Judaism practically plagiarized Egyptian beliefs. Then along came Zoroastrianism later that influenced Christianity & Islam since they both came after Zoroastrianism. People need to study their history to connect the dots. Religion is man made & not real. Only the philosophies & literature are real but the supernatural from these books aren’t.
@@hobnob666 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Very well done. Informative and objective.
" Did Christianity Steal the Egyptian Ankh? "
no.
next question.
@jay i don't know where the ankh evolved from.
i have no interest in pagan symbols.
but the christian cross was used as symbol because christ died on the cross.
it has absolutely nothing to do with egyptian paganism nor the abkh.
@Big Johny I completely agree with you
Leon Jan How is the 12 disciples the zodiac signs and at the same time Virgo (one of the 12) Virgin Mary? Please enlighten
Leon Jan are you one of those everyone else is stupider than me type of people, I’m asking you to back up your statement with sources, with facts not “common sense” that’s usually what people say when they cannot produce any. I’ve heard your claim before and want to simply know the source of your claim, googles a wonderful tool yes but I want to hear it from the man who said it. Biblically there are 12 names for each of the twelve disciples so are you saying that they only counted 11 of them plus Mary? You’re just missing a person is what I am saying or having Mary being represented as two different roles. Just ain’t adding up
gray man jesus was made up . lol. stolen story from Yeshua . and yes it was story. do the origins of christianity. roman propaganda
I respect your view and its well explained. I dont think we should debate if Egypt influenced Christianity cause its simple. The bible was based in which continent. We all know how many things outside of the the Ankh which was learnt in Egypt. Christianity was in Egypt 150 years before the Romans know what Christianity was. Europeans only learnt how to decipher the hieroglyphics in the 1800s so alot of things they didnt understand culturally about the Egyptians.
Its crucial we look at timelines when we explain our versions so that we don't confuse those who arent sure about the topic.
2:40 That Lucian quote is really silly.
The whole text is pretty silly. A court deposition against the alphabet. He was a fun dude.
@Pecu Alex straight up?
Hey! I’ve been binging on these videos for about two weeks now and love the content you put out. I would love to buy and wear a RFB hoodie and tee and I’m sure others feel the same, if you ever thought about offering some channel merch :)
All ur videos seem pretty christian biased, so far all I've seen is videos of u trying to prove christianity legitimacy when nothing prooving any opposition against it.
I noticed that as well. I believe your assessment is spot on.
An unbiased analysis will lead to the conclusion that Christianity is true. The "evidence " against the historical facts of Christianity doesn't hold water. I do not mean the theology. I mean that a Jewish man we call Jesus was born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, preached in Galilee and Judea. That the Jewish leaders felt threatened and got the Romans to crucify Him. And that His followers were convinced that He rose from the dead. To the point of being willing to die before recanting or worshiping Ceasar.
Just what I thought as well, after 30 seconds it was clear 😅
Where is he arguing the legitimacy of Christianity as a religion? He is presenting the known facts of history and culture. He is not "proving" nor "disproving" anything. It is not the place of a scholar to argue either for or against any religion. He takes the same approach for other religions.
If you want apologetics or polemics, you need to go to a channel based on supporting or discrediting a given religion.
I don’t know what is your expertise to make such educational videos, but I subscribed. Simple and informative.
Hope this is good information.
0:23 *No such thing as a Christian cross.* That is a graven image.
Exudos 20:4
*"You shall not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens above, on the earth beneath, or in the waters below."*
@Deyan Dachev Read the scripture again that I posted. Then go and look up Idol and Idolatry in a dictionary.
Expose Evil its also because pretty much like everything about Christianity the cross was originally pagan.
@@franklinweston6408 *Nothing is pagan about Christianity!* It is the Catholic church who hijacked Christianity and mixed it with paganism. I was a pagan 10 years ago. *AGAIN CHRISTIANITY USES NO SYMBOLS INCLUDING THE CROSS!*
Deuteronomy 5:8
*You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of ANYTHING in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.*
Expose Evil then what about the Stone Tablets of the Commandments? Or the Ark of the Covenant? Are they not symbols of the Old Testament? Are you suggesting that these are not symbols of God?
@@habibingmaligaya What are you talking about? The stone tablets are just a list of forbidden acts. Try reading the bible. It makes no sense to talk about something you lack knowledge in.
I can tell you about Egypt and the Ankh. I have researched this and believed in Hermetics aka Thoth book of the dead.
Please look for "prayer for logos" on youtube. It's a surprising analysis of the Sigrdrifa prayer. The prayer is a system that predates Christianity, so it doesn't really contradict the notion of Christ as Logos, it's just older and comes from an other tradition.
You might find it interesting.
I wonder why this gets so many thumbs down.
The video is so informative without being indoctrinating.
It's hard to tell.
I also wonder how it might have been a way to ‘hide in plain sight’, since the forcefull conversion only came later with Augustine, right? So disguising or appropriating symbols might have been a way to be able to practice your faith in places where it might not have been accepted.
Also, the overlap of meaning around the concept of life might have been a consideration, as the ankh stood for life and the cross stood for a sacrifice that gives others life.
fascinating stuff. Thank you.
Maybe the cross as we generally know it is because scripture says a sign was nailed above Jesus' head proclaiming him King of the Jews. A T-shape would not lend itself well to that narrative.
I like the ankh and think it would be a fine Christian symbol in that Christ gives life everlasting. I think the meaning is similar in Egyptian tradition.
Yeah, in the Socrates Scholasticus scene, I think the Christians say something similar...that the meaning of the ankh aligns with Christian theology.
Appreciate this content 👍
Have you already done a video on the arguments regarding reserection god stories like you mentioned?
Recent findings, including the early depictions of the chi rho symbol, have shown how impractical the T shape cross is for crucifixion, and that an X shaped cross was the original cross used for crucifixion. The Chi Rho sign shows a P over an X. The upright of the P is the support for the X shaped cross with the P also depicting Christ's head. It is known that other saints were crucified on X shaped crosses. The T shaped cross seems to be a later introduction, as early Christian pictographs do not show it, just the Chi Rho .
Papyrus 66 shows a tau-rho symbol which shows the T shaped cross was perfectly feasible. And those fabrications actually had projecting horn-shaped projections the person who was nailed up was forced to sit on, upping the shame to the utmost.
Great video, I am ashamed of my phase as new ager where I used to believe in that nonsense, so seeing why this was wrong here helped me to close that phase of my life more.
Also can you do a video why the Old testament and New testament are not at odds with one another and why the "But it was the old testameeeeeeennt" excuse doesn't work.
He'd need to be embedded in theology for that. This guy addresses religion academically i.e in it's historical context
That kind of old testament vs new testament issues sounds more like a job for a theologian.
Yeah, "whether the OT and the NT are at odds" is a Christian theological question. They are collections of different texts from very different historical contexts (from Iron age all the way to the Roman period). I def want to finish an archaeology of the Bible series that I'm writing tho where I get into a lot of the Hebrew Bible texts.
As others have mentioned that's a different field, but can I recommend a podcast for that sort of theological analysis? It's called "Almost Heretical" and is run by a couple of guys who have made theology their lifelong study and really know their stuff. They have excellent arguments that the bible presents a cohesive philosophy, just maybe not in the way you'd expect.
Zu it’s pretty much a hodge-podge of all religions. Just believe in your own God and we’ll worship together and manifest our desires yet desire is bad, and Jesus taught us how to rise above desire but wait, you are in control of your life with your mind and can really be your own God. But wait you need to pray and give a little to receive. In other words new age is complete BS.
I 've seen all your videos and liked all of them. Congrats! You are doing a trully great work. If I may notice something, you always pronounce wrongly Greek words. In this video, for example, the monogram XP is pronounced "He-Rho", not "Chi(Kai)-Ro", and the Greek letter T is pronounced "Taf", not "Taou". I would be glad to help you, if you want; just let me know! Congrats again, and thank you!
Great video caught my attention! Next I’m thinking dive into the symbolism of the sun - the cross - all used ALL over the world & before Christian Times!
The Zodiac. Jesus is the Sun. Have you noticed all of the depictions with the Sun behind his head?
Check out Bill Donahue The Bible is all about the mind. ☺️ He's quite enthusiastic so give him a few minutes. 🙏
@@godislove8740 Bill is good for sure. Not the Catholic one lol
Check this out. Very good info here
th-cam.com/video/tJZiHI7pcfc/w-d-xo.html
The pre- Christian Irish worshiped the sun and carved circles into standing stones as a sun symbol. These stones were later "Christianized" by carving a cross through the circle. Hence the celtic cross.
I appreciate the videos on this channel for being unbiased, but as soon as I hear "conspiracy theory" it immediately sounds bias. Why is the object Jesus died on so relevant? If a friend of mine was killed, I'd never as "what kind of gun was it?" I wouldn't need that information to honor his/her death. In fact, we would all find that weird. And yet Christians are obsessed with the cross. I can't imagine the apostles walking around with a cross around their neck to honor Jesus. They would have honored him in their heart and through their actions. Why does what he died on matter so much?
If you heard your friend died suddenly, you would ask "how?" (In order to find out whether the death took a long time, was painful etc. )
Christians remember the cross because it was an embarrassing and torturous way to die, the saviour they believe in went through that. From that perspective it makes sense as to why Christians pay such attention to the way their Messiah died. Was that a good enough answer?
@@yedidiabouah1581 To each their own, I guess. If it was a friend of mine, yes, I would ask how, but I wouldn't honor them by the object that killed them. Would that be how they would like to be remembered? I know I wouldn't. I would want to be remembered for who I was, so I do my best to honor Jesus in the same way. His main focus wasn't doctrine or even his sacrifice but rather on love and being loving - the most powerful quality in the world- so I do my best to honor his sacrifice by incorporating that in my life first and foremost, just as the Apostles likely would have done.
@@sarahgutierrez7065 His main focus was fulfilling the prophecy of dying for the sins of mankind so we may have a chance at salvation. That is the gospel. So we acknowledge him fulfilling the prophecy of dying for us through the means he died for us.
@@yedidiabouah1581 Yes, he came down to die for us, and to honor his sacrifice would be to, not simply believe, but put into practice what he taught, which is all based on love. Our faith is shown through what we put into practice, not just what we believe. That is what it is to be a follower of Christ. Maybe we are saying the same thing?
@@sarahgutierrez7065 yep indeed. Spread the gospel. Love the Lord with all your heart. Love all those around you. We agree☺
This is similar to a paper I wrote recently about pagan motifs in Christian Anglo-Saxon charms. I was trying to push against the idea that peasants in the countryside were just "improperly converted" instead proposing that these ideas and traditions are being brought into a new Christian worldview
Where can we read your paper please?
It was a paper for a university course. But I've submitted it to the Yale Undergraduate History Journal so hopefully it will be there in the Fall 2019 issue when that comes out!
Mr. Elfarlaur, I was searching for an appropriate word for "converts" from their native faith to Christianity or Islam ,particularly in Indian subcontinent These converts while adopting the main features of their new faith in the matter of belief in their God-head and mode of worship, overwhelming retained most of their pagan practices particularly their hierarchical status in old society, some marriage customs intermingling with new faith. Even in religious matters, they transported the ritual practices of mother-goddess worship to the worship of Mother Mary in the case of Christian followers. This hybrid mode of practices are so entrenched that even though their ancestors were converted long-back , the converted still hang-on to the old practices. I am particularly interested to know what psychological impact the conversion creates in the minds of the converts due to the adjustments ,the converts are required to make to the new condition. Can you please suggest me book(s) or any other sources for further reading.
3:17 what kind of gem is that? It looks amazing.
Probably blood stone
The crucifixion depicted on it looks horrifying
Accessing the Bible
Acts 5:30: “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.”
Matthew 2:15 out of Egypt I called my son he's obviously in denial he's oblivious his Pope's prays to Ra serve ... in the basement but come up with Jesus in The Pavilion during the Roman Conquest the Roman soldier's prayed onto...would bath in blood goats wild beasts for the ritual the hundred 42 laws of ma'at it Council of Nicea 310 flavius Society who have said typified or complicit thoughts of the Roman tale of Jesus crafted in Jewish Torahs....christ a was and is a GOD..inflesh...with color...jesus was not a Roman citizen never been the Rome he was neither Greek obviously a middle eastern man Israel is northeast of Africa.Period
Black matter
....in the beginning.....
True indeed
Your channel is excellent! Thank you 😊
I'da thought they had the ole so they could cary them on a string.
Given the nature of visual symbols in antiquity they can be both influenced by the Crucifixion and the more mystical symbols of the day.
Person: Is misinformed about the origin of a religious symbol.
Religion for Breakfast: "CONSPIRACY THEORIST!"
Haha idk man my dad thinks everything dubious about Christian origins is a conspiracy against Christianity, including the ankh
Could've also mentioned the Norse Thor's hammer (Mjǫllnir) symbol, since it is believed by many to have undergone a similar conversion.
The ankh represents life, the cross represents death, the cross was introduced by the vatican to furthermore convince the people that Jesus died on the cross which he did not.
Where did he die then? Romans killed him on a cross.
I am black and African...the cross of Christ is the way and it means spirit led voluntary giving over self to suffering and death so that the flesh may be destroyed and the spirit may live
The other cross seems to like engaging self so that you may live forever in a circle of suffering