Recently I returned from almost a month in Italy. I performed in an opera there and then had the wonderful opportunity to travel around Tuscany, finally winding up in Rome.

As I visited cathedrals and museums I found myself drawn to asking questions of the things I saw. I was always that kid in Sunday school … the kid that drove the teachers crazy with the,

“But if it was only Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel where did everyone else come from?”  kinds of questions.

I saw some literature where the Catholic church proclaimed the Papal line went all the way back to St. Peter at Christ’s death and I thought,

“What??? I know that’s not true. The official Catholic Church didn’t even exist until Emperor Constantine!” 

In Rome I was walking through the Colosseum, The Forum and Palatine Hill and I noticed a lot of information about Mithraism. I remembered hearing in college that Mithraism was eerily similar to Christianity in different ways … but I never bothered to do any research on it.

This time the inspiration hit me and I began doing a bit of research (I am still in researching mode and so am just putting down some of what I have discovered thus far).

I had always believed that Mithraism was an “Eastern” religion, which is true. However, Mithraism ALSO became the major religion of the Roman Empire before Constantine declared Christianity the official religion of Rome.

The cult of Mithras came to Rome through military conquest … and thus was the primary religion of the military at the time. Mithraism was a religion only for men and the military was comprised of only men so, voila … perfect fit.

I had ALSO heard that Constantine had some major revelation, gotten “saved” and declared Christianity the official religion of Rome. That may be true, but what I did NOT know was that Constantine had been a card carrying member of the cult of Mithras prior to that conversion.

Constantine called for the Council of Nicea, where he hoped to work toward unifying the church under one “Catholic” (all encompassing/universal) church. What I also did not know though was that at this council they decided that “Sun Day” was to be the new official Christian day of worship … not the Sabbath listed in the Bible.

Where did this day of the Sun come about? Well, Mithras was actually a sun god and was the god worshiped by the entire Roman legion (and prior to his conversion, by Constantine). Interesting to note.

Constantine also issued the Edict Against The Heretics where he listed other versions of Christianity at the time and said that anyone not agreeing with his version of Christianity was a heretic and he authorized persecution of them.

See, I thought that Constantine had put an END to Christian persecution … but what he did was decide what version of Christianity HE wanted in order to unite his kingdom, and then authorized persecution of anyone who disagreed with him.

So THAT is the political pot being stirred during the time when the Bible was created … by Bishops (a small minority of the invited Bishops actually showed up to the Council and no wonder since persecution had been authorized of anyone who disagreed with Constantine) who voted on what should comprise the Bible (but were also in lockstep with Constantine, or else).

This answered a lot of questions I had wondered about … like why there weren’t other gospels by people who actually had known Jesus included in the New Testament. Paul never knew Jesus personally, but his writings comprise more of the New Testament than any other author. I will get into this a little bit more in my next post … oh yes, there’s more! 😉

So why am I writing all of this … am I trying to undermine Christianity? Am I persecuting people who believe in Mithraism? No, I am simply asking questions. I consider myself a Christian … although I have explored other religions as well. I personally have settled into being an open-minded Christian who has blended influences I have come across from other faiths along the way. I don’t have all the answers and try to be loving toward any and all from any religion. My participation these days is mostly daily meditative time with God. My relationship with God is the most important aspect of my life.

So how do all these questions actually bring one closer to God? Couldn’t they cause people to lose faith completely??

Possibly. I personally believe in a God that is powerful enough for the truth to be revealed … lies should not be upheld so that people should not have to question their faith.

The church provides us with structure … it tells us exactly what to do, how to think and how to worship. Without that structure what is there?

A closer, deeply personal relationship with God … that’s what!

Ask questions, pray, seek guidance, spend time in meditation communing with God … all of that is SO much better than socializing at church on Sun Day (not that there is anything horrible about socializing at church). 🙂

God IS there, waiting patiently for ALL of us (from any faith or lifestyle) to seek answers to our questions.

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