Christianity and Sun Worship - Ongoing Research

Thomas Paine wrote,
The Christian religion is a parody on the worship of the Sun, in which they put a man whom they call Christ, in the place of the Sun, and pay him the same adoration which was originally paid to the Sun.

Could he be right?

The Cross

As I noted while discussing this recently, there is a link between the crucifixion and astrological charts, in which the Sun (Son) is very much 'on the Cross' (on zodiac diagrams with solstices and equinoxes marked by lines!).

Now of course, this is only a coincidence, since we all know Jesus was excecuted by being nailed to a cross anyway. But was he? I'm not saying he wasn't, I can't assess the validity of this, but have a look for yourself:

"Early Christians Never Used The Cross"

I can think of no other invented symbol of religion that gives a more horrific description than a man tortured in the throe of extreme agony while nailed to two wooden planks. But does the cross of Christianity really stand up to Biblical evidence?

Although a stake called a stauros (the Greek term used in the earliest Bible writings but where English versions incorrectly translate it to "cross") got used to execute criminals, there exists not a shred of evidence that a Biblical stauros describes a cross or even a T-shape. Regardless of whether you believe the cross as mythical or think it comes from the Bible, you will find nothing describing Jesus' execution with outstretched arms or nailed to a cross-like frame. I invite any Christian to look up the word 'cross' wherever it appears in the Bible and check the Greek version and see for yourself.

There occurs no cross in early Christian art before the middle of the 5th century, where it (probably) appears on a coin in a painting. The first clear crucifix appears in the late 7th century. Early Christians usually depicted their religion with a fish symbol (ichthus), dove, or bread of the Eucharist, but never Christ on a cross (or on a stick).

The first known conception of a Christian cross as a physical symbol began with Constantine's supposed 4th century conversion as a Christian. He allegedly had a miraculous vision in the sky of a cross composed of light with the inscription, "By this conquer." The Church father, Eusebius, described that, at night after his vision, Constantine dreamt that God commanded him to make a likeness of the sign to safeguard all engagements with the enemy. At dawn the next day Constantine allegedly told this to his army and ordered the symbol to be made in the form of a golden spear with a transverse bar (some traditions describe it as the Greek letter "X" (chi) with a "P" (rho) through it, the well-known monogram of Jesus). From then on Christian armies carried the cross symbol into battles. Christians who deny this story cannot escape the fact that the story derives from Euesbius's own writings and church fathers after him used this to support the symbol of the cross. Later on, and especially during the crusades, the cross became a permanent part of the uniform of a soldier. Thus the army of Christianity invented the symbol of the cross to symbolize battle (a spear) to represent Jesus and to protect their killers (the army). Christianity has remained a religious and political justification for war and violence ever since.

Any Christian who prays to a cross or wears one goes unwittingly flaunting, not only an unsupported historical assertion, but born as a war symbol from a blood-thirsty Roman ruler who forced orthodox Christianity onto the world.

The Crucifixion = fiction.

So is it possible that the cross was merely added later and that the story of Christ was either created from the start, or perverted later, to depict coded Sun/Son worship?

What about the "crown of thorns"? Could that be sun rays?

We are also told in the Bible we will see the Son coming in the clouds. Well, we may see the...sun...doing this every day! This may give an alternate meaning to other things like 'walking on water' (sun may appear to do so) and 'healing the sick' (we now know the sun's UV rays are vital for Vitamin D for our immune system) too, but that really is speculation.

The Christian Fish - Pisces

A popular Christian symbol is the fish. But perhaps this owes a lot to the astrology/astronomy of the time? We are currently in the age of Pisces, the fish, in terms of the procession of the Equinoxes. (Soon this 'age' will end, by the way, and the age of Aquarius will begin, hence the name of the 'New Age' belief systems.)

Important - see Wikipedia explanation of an 'astrological age'

Some believe that the origin of Christianity relates to the beginning of the astrological age of Pisces, perhaps that what is said to be the lifetime of Jesus was around a similar time to the 'dawning of the age of Pisces'. Although when the age of Pisces actually began is debatable (see the link immediately above). Phew, that's enough for now. To be continued. Have I offended anyone?