This is question submerged in Theology and can be very complicated to answer coherently. That's why I'm trilled to have read Harrison's post on evil. It looked at evil from the perspectives of St. Iranaeus and St. Augustine. It is well worth your time.
For the first, he used the example of paintings in an art gallery. Many paintings use the same combination of colors but that doesn't mean they were all painted by the same artist. And so just because in some pagan forms of culture there were legends of a Resurrection of a false "god" doesn't mean that is why we believe Jesus Christ rose from the grave. Everything has resemblences to other things but that doesn't mean they all are based from the same source.
For the second assumption, Archbishop Sheen looked at Napoleon. Now, his name is also written as Napolio. He said that is broken into two parts: Ne/apolio. He is the "new Apollo". Apollo, the "god" of the sun, in mythology had three sisters and two wives just like Napoleon. The Sun is weaker in the North or the South? It is weaker in the North and Waterloo was in the North. Therefore, Sheen, said that Napoleon never existed - he was based entirely on Apollo.
You see how people always think they have to go back to primitive beliefs concerning religion? But, they don't in any other field. Do we go back to the witchdoctors to learn more about medicine? No, and we don't need to do that with religion.
So how do we find the True Faith?
This was the best part of the program I think. Archbishop Sheen says we must line them all up. We must look at each belief from Christianity to Taoism to Judaism to Islam, etc. And learn what each one teaches. But, we must test them. And the test is this: "If one of you is the Truth surely people were expecting you."
Who among all of the world religion founders had a pre-announced birth and a foretold death? Which one was expected by the people? Surely the Messiah of the World and the Truth would be expected by someone. And, Archbishop Sheen says only one of them could step forward from the line and pass the test - Jesus Christ, God-made man. For only He is the Truth. For He foretold his death numerous times. His birth was pre-announced all the way back to the times of the prophets of Israel. Only Jesus Christ is Lord - only He is the way, the truth, and the Life. And, He is real. For Christianity is not a "religion of the book". It is not a dead one of the story of God who came for us and Ascended before we were born.
Christianity is a religion of love - the story of Our God that loved us so much He came and died our rightful deaths - a belief system not based on an ideal or a notion but a person! The same person enthroned in each Tabernacle in the Eucharist across the entire world. Jesus Christ is real and only He is to be worshipped, adored, and loved. And, if we, like the first apostles, must lay down our life of the faith, so be it. For Jesus Christ already laid down His life for us. For only He is continuing to perform miracles in the world that modern medicine cannot explain. The power of prayer is greater than any other power in the entire world. The number of miracles, Eucharistic miracles, and apparitions are so long that a whole blog could not house them all. Simply, believe the Gospel, believe Jesus Christ, and believe His Church.
So if you were hear someone claiming Christianity is based solely on paganism, remember these points from Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.
When I was reading Enormous Prayers: A Journey into the Priesthood, I came across some statistics that I wanted to share on my blog. According to a Times survey, priests under the age of 35 only account for 6% of all priests. However, according to the survey, 40% of them are very conservative/traditional priests. This is more than double the percentage of priests over 35 that are traditional.
Blessed Mother Teresa:
Prayer:
"I will not rest until I find the whole world devoted to the Blessed Sacrament!" (Blessed Didacus Joseph of Cadiz)..jpg)
The Christian Pentecost, prefigured by the ancient one of the Jews, is of the number of the feasts that were instituted by the apostles. As we have already remarked, it formerly shared with Easter the honour of the solemn administration of Baptism. Its octave, like that of Easter, and for the same reason, ended with the Saturday following the feast. The catechumens received Baptism on the night between Saturday and Sunday. So that the Pentecost solemnity began on the vigil, for the neophytes at once put on their white garments: on the eighth day, the Saturday, they laid them aside.
In the middle-ages, the feast of Pentecost was called by the beautiful name of ‘The Pasch of roses,’ just as the Sunday within the octave of the Ascension was termed the ‘Sunday of roses’. The colour and fragrance of this lovely flower were considered by our Catholic forefathers as emblems of the tongues of fire, which rested on the heads of the hundred and twenty disciples, and poured forth the sweet gifts of love and grace on the infant Church. The same idea suggested the red-coloured vestments for the liturgical services during the whole octave. In his Rational (a work which abounds in most interesting information regarding the mediæval liturgical usages), Durandus tells us that, in the thirteenth century, a dove was allowed to fly about in the church, and flowers and lighted tow were thrown down from the roof, during the Mass on Whit Sunday; these were allusions to the two mysteries of Jesus’ baptism, and of the descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost.
One final question: why the miracle of tongues? In answer, recall the story regarding the tower of Babel. Puffed up by pride, men attempted to build a tower that would touch the heavens. To punish their sin, God confused their speech. Sin causes confusion and division. Now Christ came to gather all men into His Church and thereby to unite them to Himself. This should result in creating but one family of nations again. To this blessed state the miracle of tongues points. Yes, even we as individuals have a gift of tongues which all men can understand. It is the gift of love infused into us by the Holy Spirit. Love unites, love is a common language, by means of love we can speak to all nations.
