DISCUSSIONS ABOUT ZOROASTRIANISM
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# 40) Q: What does Zoroastianism have to do with Christians?

A: Well, I was once a Christian, indeed I hold a master in Religious Studies from a Christian University and I was an ordained minister. So I feel like I am qualified to tell you why there is an undeniable link between Christianity, Christians and Mazdayasna, one of the real names of our belief
system.

As a Christian, I was always taught the Bible was an unparalleled document, containing the very word of God and His revelation for mankind. It never says in the Bible and it is never taught by any Christian denomination, or any Jewish denomination , that there is any other word of God, or any other book which is the recipient of God's inspired revelation for mankind.

This is something that I was taught, just as I am sure you were, and indeed, all Christians are .(Mormons, who are not recognized by other Christians, being the exception). What then, would you say was my shock when I found a book from another religion; a book verifiably much older than any Christian scripture, that contained most of Christian doctrine? It contains resurrection, final judgment, individual judgment of the soul at death, Heaven, Hell, Messiah, Final conflict, ( Armageddon) etc.

It really surprised me, I tell you. But none of this presented, in my view at the time, a challenge to my Christianity. It did merit research though. One of the first things I found, is that the first translators of these books into European languages where all, overwhelmingly, Christians. And I do not mean any Christians. I am talking world class preachers, ministers and priests. Indeed, at least one the German Darmetester, was so amazed at what he discovered in these books, that he posited a theory , which stated that these books had to be Post-Christian, since they were teaching a version of Christianity! But he was forced by incontrovertible linguistic and historical evidence to recognize he was wrong.

My own research, aided by the fact that I was a history minor, did shake me to the core. There is absolutely no way that these books, called in Persian Avesta, could have been composed after Christ, they were known and indeed quoted by ancient Greeks and others, since at least the 5th Century BC. Moreover, when I tried to find  a way in which these books could have influenced Christianity, I had to go no further than the Bible itself. Cyrus, a Persian Zoroastrian Emperor, is called Shepherd of Israel (David's own title) Messiah (and thus Christ) and chosen of Jehovah/Yahweh in the Bible itself ( Isaiah).

The Jews and their religion suffered drastic changes during and after the Exile. All these changes can be traced to Persian beliefs, that were identical to new beliefs, expressed in the Bible after the Exile. Indeed, when any one reads the last book of the Old Testament (Malachi) and then goes on to New Testament, one cannot deny, or be amazed, that the religious atmosphere is totally different.

Demon possession, a Persian belief, is everywhere. The Jews do not even speak Hebrew any more, but Aramaic, the very language the Persians used as a common language for all their Empire. The Synagogue, had come into existence as local congregations , exactly alike in function as the Persian Dar e-Mehrs. The most theological dominant sect of Judaism, the Pharisees, hold onto, belief in resurrection, angels, heaven, hell, final, judgment etc., which are not present in Judaism before the Exile. All these beliefs are present in the older Persian religion.

Moreover, the Pharisees own name is a cognate for the word Persians. In Persian, the name is Pharsis, meaning those from Phars or Persia. Pharisee has no clear root in the Hebrew, but in Aramaic, as spoken in the Persian empire and Syria, it meant Persian. Indeed, even the expression Amen is Aramaic and not Hebrew. It means certainly, or truly, which is precisely the same meaning; as an Old Avestan word that is around 3700 years old and which was the name of a very important religious term of the Persian religion, Ashem. Indeed, it was also used by all Persian Zoroastrians for millennia, even if they spoke different dialects, because it is the starting and ending word in their most important prayer, the Ashem Vohu.

Should I go on, yes!  Just as Christ could not ascend to heaven till after three days and nights, neither could the souls of the faithful ascend to Garo Demana, the House of Song in latter Persian religion, till after three days.  When the Apostle Paul in 1st Corinthians 13 talks about 'the complete', he is, curiously, using a term that is not present in any other book of the Bible, BUT which is, again, a key term in Persian Religion, Haurvatat, which refers in the Latter religion to an archangel and in the original teachings of Zarathushtra, to the final stage in the ethical growth of mortals. Paul, was from the city of Tarsus, a city known as a hot bed of Zoroastrian activity, and in which there were two Zoroastrian Fire temples. Could Paul have, also, been influenced by Zoroastrianism? You decide.

When Jesus, himself uses the term 'born again' , not even Nicodemus, the utmost theological authority in Israel, ( He is called in the original Koine Greek THE teacher of Israel), could understand what Jesus was saying and Jesus had to spend the remaining of a chapter, to explain it to him. However, this teaching was elementary for any Zoroastrian at the time; since their Initiation Ceremony is called  ( In one of its names) New Life.

In Christianity, the wicked are tormented in a Lake of Fire ,. In the latter Persian religion , as practiced at the time, the wicked had to cross a river of molten metal. In the apocryphal book of Tobit, used as canonical by the largest Christian Church (Roman Catholicism), Judaized names, such as Asmodeous  for Aesma, are used for Persian demons, as well as for Persian archangels. Indeed I could go on and on and write a book on the subject. But to make it short, there is no other possible conclusion, after one studies the issue fairly ,  but that Persian religion, both the Latter Avesta and the original one, had extensive influence on Biblical doctrine, period.

The implications of this discovery are earth shaking, since they strip the exclusivity off the Bible. For, if God revealed to the Persians all these things , then what else did He reveal to them. Moreover, which of the two 'revelations' was real, or more so? Could the Bible writers simply had copied Persian doctrines and adapted them to Christianity and Judaism? In short the research that I did , and that any one willing to keep an open mind can do, led me to an even deeper study of Persian religion.

That led me to the understanding , that an incredibly long time ago, at the very least almost 4 millennia ago, a man rose up in the steppes of Central Asia.  He rose, amongst a people, barely out of the stone age and in transition from nomadism, to settled life. This man created a fascinatingly simple, yet profound doctrinal system, around the God, who he claimed to have discovered first and then communed with and been approved of. This system, expounded in beautifully poetical songs, was a totally thorough answer for the spiritual quests of man. It answer his heart's longings, but also, and equally important, it answer his reasoned questions.

This system, which spread like wild fire over the steppe, until it covered all of eastern Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgistan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan and the Punjab region of India, was the very first Universal religion of man . It was, also, the very first truly ethical religion of man and certainly, if not the very first Monotheism ( that is being debated between Akhmenatom's Sun Cult in Egypt and Zarathushtra"s Daena Vanguhi or Good Conscience), one of the first.

Unfortunately, not only was Zarathushtra's system ahead of the age and the spiritual progress of mankind. His people were swallowed up by other Aryan peoples. And these others, proceeded to adapt his teachings to their former beliefs, creating a basically Eclectic Cult, that nevertheless continued to spread, until it covered all of ancient Iran. This religion further metamorphosed, by time and accretions, was to become the religion of the Achaemenians, the Persian Empire, whose rulers liberated the Jews from Exile, and under whose rule the Jews lived for well over 2 centuries.

Of course, the above, is the personal story of my acceptance of Mazdayasna, as my way of life. However, any person, whether Christian or not, has a responsibility to himself, and to creation, to examine what he or she beliefs in the light of historical, as well as spiritual evidence. In my case, not
only could I not deny the Historical evidence, but Zarathushtra's doctrines answered completely the questions, that Christian theology could not. The reason for Evil, the Goodness of God, Sin, Condemnation , Torment, Propitiation, Repentance,  Atonement, Salvation, ALL, could be seen in a
different more logical and less irrational light.

To top it of, there was no call to only believe, or to obey, or be tormented in hell. The call was to listen carefully, reflect and choose what to do. The call was to eradicate wrong from creation, by turning it to right, through our own free and informed choices. The call was to grow into God likeness ethically.  The call was to renovate the world, this very world, because 'flesh' was not evil and humanity was not depraved; it was simply lacking in knowledge, like babies do, when they first come into this world.

The God of Mazdayasna does neither demand, nor command. S/He teaches and persuades. S/He does not condemn, our own consciences will. S/He does not torment for eternity, or otherwise. S/He has no equal. S/He did not create a creature that , as omniscient, he knew would rebel and become a
Devil. Mazda the Wise God of Mazdayasna is said to be The All Good and incapable of harm, our soul mate, our friend, who wants us to be His allies and partners, in fighting wrong in thought, word and deed. We are not his serfs, servants, or minions. Instead, we are His good creations, which S/He, benignantly, wants to teach and guide.

These, to me, are more than enough reasons . That is why I left Christianity. That is why I am a Zoroastrian and that is why, I am satisfied at peace and happy, marvelously happy

.# 41) Q: What is the day of worship in the zoroastrianism faith?

A: By tradition, and not by injunction nor commandmend, the day of worship is Sun Day. However, in very early times there were also the Gathas Festivals (a period of up to 6 days every two months) when the Gathas were studied and expounded and when worship services were held every night.  This also applied to Nowruz, New Years Day and to Khordad Sal, March 26, Zarathushtra's Birth Date.

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