DISCUSSIONS ABOUT ZOROASTRIANISM
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# 59) Q:  Was Jesus a living person?  If so was he the Son of God foretold by judaism or zoroastrian beliefs?

A: There is no way of being absolutely certain whether or not Jesus was a real  person. However, having said that, someone must have started such a dynamic  spiritual movement as Christianity.  It is my opinion, that Jesus, or the historical person on which Jesus, (probably a Jewish Rabbi called Yeshua) is based was very real.

But that does not mean that we have either all his words, nor that all the words said to belong to Jesus are his , nor that the stories of miracles , including the resurrection, are true. Jesus did not write anything, he did not compose songs, he left no historical records. What we do 'know' about him is from third parties, (unless Peter and John were also real and they did write the  letters and Gospel they are said to have written ) In the case of Peters, specially, the doubts are major that this is so. And there is no hard evidence to make us sure of John's. But even these would be second party recollections.

Indeed, there were many gospels and letters to churches laying around or circulating among the early Christians, that were not included on the Church's cannon, and in fact , some were persecuted and destroyed by the church. Whether these were true or not we do not know. Plus the Gospels disagree on several points about the deeds and sayings of Jesus and scholars believe that the first three Gospels are derived from a 'sayings' of Jesus Gospel now lost.

The way the present Gospels were assembled, according to scholars, is that they basically chose some of Jesus sayings and wove a story around them. Whether all the details of this story are true or not is any one guess. Being rational about it and  since we do not normally see people walking on water or coming back from the dead , we can at the very least dispose of these two miracles and explain the other miracles by rational suppositions.

Thus is not a matter as simple as saying: Some one, that was later called Jesus. existed  and therefore, all that was said about him by the Church is true. Besides, it is ABSOLUTELY incorrect to say that Judaism foretold the coming of a 'son' of God. That was a very offensive concept for Jews back then. Yahweh was totally "The Other" a Holy Divine Being Totally One, with no other persons, sons, daughters etc . The Holy Spirit was simply His spirit not another entity that was also God.

The Christian claim that Isaiah prophesied that a child would be born of a virgin is false.  The writer of Isaiah, whomever he was, quotes, not from the Hebrew Bible, but from its Greek Translation, the Septuagint. Thus the passage in Isaiah  (Chapter 7, Verse 14) that is used to claim that Jesus was prophesied , does not read that some one would be born of a virgin. The Greek word Parthenos means Virgin but the Jewish word used in the Hebrew Bible means young woman, not virgin!! That is the reason why the Jews were so scandalized when Jesus is quoted as saying that God was his father!!

As to Zoroastrianism, I must first say that Zarathushtra never made any prediction or prophecy about Jesus,  Mohamed, Bahaullah,  or any one else. Then, I have to clarify that in latter Zoroastrian religious books, written hundreds, if not thousands of years after Zarathushtra, some one posited the coming of THREE saviors, all of which would be born of virgins and All of which would be born in Eastern Iran (Hellman Lake to be precise)

This so called 'prophecy' preceded the New Testament by several centuries. Many other Persian doctrines and views were accepted into Judaism and other Middle Eastern religions during the time of Persian Hegemony over the region, so its easy to suggest that this idea also filtered down, through Jewish sects , to Christianity. Now, no true Persian Magi , priest, would have been looking for a savior born of a virgin in Galilee. At best he would have been looking for three saviors, at different times, born in the area of Helman Lake in Eastern Iran, well over a thousand miles from Galilee.

Therefore the story , in the Gospel according to Mathew, of the "Wise Men, in the original Magi, is highly suspect of being fake. It is possible that some heretic Magi from Capadoccia (Ancient name for Central Turkey) might have been looking for a savior outside Iran. I say so because in the Gospel
story the Magi are said to come from "The East" and the word for East,  in the original, means Anatolia,  which is also another name for Turkey.

But this is highly unlikely, its far more reasonable to theorize, that the writer of Mathew, whomever he was, trying to legitimize Jesus in the eyes of his, mostly pagan, readers. The Magi were held in very high esteem in the ancient pagan world and were thought to be capable of many miracles. Wise men is an idea attached to their name springing from the name of the Persian God, Mazda, meaning Wise. Thus, in all likelihood, the writer of Mathew sought to associate Jesus with these men who were held in high esteem as wise, knowers of secret things, magicians and miracle workers.

In any case, the teaching of latter Zoroastrian books, is not that the three saviors would be sons of God who, according to them would never have a son in the human sense, but sons of Zarathushtra from his sperm preserved on Hellman lake.

To sum up, there is no evidence, outside the belief of Christians, to think that Jesus was the son of God. It was not a Jewish or Zoroastrian belief that God would, or could, have a son and, in fact, the basis for the claim that Jesus was prophesied about in Zoroastrianism and Judaism is false.

# 60) Q: Is there any truth in the fact that the Arda Viraf Namak (a zoroastrian text written much later on) has been used by Dante and others to enrich Christianity. If so to what extent? Has it also influenced Judaism too?

A: Dante's Inferno is  heavily indebted to Arda (Meaning Righteous). Viraf, as you can see by reading Arda Viraf, at www.avesta.org . Mohammed's midnight Journey to Jerusalem also appears to be influenced by Arda  Viraf. I do not know of any direct influence on Judaism. However, many other books and doctrines of Zism did influence Judaism and Christianity

I# 61) Q: I am a devout christian whose fervent prayers to God for guidance and help in my present dilemna are as yet unanswered.  I am desperate and even contemplate suicide.  I pray daily to Jesus and God above to show me what to do and how to resolve certain urgent decisions about my life situation. I wish to ask your scholars and priests: What causes our prayers for legitimate help from God to be unanswered or ignored?  What does the religion of ahuraMazda say about how to receive direct ansewrs to our urgent, fervent petitions for help from above?  Please pray for me in your private devotions to Ahura Mazda. do not forget me - I'm sincere and bewildered and desperate. Please reply and encourage me. with hope and by your prayers to God for my sake.

A:God has established for us ways in which can help ourselves, He has provided for us to share in some of His Aspects. In order to do this we must through clear thinking and meditation perceive deity and see that S/He is GOOD.  In Fact the Most Wise is All Good incapable of harm and Benignant to All the Living, if we understand this, and we follow the signs in nature we will understand His Wisdom and the plan for Creation's Progress S/He has already made available to us.

I do not know  the why of your desperation, but through a clear mind, you can meditate on the things of this Cosmos and life and when you discern in your mind that this Cosmos has an All Wise Creator, Good mind, that is a mind that  has critical thinking, is logical and filled with Good, comes to you, with that mind you can discern the Right Law of the Cosmos, gain Serenity and with all three achieve Self Control and the Rule of Good Filled Thinking, Righteousness and Serenity in your  life. That is the basis for spiritual growth. I do not know just what troubles you but we will pray for Rafedrahya, that is Divine support through these Aspects of God that you can make your own.

As to unanswered prayer, the Gathas say that prayers for a righteous purpose, that is prayers for purposes that are in accord with the Right Law, do not go unanswered.  Sometimes the answer is that what we want might be not possible , sometimes we are not discerning the right Law correctly, sometimes we have a purpose that is not righteous. I can't say anymore without being truly familiar with your situation.

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