Catholicism and Paganism

I posted this last Sunday, and an anonymous visitor questioned my remarks about Catholicism drawing from pagan culture and practices, and had some good questions. Enough so that I thought I would post my answer here so as to get more reader comment and hopefully show clearly why I believe Catholicism in general teaches a false gospel of works rather than by faith. I am not bashing Catholics. I love many Catholic people and my mom, whom I loved dearly, was Catholic her entire life. However, the RCC itself teaches false doctrine, and the saved people within that church are saved in spite of the teachings, not because of them. A Catholic that believes they must partake of the sacraments in order to receive the grace to be saved is following a works salvation, which is unscriptural. If what I say offends anyone, I ask that you consider the evidence for what I said, and search for yourself to see whether it is true.

First you'll need to read the post I linked to in the first sentence of this post, then here are anonymous's questions and my response about the connection between Catholicism and paganism.

Anonymous asked: Hi.

Actually Lent is 40 days of fasting and prayer representing the time Jesus spent in the desert enduring temptation by Satan. Christians all over the world, including numerous Protestant denominations, recognize this period of devotion that leads to Easter. Many mark the time by giving up something so that they may focus more deliberately on their relationship with Jesus. (Btw, if you are condemning Christian observances that have ties to paganism, I presume you do not celebrate Christmas or Easter?) It is really not uncommon thruout Christian history to take the pagan holidays and observances and Christianize them...

--Btw, I have no idea who "Tamuz" is. Do tell! Thanks.

And this is my response:

In Ezekial 8:14 -17, it says “Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD's house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here?”

This was a condemnation from God of the worship of Tammuz.

Here is the history of Tammuz:

At the tower of Babel, Nimrod built a tower to reach to the stars, not just physically but spiritually, to worship the heavens, the sun, the moon and the stars,. Nimrod was Noah’s grandson. He was married to a woman named Semerimus.

After Nimrod died, Semerimus, knowing the prophecy of the Savior to come (Genesis 3:15), claimed that she became pregnant by a sunbeam, and that her son, Tammuz, was the reincarnation of Nimrod. Tammuz came to be worshipped as the Sun God. Semerimus instituted a religion that made her and her son the objects of the worship, which was the beginning of the mother/son cult that spread throughout the world. For instance:

In Babylon, they were called Asteroth and Tammuz

In Egypt, they were called Isis and Osiris (or Horus or Re)

In Rome, they were called Venus and Cupid or Venis and Jupiter

In China, it was Shing Moo and her child.

When Constantine declared Christianity as the official religion of his empire, he went into the temples and declared that the mother/son statues of false gods were now to be worshipped as "Mary and Jesus".

Etc.

Semirimus was considered “the way” to God. She was called the “queen of heaven”(sound familiar? – Catholicism calls Mary the “queen of heaven”).

Semerimus alone could administer salvation, through various “sacraments” such as the “sprinkling of holy water”. (sound familiar? The RCC has a list of “sacraments” through which “grace” is received.)

The religion taught that Tammuz was slain, and that he was resurrected from the dead 40 days later. Every year after that, the temple virgins (sound familiar? As in “nuns”) would enter a forty – day fast in mourning over the death of Tammuz, and awaiting the resurrection. At the end of the 40-day fast, the feast of Ishtar was celebrated, where they exchanged colored eggs, eaten as a symbol of Tammuz’ resurrection, and an evergreen tree was displayed. Hot cakes with the letter “T” were baked and eaten. They believed that these hotcakes were literally transformed into the actual body of Tammuz. This is called transubstantiation. (Sound familiar? As in the “literal body and blood of Christ" of the RCC).

You make an interesting observation, in pointing out that other Christian practices seem to have their roots in pagan practices. I think the difference is that the RCC took totally pagan practices and claimed them as Christian, when there was no Scriptural basis for them, and in fact, they contradicted Scripture (mother/son worship, transubstantiation, prayer beads, virgins in places of service, sacraments as the means for receiving grace, etc.) However, there are some practices that, in using them, do not contradict Scripture, such as decorating a Christmas tree. For that matter, the calendar we use today has its roots in paganism. January is from “Janus”, the two-headed pagan god. Should we abandon our calendar? There is nothing unscriptural about our calendar.


I live in Louisiana, and “Mardi Gras” is a big thing here. It is totally rooted in the Tammuz religion. In fact, here locally, they celebrate the crewe of Janus, and actually display the god’s image as part of their celebration. I’m always amazed at the number of people who call themselves Christians who participate in this pagan ritual. I have to assume that they have no idea where it came from.