Any Zoroastrians around here? We've been discussing it in Comparative Religions and I find it interesting. Christianity and Judaism take a lot from it, such as the one God who created the universe for a reason. Quite a cool religion.

thanx for the info. now, i understand it more.

To Taste: it probably does seem that way to some people. I profess to be a Christian, but I want to be an objective observer in these things and so I sort of stay aloof of Christian ideas so I can see the whole picture clearly.

To Worth: Key differences? Well, the biggest is that Zoroastrianism is slightly polytheistic. Ahura Mazda created six powerful divine beings to stand at his side, along with a "Holy Spirit" that was basically part of Ahura Mazda. They are all known as the "Holy Immortals" and are subordinate to Ahura Mazda. So in reality, it is a certain kind of polytheism called henotheism, where there are many gods, but one all-powerful God. In Christianity, there is only the one God.

Also, Christians say that God created one man, one woman, and all the animals and plants. Zoroastrians say Ahura Mazda just created one of each from which the rest eventually sprang from spontaneously.

Any other differences are small details. Hope that answered your question.

Anyways...ys, clpo13, you cleared things up. I think I may have heard of this before, just not called Zoroastrianism. The holes in the sky and salt in the sea triggered something in my memory. It does sound very very very similar to Christianity though. Maybe I just didn't get it from that long post but what are some key differences between the two? I didn't notice any in your post.

oh im sorry u missunderstood me i meant things that u have said on other topics.

quote:

ok then... wut do u mean by elaborate

Well, you originally said something about some of the things I wrote made it seem like Zoroastrianism is against Christianity. So I was wondering, what parts make it seem like that?

Why don't you look it up? The meaning might be found in what's now called a "dictionary." Idiot. You have no idea what you're talking about. Just shut up.

ok then... wut do u mean by elaborate?

I need to take a chill pill? Sorry if I sounded harsh, but I was simply asking you to elaborate.

quote:

Originally posted by clpo13:
Like what? I see nothing in Zoroastrianism that implies that.

Besides, I'm a Christian. I'm just learning about other religions.

damn clpo13 take a chill pill. omg i was just wondering

An intriguing topic clpo, I might have to research this further now.

Like what? I see nothing in Zoroastrianism that implies that.

Besides, I'm a Christian. I'm just learning about other religions.

thats kool in wut u believe in. i never heard of zoroastrianism. but do u hate jesus lovers. cuz the things u have written makes it seem that way

All right. An Iranian named Zarathustra--more commonly know as Zoroaster--preached that all esistence was the gradual realization of a divine plan. He foretold that the ultimate fulfillmen of that plan would be a glorious consummation when all things would be made perfect once and for all. In a nutshell, the universe began and would end with all of the people on Earth (who follow Zoroastrianism, of course) being reunited with the Creator, a god named Ahura Mazda, or Lord Wisdom.

Zoroastrianism was also the first religion to have two main deities, the first dualism. Yes, there are lesser gods, but Ahura Mazda would be the equivalent of the Christian God and Angra Mainyu would be the same as the Devil or Satan. Ahura Mazda stood for asha, order, while Angra Mainyu represented druj, or chaos, "the Lie". Angra Mainyu always was trying to disrupt the natural order of the universe. So Ahura Mazda created the Earth in order to attract Angra Mainyu and finally defeat him.

The creation in Zoroastrianism is called the "primordial singularity" because the Earth was originally created with one plant, one animal, and one man. Zoroaster said that Angra Mainyu attacked the pristine Earth and caused the sky to be full of holes (stars), most of the sea to become salty, most of the land to become arid and mountainous, and fire to produce smoke. He also killed the original creations. But Ahura Mazda caused the blood of the man and animal and the sap of the plant to create all living creatures on Earth.

The people were encouraged to worship Ahura Mazda and his assistant gods in order to please and encourage the gods so that they would be better equipped to fight druj. Zoroastrianism also had a paradisical afterlife where the blessed souls of the dead would stay in peace and harmony until the "making wonderful", or end of the world, where the leand will be leveled, people will live in harmony, the resurrected dead will be reunited with their oved ones, and there will be no more childbirth.

Of course, Zoroaster preached that this would happen soon. It didn't. So after his death, Zoroastrians assumed that Zoroaster was simply a savior sent by Ahura Mazda to ready them. But there still was no end time. Eventually, the people came up with the idea that he would come again to save everyone. Sound familiar? Zoraster's seed was preserved in a lake guarded by 99,999 souls. A virgin called Vispa-taurari will bathe in that lake and become pregnant with Zoroaster's seed. She will bear a child called Asvat-erata, the Saoshyant, loosely associated with being the Messiah, as Christians would call him. He will lead the forces of good in the final battle, raise the dead, and bestow immortality on the righteous.

Unfortunately for the Zoroastrians, the Muslim armies sweeping out of Arabia engulfed Iran in the mid 7th century CE (Common Era, aka AD) and persecuted anyone following Zoroastrianism. The remaining Zoroastrians fled mostly to India where they are known as the Parsis (the Persians). In the 1970s, there were only about 130,000 Zoroastrians in the world thus making it one of the smallest religions on Earth. Ironic, considering it used to be one of the biggest.

Clear things up, WorthWaitingFor?

Uh, what is it? I'm always curious to know about other religions.