Babylon Mystery Religion - Ancient and Modern

[EccentricM]

https://www.scribd.com/document/459003/MYSTERY-RELIGION-BABYLON

 

Came across this online book that goes through all the ancient roots of pagan practices in religions around the world and in modern day Christendom. 

[Pjdriver]

On August 15, 2017 at 3:53 AM, EccentricM said:

https://www.scribd.com/document/459003/MYSTERY-RELIGION-BABYLON

 

Came across this online book that goes through all the ancient roots of pagan practices in religions around the world and in modern day Christendom. 

I used to have that book years ago. Don't know whatever happened to it. Very interesting read.

[Hammerhead]

I used to have that book years ago. Don't know whatever happened to it. Very interesting read.

Downloaded it, now to cancel my card on it

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

[Kristian]

Interesting.. Thanks
That would be really helpful, especially for us!

[Friends just call me Ross]

On 8/15/2017 at 3:53 AM, EccentricM said:

https://www.scribd.com/document/459003/MYSTERY-RELIGION-BABYLON

 

Came across this online book that goes through all the ancient roots of pagan practices in religions around the world and in modern day Christendom. 

 

Wow!  It's all there!  All of Satan's lies laid bare.

Amazing book!  Thanks for sharing!

[GrumpysWife]

You can get it here without joining. 

https://archive.org/details/Babylon-Mystery-Religion-Ralph-Woodrow

I downloaded the epub, didn't like it, then pdf, much better. 

[Old]

I am surprised of the commotion this book, 'Babylon Mystery Religion',  has created on this forum. Ralph Woodrow, an evangelical minister that supports the teachings of Alexander Hislop's mostly undocumented connection between the Catholic Church and ancient Babylonian religion in the 'The Two Babylons'. Our organization has turned it's back on Hislop's writings and I don't think they have ever credited Woodrow's book by citing it as an authority on anything. The scholarship is lacking.

 

Ralph Woodrow's own words, "THE BABYLON CONNECTION? shows that claims about Babylonian origins often lack connection. Was Nimrod a deformed, ugly black man, and Semiramis a beautiful white woman with blue eyes and blond hair? Was She the originator of soprano singing and priestly celibacy? Was she the mother of Tammuz? Is the cross a symbol of Tammuz, the initial letter of his name? Are round communion wafers sun-symbols? Are candles, black clergy garments, the letters I.H.S., the fish symbol, halos, and church steeples of pagan origin? Does the Pope wear a crown with 666 on it? Was the papal mitre copied from the fish head of Dagon?"

 

Here are some specific points from 'Babylonian Mystery Religion' that the author now recants, again these are his own words in a follow-up book.

• The Babylonians went to a confessional and confessed sins to priests who wore black clergy garments.

• Their king, Nimrod, was born on December 25. Round decorations on Christmas trees and round communion wafers honored him as the Sun-god.

• Sun-worshippers went to their temples weekly, on Sunday, to worship the Sun-god.

• Nimrod’s wife was Semiramis, who claimed to be the Virgin Queen of Heaven, and was the mother of Tammuz.

• Tammuz was killed by a wild boar when he was age 40; so 40 days of Lent were set aside to honor his death.

• The Babylonians wept for him on “Good Friday.” They worshipped a cross-the initial letter of his name.

 

IMHO  

[Friends just call me Ross]

Being an ex-Roman Catholic, I appreciated the rest of the info that wasn't 'recanted'. 

[Old]

 

37 minutes ago, Friends just call me Ross said:

Being an ex-Roman Catholic, I appreciated the rest of the info that wasn't 'recanted'. 

 

Which part is that? The bit about the round wafers? When it comes to the scholarship, keep in mind a principle found at 1 Cor. 5:6.

I am not saying this book is totally wrong, but having been misled once, or maybe just twice, I would not find the remaining portion creditable. Again when it comes to the main thrust of this book the author makes this statement "One can go to any library, check any history book about ancient Babylon, none of these things will be found. They are not historically accurate, but are based on an arbitrary piecing together of bits and pieces of mythology."  It is his book, he should know. 

[Friends just call me Ross]

I consider myself warned. 

[GeordieGirl]

I have this book, Hislop's Two Babylons and one called Babylon's Children by R.W. Rowlands.  I have had them for many years and although I have never read them from cover to cover they have served a purpose. I bought them way back when and there is a lot of interesting information in Woodrow's book that is factual between the bits that he used for artistic purposes and have now been recanted.  Just like all books of this sort, one needs to be selective and to not take everything as law, but do one's own research to separate fact from fiction, truth from lies.  

 

The references to Hislop are still available in WTLibrary, albeit in the older WT's, the Reasoning book and others and are useful for determining the pagan origins of Christmas and Easter if nothing else though there are many references to other habits of Christendom quoted.  If the slave has not removed those references or recanted them but have left them there to be used by us, then we can safely say that we can still use them in our personal study and when we talk to others.

 

Over the years the slave has used less and less outside references but this does not mean that 'our organisation has turned its back on Hislop's writings', just that it doesn't need to use them anymore as we have now moved forward in time and the references are already there so don't need to be repeated. 

 

Just my personal opinion.

 

 

[Thomas Walker]

Looks a lot like 'The Two Babylons'.

[carlos]

21 hours ago, GeordieGirl said:

The references to Hislop are still available in WTLibrary, albeit in the older WT's, the Reasoning book and others and are useful for determining the pagan origins of Christmas and Easter if nothing else though there are many references to other habits of Christendom quoted.  If the slave has not removed those references or recanted them but have left them there to be used by us, then we can safely say that we can still use them in our personal study and when we talk to others.

 

Over the years the slave has used less and less outside references but this does not mean that 'our organisation has turned its back on Hislop's writings', just that it doesn't need to use them anymore as we have now moved forward in time and the references are already there so don't need to be repeated. 

 

Terri, I view this differently.

 

Hislop's book had an important role in our organization. It introduced the brothers in the 1910s to the idea that many practices they had inherited from Christendom churches actually came from the pagan Babylonian religion. That was the starting point of an extensive research that led to abandoning many such practices.

 

But despite the positive effects of that enlightenment, most of the information in that book are simply conclusions Hislop arrived to, often with little or no evidence. I mean, anyone can notice the similarity between the names Easter and Ishtar, but that isn't a proof that they are related. (Today we know the name Easter comes from the Saxon goddess Eostre.) After all, Alexander Hislop was a Protestant minister, not a researcher, and the purpose of his book was not to bring to light some careful and accurate research, but rather to criticize the Catholic church.

 

Some of Hislop's ideas were repeated in our publications up until the eighties and were very popular among the friends. The last reference to "The Two Babylons" in our publications is from 1986. Shortly after that the brothers realized they were quoting a work that lacked any scientific rigour and written by someone with an agenda, so as Jerry explained they "turned their back on" Hislop's book. It has never been mentioned again.

 

That those quotations are in the Watchtower Library CD doesn't mean that they are approved by the Slave. There are many explanations in the Watchtower Library that are completely outdated. I don't think our publications have "less outside references" than they used to. Our recent publications contain lots of quotations from different books, articles and websites written by experts. But Hislop's book simply doesn't cut the mustard. It's only fair to acknowledge the huge positive influence that book had in the cleaning of our beliefs, but that's it.

[EccentricM]

7 minutes ago, carlos said:

similarity between the names Easter and Ishtar, but that isn't a proof that they are related.

 

It seems possible that Ishtar and Eostre are the same goddess just depicted differently in different religions. 

 

http://www.psychicgloss.com/articles/3549

 

 

Edited October 29, 2017 by EccentricM

[carlos]

25 minutes ago, EccentricM said:

It seems possible that Ishtar and Eostre are the same goddess just depicted differently in different religions. 

 

Yes, it's not impossible. But my point is that a mere similarity in names doesn't demonstrate they are related.

[GeordieGirl]

Thank you for that information, Carlos.  I wasn't aware of the use of Hislop's writings as far back as 1910.    

 

As far as the name of gods and goddesses go .... a false god/goddess by any other name. It doesn't matter what they were called, they are all pagan, they are all satan's tools and they all started millenia ago, mainly back in the original Babylon and are now happily being used by the greater Babylon. 

Edited October 30, 2017 by GeordieGirl