Discussion Group Report

Bible scholars have shown strong evidence that much of early Christian belief and doctrine had its origin in pagan religious and philosophical thought. Zoroastrianism, founded by the Persian religious prophet, Zoroaster, around the beginning of the sixth century BCE, likely strongly affected the course of Judeo-Christian demonology, angelology, and eschatology. Indeed, "the intellectual depth of his system may well have exerted a profound influence on Western thought; Plato, Aristotle, and other Greek thinkers showed a great interest in his doctrines," says Martin Schwartz in "Zoroaster," in Microsoft Encarta.

Zoroastrianism placed upon individuals the responsibility for choice among actions reckoned as positive or negative, good or evil, ritually pure or impure. Merits accruing from right actions and right attitudes included the acquisition of self-control and rewards from Ahura Mazda, the "Lord Wisdom" and the source and support of all that is good. All evil is caused by Ahriman, the twin of Spenta Mainyu, the "Holy Spirit" or "Incremental Spirit," a creative force. This concept of Ahriman appears to be the origin of the Judeo-Christian idea of Satan as the source and supporter of evil, which does not appear in the Bible until accounts of late Old Testament times.

As with the biblical Job, hunger, disease, violence, and other forms of distress often seemed to be in control of earthly life. Zoroastrian mythology projected divine rewards into the afterlife. There was no escape from divine retribution, evil for evil, good for good. On the fourth day after death, the souls of the righteous entered the realm of the blessed, a place of beauty and endless joy. The wicked went to a place of woe and suffering. After a final rite of purification, the formerly wicked joined the righteous souls to share in the reconstituted world of the pure. Finally, there was salvation for all.

Colleen McDannel and Bernhard Lang in Heaven, A History, point out that the first Jew to use a bodily resurrection was Ezekiel who, as a prophet active in the Babylonian exile, would have been acquainted with Zoroastrianism. In one of his visions, he recognized a vast plain covered with dry human bones, bleached by the sun. Such a plain recalls a Zoroastrian funeral ground, since the followers of Ahura Mazda never buried their dead. They let the bodies lie for a year under the sun so that the rain might fall upon them and birds devour the flesh. Ezekiel, after being shown the plain, was commanded to prophesy to the bones and announce their resurrection. Immediately the skeletons were resurrected with living bodies. Later, during the Jewish persecution in 167-4 BCE, the book of Daniel expected that "of those who lie sleeping in the dust of the earth many will awake." Then Paul, probably the earliest Christian writer, taught that, at an appointed time in the future, a resurrection of the dead to bodily life would occur.

It is interesting that there are similarities between Zoroastrianism and Mormonism in addition to those between Zoroastrianism and Christianity. These include an initiation ceremony (Mormon baptism) at the age of seven or eight, wearing special clothing, and the brother relationship of good and evil spirits. It is not known for sure how or why these resemblances occurred, but it is possible that Mormon scholars close to Joseph Smith may have influenced him in his formulation of doctrine.