Do pagan elements in Christianity negate the awesome gift of eternal life in

[mmmmmm]

Christ available to all who ask? I say they do not, but what say ye? Thanks.
Dave, I also thought about your rosary when framing this question.
Jeff O, the whole Easter shebang, for instance.

Illuminator, it is ironic you think I oppose the Church by exalting Christ. And even if you were right, then there must be something wrong with the church.

[JeffO]

What pagan elements? Easter? I am not aware of anything pagan practiced in church on Easter. If you are referring to the Easter Bunny and eggs, I have no idea, but it IS fun for the tiny kids. But I have never heard of a church that thinks it has anything to do with Christ.

Sorry, I have nothing on Easter other than that.

[TheWiz]

I'm guessing that 'pagan' is Protestant code for Catholic.

[Mackenzie]

I think the Pagan elements show just how misunderstood the original Jewish beliefs were when it came to things like monotheism, the messianic prophecies and the role of the messiah, hell, fallen angels, etc.

Basically, if Judaism ever was right, then any Pagan-tainted version of it is incorrect.

And if Judaism was never right to begin with, then anything added beyond that was just more wrong added to wrong.

Either way, Christianity & Jesus don't come off very well.

[Illuminator]

Opponents of the Church often attempt to discredit Catholicism by attempting to show similarities between it and the beliefs or practices of ancient paganism. This fallacy is frequently committed by Fundamentalists against Catholics, by Seventh-day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, and others against both Protestants and Catholics, and by atheists and skeptics against both Christians and Jews.

The pagan influence fallacy is committed when one charges that a particular religion, belief, or practice is of pagan origin or has been influenced by paganism and is therefore false, wrong, tainted, or to be repudiated. In this minimal form, the pagan influence fallacy is a subcase of the genetic fallacy, which improperly judges a thing based on its history or origins rather than on its own merits (e.g., "No one should use this medicine because it was invented by a drunkard and adulterer").

Very frequently, the pagan influence fallacy is committed in connection with other fallacies, most notably the post hoc ergo proper hoc ("After this, therefore because of this") fallacy—e.g., "Some ancient pagans did or believed something millennia ago, therefore any parallel Christian practices and beliefs must be derived from that source." Frequently, a variant on this fallacy is committed in which, as soon as a parallel with something pagan is noted, it is assumed that the pagan counterpart is the more ancient. This variant might be called the similis hoc ergo propter hoc ("Similar to this, therefore because of this") fallacy.

When the pagan influence fallacy is encountered, it should be pointed out that it is, in fact, a fallacy. To help make this clear to a religious person committing it, it may be helpful to illustrate with cases where the pagan influence fallacy could be committed against his own position (e.g., the practice of circumcision was practiced in the ancient world by a number of peoples—including the Egyptians—but few Jews or Christians would say that its divinely authorized use in Israel was an example of "pagan corruption").