Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is one of the oldest living religions in the world found in 6th century B.C. It was the religion of the ancient Persian Empire, now known as Iran. Its origins are a mystery. Today, it is a relatively small religion with only about 250,000 followers living in Iran and India. Zoroastrians living outside of Iran are called Parsis. Even so, this religion cannot be overlooked because of its great contributions to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
The major religious scriptures, the Gathas, are hymns of early Zoroastrians and are considered the very words of the prophet Zoroaster himself. All remaining scriptural books are based on the Gathas. The ancient inhabitants of the land, the Persian Empire, are a group of people know as Aryans. The Gathas indicates that the Aryans were nature worshipers who venerated a series of deities. It also tells of the prophet Zoroaster. Little is known about his birth or early life, but it was said that he discarded all gods but one.
Zoroaster grew up and became the only founder of a world religion to be trained as a priest. He preached that there was one true God and his named Ahura Mazda, translated to “Wise Lord”. He is understood to be the invisible and intangible creator and ruler of the universe. Zoroaster preached that Ahura Mazda revealed himself to mankind through six “Holy Immortals.” Western scholars have equated these “holy immortals” with the archangels of Christian theology.
Zoroaster’s greatest contribution to the religions of the world was in the area of the problem of evil. According to Zoroastrianism the world is full of good and evil and it is easy to say that good comes from God-- but where does the evil come from? To solve this, Zoroaster taught that two spirits emanated from Ahura Mazda: one good and one evil. These spirits do not exist independently but meet in unity with the forces of both good and evil under the control of Ahura Mazda. People can relate these two spirits to yin and
The major religious scriptures, the Gathas, are hymns of early Zoroastrians and are considered the very words of the prophet Zoroaster himself. All remaining scriptural books are based on the Gathas. The ancient inhabitants of the land, the Persian Empire, are a group of people know as Aryans. The Gathas indicates that the Aryans were nature worshipers who venerated a series of deities. It also tells of the prophet Zoroaster. Little is known about his birth or early life, but it was said that he discarded all gods but one.
Zoroaster grew up and became the only founder of a world religion to be trained as a priest. He preached that there was one true God and his named Ahura Mazda, translated to “Wise Lord”. He is understood to be the invisible and intangible creator and ruler of the universe. Zoroaster preached that Ahura Mazda revealed himself to mankind through six “Holy Immortals.” Western scholars have equated these “holy immortals” with the archangels of Christian theology.
Zoroaster’s greatest contribution to the religions of the world was in the area of the problem of evil. According to Zoroastrianism the world is full of good and evil and it is easy to say that good comes from God-- but where does the evil come from? To solve this, Zoroaster taught that two spirits emanated from Ahura Mazda: one good and one evil. These spirits do not exist independently but meet in unity with the forces of both good and evil under the control of Ahura Mazda. People can relate these two spirits to yin and