Zoroastrianism and Religion Essay

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Jalen Scrutchins
Mr. Pasquale
World Cultures
17 October 2014
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is a small religion with about 200,000 followers worldwide. It is an ancient religion that was started
3,500 years ago in Persia and was the official religion of
Persia from 600 BCE to 650 CE. Zoroastrianism is one of the oldest recorded monotheistic religions. Their god is Ahura
Mazda; he is believed to be the creator of the world. Along with their god they worship the elements, thinking they are pure substances and that fire represents god’s wisdom. They worship in a fire temple called an Agiary and use their holy text which is called The Avesta.
Approximately 3,500 years ago a man named Zoroaster was working as a priest in a village that had a polytheistic religion that often used animal sacrifes to please there gods.
Zoroaster didn't like the religion that was practiced around him. And then one day while Zoroaster was doing a purification rite he had a vision of God (Ahura Mazda) and his Immortals.
The vision changed his outlook on life completely, shortly after

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his vision he began teaching what he had learned from God. The religion did not catch on quickly and in fact his first convert was a cousin of his. After 12 years of unsuccessfully trying to teach his religion Zoroaster moved to a kingdom called Bactria where the king and queen heard his teachings and accepted them.
Shortly after it became the official religion of that kingdom.
Followers of Zoroastrianism are usually people of strong family bonds. They believe living and helping one another is their duty while on the earth. They are ecological and take it upon themselves to keep the world pure, whether it's through charities and helping others or cleaning land and not polluting it. Everything God created is sacred to them, they don't litter on the ground, throw trash in rivers, or pollute the air. They believe that through their good deeds that can get rid of all the worldly evils that are opposing God. These evil energies are the forces of Angra Mainyu. Angra Mainyu isn’t actually a person of even a being of anything, it is simply the evil energy of the world. These evils are the reason for all bad fortune in the world. They think that with all good that there must be evil forces fighting God to ruin his purity. The good deeds they do are a service to God that they feel they have to do to maintain balance and establish god's true paradise on earth.

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Zoroastrianism has two major recurring symbols that identify the Zoroastrian religion. The symbol that is strongest in it’s significance is fire. Fire is the symbol that represents the wisdom of god and fire is believed to be the purest most divine substance on the planet. The fire symbol is used to represent their temples call Agiaries most worshiping is done in front of or in the presence of fire. The other symbol strongly identified with in Zoroastrianism is the symbol called the Faravahar. This symbol is comprised of a disc with wings attached to the sides and has a man standing in a robe in the middle of it. This symbol is the symbol that represents the
religion.
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