Comparing Christianity and the Religion of the Pharaohs Print E-mail
 
Ancient Egyptian Religion
Christianity

God

Historians believe ancient Egyptians worshipped many gods, though not all were worshipped in the same area or time period. One ancient king is said to have worshipped only one god, but it was not the God of the Bible.

Christians believe in one God (Deuteronomy 6:4).

Followers

The ancient religion died out little by little as Christianity spread in Egypt. In recent times, some non-Christians outside of Egypt have taken an interest in Egyptian gods. (These gods are false gods according to biblical beliefs.) Some New Age followers in the U.S., for example, now pray to Isis, an Egyptian goddess.

More than 2 billion people in the world today call themselves Christians.

Holy Books

No single book was considered holy. The Egyptian Book of the Dead was a collection of spells and magic that supposedly helped the dead deal with the afterlife.

Christians believe the Holy Bible is the word of God (2 Timothy 3:16).

Afterlife

Many archaeologists believe rulers had the pyramids built to serve as their tombs. They believed they could enjoy material possessions after death. Their bodies were preserved as mummies because they believed preserving them would help their soul survive properly.

In heaven believers enjoy unbroken fellowship with God for eternity. (See Romans 6:23, 2 Corinthians 5:8, and 1 Thessalonians 5:10.)

Salvation

Egyptians believed they would be judged after their death for their deeds done on earth. One belief was that the dead person’s heart would be weighed with a feather on the other side of the scale. If the heart was heavy with evil deeds and weighed more than the feather, the person would not have a good afterlife.

Doing good deeds is not enough for salvation. (See Ephesians 2:8,9.) Salvation is by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

 

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