The Immortality of the Soul
The immortality of the human soul is a belief of Christianity, one of its core tenets, and one that is based in pagan beliefs that well preceded those of the early Christians. The ancient Babylonians and Egyptians believed in life after death and a path to heavenly reward. The Egyptians worshiped the god Osiris, who was killed but brought back to life. Osiris offered the possibility of new life after death was the judge of the dead, and was thus associated with the cycles of life and death seen in nature, such as the changing of the seasons. After he was brought back to life he was elevated to some form of an afterlife in heaven, which the Egyptians believed he had opened for all who followed him.
The Egyptians came to believe that when a person died his spirit or soul began a journey to a Hall of Judgment, where they would be presented to Osiris, who was assisted with forty-two associates in the form of lesser gods. There they would be able to present their case for entry into eternal life. Those who failed, finding the balance of the scales of justice to be against them, were instead delivered to the underworld, to be torn to pieces by a demonic torments. Thus the concept of heaven and hell, and judgment before a savior, were parts of pagan beliefs in Egypt long before they were part of the Christian canon, which is infused with many similarities.
The pagan beliefs of a savior whom they could follow into an eternal afterlife arose spontaneously in religions throughout the ancient world, including in the Americas. In Europe, they traveled from Egypt and Babylon to Greece, from Greece to Rome and to the emerging Christian communities. The promise of a heavenly reward to the faithful was a feature of many ancient beliefs far removed from Christianity or the Judaism from which it arose following the life and death of Jesus. But in early Christianity and in Judaism the teaching was of an earthly reward following the coming of the Messiah in the latter and the return of Jesus in the former.
The Babylonian teachings of the goddess Ishtar (pronounced Eeshtar) included her bearing a son who died every year to experience a rebirth in the spring. Ishtar was venerated as the Queen of Heaven by the Babylonians and the Assyrians, among others, and was known to the Sumerians as Inanna. The Greek goddess Aphrodite contains many similarities to the legends and myths surrounding Inanna-Ishtar, and early Christians in the lands of the Middle East assimilated many of the traditional stories of Ishtar into those of the Virgin Mary which arose there, rather than in the Church in Rome.
Thus as Christianity spread during the first five centuries of the Common Era pagan rituals, traditions, and beliefs merged with the spread of Christian theology, which absorbed many of them into its own traditions, rather than replace them with new ideas and customs. The burning of incense, used by pagans to drive away evil spirits, remained and remains an intrinsic part of many Christian ceremonies. So does the use of candles, of an altar, and the preparation and presentation of a sacrifice as part of religious worship, all of which had roots in pagan ceremonies and celebrations.