Is Christianity Pagan?

Although my research is far from over I stumbled onto something today that I had never heard of.  There are plenty of people out there that have made claims to Christianity being based on a pagan religion, so I started to search around on it and what I found is amazing...There is a Persian religion that predates Christianity by about 200 years, and has some similar beliefs or stances. Its called Mithraism.  Here are a few similarities that caught me off guard at first.


-Both Mithras and Christ had virgin births in the sense that they were conceived without any sexual union between man and woman.
-Both Mithraism and Christianity emphasized mankind's redemption resulting from a sacrificial death followed by the god's ascent to heaven.
-Both emphasized purification through baptism
-Both have flood stories


There are more but these were just a few.  The funny part is,.... well here read for yourself.


On the Virgin birth:  Both Mithras and Christ had virgin births in the sense that they were conceived without any sexual union between man and woman. Christ's father was said to be God, while Mithras was said to have had no father or mother, having emerged as an adult from a large rock.


On the payment for Sin: Both Mithraism and Christianity emphasized mankind's redemption resulting from a sacrificial death followed by the god's ascent to heaven. In the case of Christ, it was the god himself (or his son) who was sacrificed; in the case of Mithra, it was a sacred steer that Mithra sacrificed.


On Baptism:  Both emphasized purification through baptism, Mithraists by washing themselves in the blood of sacrificial oxen. While dying oxen bled to death on lattice floors built over their heads, initiates both drank and washed themselves with the blood that dripped on them.


Flood:   Both told of a major flood, in the case of Mithra through his having shot an arrow into a stone cliff to quench mankind's thirst. Unfortunately, the entire world's population was drowned in a flood produced by the water spout that gushed from the hole his arrow produced. One man alone (a Noah figure borrowed from the earlier Sumerian myth of Atrahasis) was warned in time and could therefore save himself and his cattle in an ark.


Definitely some "similarities" but some very large differences as well.  Seeing as to very little is known about the beliefs of Mithraism before the 2nd century, which by that time Christianity was well on its way, mithraist may have changed their beliefs to mimic more closely the ever growing popularity of Christianity.  By the time Christianity came around as a religion, Mithraism had been changed from its Persian roots.  Was Mithraism around first?  Yes and no.  Before Christ's ministry here on earth, yeah,....  before the accounts of the Old Testament??...Well since the accounts go back to creation I dont think thats possible.  My faith is based on the bible, and the bible being the word of God has continuously passed the test of time and it will continue to do so.
Check out this site for a little more info on it...