Jesus and John the Baptist were both Shamans

If you study how they started off you come to this conclusion. They both fasted and lived in the wilderness eating nothing but water for 40 days and nights. This is one of the marks of a shaman. One does this to receive special knowledge and gifts from God as a Shaman.

Gautama Buddha was also a Shaman. He fasted under the Bodhi Tree in Bodhgaya, India until he was given the Mahayana "The Middle Path" which I compare to "Moderation in all things" which is a Greek saying. But all three of them were shamans to begin with before they started Christianity and Buddhism.

For example, Native American Shamans eat no food or drink no water for 4 or more days to receive visions from God to know how to help their families and tribes and they have done this for 10,000 to 15,000 years or more already.

This is the same thing as going 40 days without food and drinking only water. You achieve the same oneness with God and Nature by doing this.

Except you might die after enough days without water whereas you can go more days if you drink water (like 40 or 50 days) without food if you are young and healthy enough. However, you will be in a very different state of mind after the first day or two of no food. And within 2 days you will be in a very very different state of consciousness if you are not eating food or drinking water.

For example, by the 2nd night of a 4 day no water or food vision quest in 1983 I became a Golden Dragon breathing fire out upon mankind which was God answering my quest for a vision telling me what I should do with my life. And when I breathed fire out upon all mankind at first I was horrified the fire might kill them and burn them all up. But no, instead they smiled and all became enlightened.

So, God had shown me my path in life then when I was I guess 35 then in 1983.

By God's Grace

Note: By no way am I comparing myself in this to Jesus or John The Baptist by the way.

I'm only illustrating what most people don't seem to understand. Jesus and John the Baptist were Jewish Shamans. This was a scary thing to King Herod and so he had John the baptist Beheaded and eventually Jesus Crucified on a cross.

Understanding Christianity in a Cultural anthropology setting I believe is very helpful. For one thing it doesn't discriminate against all Shamanic religions on earth because it illustrates that Christianity came from Shamanism too just like All religions originally did.