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• The Nation of Israel, specifically Abraham, has been credited with the birth of the first monotheistic religion; however, monotheistic principles were present in other ancient civilizations before the creation of the chosen people of Israel, specifically with Zoroastrianism and ancient Egyptian religions.
• Monotheism became a logical choice for ancient civilizations after the destruction and failure of so many previous societies; monotheism would unite civilizations through the religious law and worship of a single god.
• Monotheism became different than previous “national religions” where the one god worshipped is more important than the other gods; instead, it is one true god that demands devotion - and for the Israelites, only Yaweh
could be worhsipped by Isralites and he is the creator and lord of all.
Between 600 BCE and 600 CE, religion played an important role in the social order of the Middle East. The introduction of monotheistic religions challenged earlier polytheistic religions and caused people to have faith in in one almighty god. Social order was affected by these new understandings because people began to believe that those who sided with God would be granted everlasting life while those who were on the side of evil were sentenced to eternal punishment.
They believed that exercising the opportunity to choose between a wide array of gods to worship offered them a great sense of freedom that they treasured. After all, the Greeks were known for their intellectual distinction, of which their means of worship played a huge part. Each city-state, or polis, thus had an affiliated god who protected and guided its residents. Within a given polis, the belief in common gods unified the people. Ultimately, the Greeks yearned for unity and order in the universe, which is a characteristic that is not unlike that of people today.
The problem of evil dealt within the Monotheism in The Book of Job which is created by an unknown author is abundant all around in the book. We see Satan and even God show his evil ways. Although the Book of Job is in the Bible which is known as the main book of many religions, the book of Job is debated to not be religious. In spite of these debates, The Book of Job continues to be religious.
Jews became more than shepherds. Unlike people before them that were polytheistic, the Jews were bearers of a concept of ethical monotheism that became the basis for a new kind of religion, Judaism. The religion that marked by a new relationship between people and God.
Monotheistic religions tended to develop in Southwestern Asia. Islam, Judaism, and Christianity all began in very similar regions in Southwestern Asia. All three also share a common bond of being monotheistic. Islam's belief system was centered around the importance of making the God happy by your behavior (Doc 2). By the end of your life, there would be a final judgement where the God would assess your behavior and you would hopefully be granted a peaceful afterlife.
Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one God. There are three of the most influential monotheistic religions in world history today known as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These three religions share both vast similarities and differences. One significant similarity they share is the belief in one deity. The belief of one God gave many people guidance and purpose in their lives. For this reason, these three religions gained many followers and believers who had faith in God. Through faithfulness in God, many were promised eternal paradise. In the following paragraphs, I will explain the similarities and differences between the rituals, holy scripts, and salvation that these religions shared.
Religion is an ever-growing idea that has no set date of origin. Throughout history religion has served as an answer to the questions that man could not resolve. The word religion is derived from the Latin word “religio” meaning restraint in collaboration with the Greek word “relegere” which means to repeat or to read again. Religion is currently defined as an organized system of beliefs and practices revolving around, or leading to, a transcendent spiritual experience. Throughout time, there has yet to be a culture that lacks a religion of some form, whether it is a branch of paganism, a mythological based religion or mono/polytheistic religion. Many religions have been forgotten due to the fact that they were ethnic religions and globalizing religions were fighting to be recognized, annihilating these ancient and ethnic religions. Some of these faiths include: Finnish Paganism, Atenism, Minoan Religion, Mithraism, Manichaeism, Vedism, Zoroastrianism, Asatru, and the Olmec Religion. Religion is an imperative part of our contemporary world but mod...
The questions about the existence of life and the creation of the world are always mind-boggling and fascinating, however, the real answer to these questions may never surface. All there is to rely on are the myths, stories and legends passed on from generation to generation by ancestors and the clues they have left. This essay will try to uncover the ancient Mesopotamian and Hebrew views on existence and creation by looking at sources like the Genesis and other ancient Mesopotamian texts and poems. Mesopotamians and Hebrews had contrasting views on how they explained the events in their lives, and through analysis of ancient sources, those differences will be outlined. In such populated and booming areas, human conflict was inevitable and some of the law codes that were placed in effect to establish order within the society will be examined. Throughout it all, god and religion played a central role in these ancient civilizations.
The Great Hymn of the Aten is the earliest view of monotheism. The King praises Aten as the one single god. He calls him the sun god, but he is really the god of everything. King Akhenaten praises him for every good thing that is happening in his kingdom. In the story, he refers to Aten as the “giver of breath” (Norton 50) and even “sole god” (Norton 65). Throughout the hymn, the King never speaks of another god. The King is so devoted to Aten that he renames himself to Akhenaten, which means “He who is effective for Aten” (Norton 29).
Polytheistic religions and polytheism in itself includes religions that worship many divinities rather then one sole god. This basic principal that defines polytheism has been carried out through many polytheistic religions within history, and plays a huge impact on worship and religion. The four oldest polytheistic practicing religions are the Greek religion, Egyptian religion, and Canaanite religion and Mesopotamian religion. Although these religions have vastly different fundamental ideologies they have a major commonality, the presence of a super divine god that is essentially the highest power. This super divine force is important to polytheism because it is the backbone of many polytheistic religions. The concept of a non-objectified impersonal superior force governing all, even the gods themselves makes these four religions interconnect. These polytheistic religions worship a super divine god, which they distinguish as their own Moria, Yahweh, Neter and Akkadian. A super divine god is needed because humans and gods constantly need to be in fear, have a higher order, maintain order and govern mortals. Humans to be spiritually connected with faith have to believe in something bigger then themselves; this applies to the gods as well. A god that is not the super divine force in these polytheistic religions cannot fulfill the role of the all mighty one. It has been distinguished that this superior force that governs various religions requires special qualities. Polytheism requires a monotheistic like deity to uphold polytheistic religion.
• If there is only one God, then he is also the God of the nations.
Many times Religious exclusivism is the aftermath of monotheism, and both share a great amount of connections to each other. These two different named aspects share the same view of life as each other, but could not be more different then the idea of democracy and its intensions. Therefore conflict arises, and the question is asked which view is better? In the end all that counts is the one, which makes life better for the general public.
that exists and this can be read in the sacred texts, the Koran and the Bible. For all three monotheistic religions, God is the only one that can be considered as the Creator of the Universe, the All-Powerful and the venerable divine being that is gracious and merciful. They also accept the fact that this god is the same God that Abraham worships as stated in the Old Testament. This particular similarity between these three religions has given them the name “the Abrahamic religions” by some experts. Despite the varying names these three religions have for this particular god, in essence, they are one at the same. Abraham is also considered the father to the children of God, which are often referred to as the people of Israel. (Lin) What differs in the three religion’s concept of God is how they advocate them. One can see that Christianity and Judaism are close to their belief of God. They noted that Je...
Before the time of Jahiliyah, a group of people, al-Hanafiyyeen, followed the monotheistic teachings of Abraham (Ibrahim). He alleged faith in one universal God, but after his death, Arabs returned to the polytheistic society.
Unlike pagan religions, Judaism only had one temple, and the Jewish Temple’s significance centered around Judaism’s central tenets: there was only one true God, Yahweh, also known as Elohim, and they alone were his “chosen people,” as seen by the fact that he chose to dwell in their Temple, in their capital city of Jerusalem. (The Roman Empire – proudly polytheistic and secure in their belief that Rome, not a city in rural Judea, was the cultural center of the known world – most disliked these tenets as projecting a smug superiority at best, and at worst threatening the stability of the empire if, by some chance, they spread. ) While the Temple represented the core beliefs of Judaism that united the various decentralized Jewish cities and tribes,