format_quote Originally Posted by
wilberhum
Monotheism was bound to happen.
People thought god lived in a tree, but the tree died.
Then the river became his home, but the river dried up.
Not a good thing for god.
People had come up with a version of god that could not be proved false
If there were multiple gods, your god could be greater than my god.
People had come up with a version of god that could not be considered inferior in any way.
Thus Monotheism came to be.
Monotheism was bound to happen.
People thought god lived in a tree, but the tree died.
Then the river became his home, but the river dried up.
Not a good thing for god.
Bad for one god, but would sure strengthen a persons belief that another God was more powerfull, and it is time to appease many gods to build an army of gods to defeat an enimies gods.
"People had come up with a version of god that could not be proved false"
As many people have done here quite often. We who believe in God, have a very difficult time in proving it to non-believers. I suspect that throughout histories, there have been many detractors against Monotheism. I think it took a bit of strong evidence to get it established by any group. It does seem it was revealed to many cultures, but most cultures refused to accept or keep it.
Somehow the existing religions tend to indicate a stronger tendency for religions to shift towards being more polytheistic. Catholochism when introduced into Haiti soon developed into VooDoo with many Gods. The concept of Saints in Christianity is seen to develope into the worship of lesser dieties. The numerous shrines throughout South America and Mexico are places of worship to these Saints by many of the People. Although the staunch Catholics will say the Saints are venerated, not worshipped. That may be the intent, but the reality is people are worshipping them. Then you take the animistic religions of India, after thousands of years new gods are added on almost a daily Basis.
Even today among the Christian world you will see a shift towards polytheism. Without even touching on the concept of the Trinity. Many Christians have some belief in powerfull spirits that need to be appeased in some manner. Although it is not acknowledged as polytheism, Some Christians do ascribe non-existant powers to Satan and Evil spirits and in doing so demonstrate a form of fear and a worship of them through fear.
When you stop and think of it, belief in a single Diety, is illogical. The magnificance and grandeur of creation, makes it very difficult to even consider that it could be created by one being. I doubt very much we would have ever developed the concept of montheism on our own, and if we did it would be very difficult to convince others to believe it. In my opinion monotheism came about and lasted only because Allah(swt) revealed Himself to mankind.