Was religion created to meet a human need?
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Romans 1:18-22
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
So you're saying it's not the written Word of God! But I already knew that.
1 Thessalonians 2:13
13 For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.
Should we believe you or Paul who wrote more Books in the Bible than anyone?
Hmm???
Maybe God will pull you from the fire!
Jude 1:22-23
22 And on some have compassion, making a distinction;
23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire,
Wick Stick
Well-Known Member
All of the above, and some other reasons to boot, on a case-by-case basis.
This is the unorthodox forum, so let me float an unorthodox idea.
Consider a colony of ants. One could look at each ant, and think of it as an individual life-form. But one could also look at the whole colony of ants as being the life-form, and the individual ants as being something more like cells performing various functions within the larger organism of the colony - some defend, some build, some reproduce to create more ants, and so forth.
What if humans are like those ants? We usually view ourselves as individuals... but what if instead we look at ourselves as parts of a larger organism? Paul calls Christians "members" of a collective "body" with various different functions. What if that's more than a metaphor?
Jung
If so, perhaps religions arise out of mankind's collective mind. Or minds. You can have more than one colony of ants...
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Wick Stick
Well-Known Member
That's good.
We all have the basic questions about why are we here and what is this about. ???
It seems that religion is an attempt to answer these questions and show us the way.
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@Wick Stick
I just heard a comment about the supposed "400 years of silence" between the old and new testament writings.
What do you know about that? The church claims 400 years of silence, but there seems to be other views on this.
/
I just heard a comment about the supposed "400 years of silence" between the old and new testament writings.
What do you know about that? The church claims 400 years of silence, but there seems to be other views on this.
/
- Is religion a response to an encounter with God?
It should be. IMHO
Moses burning bush experience comes to mind.
I guess we all have our stories of a connection with the transcendent.
But, to my surprise, some don't. Just raised in the church.
No remarkable connection at all. Not sure what to make of that.
- Was religion created to meet a human need?
We all have the basic questions about why are we here and what is this about. ???
It seems that religion is an attempt to answer these questions and show us the way.
- Or was religion an attempt to explain what we observed about our human predicament?
Some religious writings seem to be a statement like: "Here's what we think happened here."
/ @Chadrho
It should be. IMHO
Moses burning bush experience comes to mind.
I guess we all have our stories of a connection with the transcendent.
But, to my surprise, some don't. Just raised in the church.
No remarkable connection at all. Not sure what to make of that.
- Was religion created to meet a human need?
We all have the basic questions about why are we here and what is this about. ???
It seems that religion is an attempt to answer these questions and show us the way.
- Or was religion an attempt to explain what we observed about our human predicament?
Some religious writings seem to be a statement like: "Here's what we think happened here."
/ @Chadrho
Wick Stick
Well-Known Member
They're pretty noisy.
The 14 books of the Deuterocanon were all written during that period, as well as the Book of Enoch, the first parts of the Talmuds, and the Dead Sea Scrolls... most of them aren't just copies of the Biblical books.
The Septuagint (Greek translation of the Tanach) was produced in that era. The Jewish philosopher Philo of Alexander attempted to merge Greek Philosophy with the Hebrew Old Testament and was way more successful at it than you'd think. The Pharisee and Sadducee sects were founded, along with... well, all the other Jewish sects. Whole genres of Jewish literature came into being - Wisdom literature, the beginnings of Kabballah, Apocryphons and their revelations.
Also, if you're credulous of Biblical criticism, it suggests that the rabbis during that period edited the older books and established the canon of the Tanach quite a bit later than the traditional dates.
Some will say that the "silence" is only meant to refer to a lack of prophets. That's also not true.
Several of the deuterocanonical books contain prophecy. Tobit is an apocalyptic work (like Daniel or Revelation) that's meant to be interpreted, despite being a children's story at first glance. The idea of a book of Jesus' sayings probably models itself on Sirach. At least one of those sayings (Matt 7:16) is a direct quote from Sirach, and James and Luke also quote from this book.
Enoch contains several lengthy prophesies which the New Testament authors seem to have taken seriously. One of the Dead Sea Scrolls has a really interesting prophecy in which the Messiah is foretold to come as Melchizedek - an idea that the Book of Hebrews talks about at some length.
-Jarrod
Thank you.
I was pretty sure you knew something about that. Much appreciated.
I was remembering what you had said about Moses drawing on the ancient texts from his father-in-law while writing his own origins story.
This seemed to track with a video I just saw about the Annunaki, which were identified in the Sumerian creation account.
The narrative parallels were quite remarkable. Are you familiar? Video appeared on a YouTube channel titled The Fifth Kind.
/
BlessedPeace
Well-Known Member
Deity was created to answer what primitive man could not comprehend.
This evolved into religion.
Early man,cave drawings, indictate Animism was prevalent in the minds of primitive people hundreds of thousands of years ago.
It's a fascinating study.
This evolved into religion.
Early man,cave drawings, indictate Animism was prevalent in the minds of primitive people hundreds of thousands of years ago.
It's a fascinating study.
Philip James
Well-Known Member
Philip James
Well-Known Member
As a general term. All religions.
Not sure.
Probably in the time frame in question.
Protestants (the tradition I was raised in) claims it as a silent period when God was not speaking.
I question that claim.
/
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