RE: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] how people choose their religions

["Matthew Ross" <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

> That is very interesting.  So there still are Zoroastrians.  
> I thought it
> was a bit closer to extinction than it is.

That's why God didn't call him to Zoroastrianism, membership was already closed ;-)

IIRC, Zoroastrianism isn't remarkable on its own, other than the fact that it is recognized as one of the first monotheistic religions. I don't know much about them, but I've been told by people whose accuracy is in question that Judaism and the other Abrahamic religions are an offshoot of it. Given the propagation of the early Bible stories in Genesis, it seems likely that a lot of religions are offshoots of -some- religion. There are stories from Genesis written in ancient Egypt, there are similar stories in almost all cultures, including prophecy of a messiah. There don't seem to be any after Abraham appears in the Bible though, which makes it seem like Judaism is his offshoot. If you read the Bible, it sounds like worship of God wasn't really organized prior to Exodus, just random people believed in Him and did what He said. Abraham is pulled out of a world of people who believe in false gods instead of the true God.

My theory on this is that after the Flood, people formed various philosophical groups, which evolved into the ancient equivalent of church denominations. One would be Zoroastrian, where they had some things right, and for all I know, may still believe the same way Abraham and his children did. Polytheistic religions, on the other hand, are more naturally grown. While it makes sense to us to philosophize about one God, animism wasn't unpopular back then. The pantheons seem to all arise from personifying something. The Greek/Roman pantheon personified just about everything from war(Aries/Mars) to sewers(Cloacina). Egyptian gods and goddesses personified positions of power, sort of a beaurocracy above the Pharoah or King, but each also had a link to nature. There are still examples around where the people believe in something between animism and polytheism.


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