First religion or religious practices and congregations
By KaMlBob
@KaMlBob (786)
United States
3 responses
@Ciniful (1587)
• Canada
1 Mar 07
If you're talking about first religions, it doesn't make any sense to bring the bible into it. Pagan religions were predominant for centuries before christianity, and long before the writing of the bible.
Pagan cultures 'normally' (I say normally because there are exceptions to everything) ... worshipped nature & animals, so no, animal sacrifices wouldn't have been a normal practice. Just so it doesn't cause any confusion, of of course they still ate meat and hunted .. but it was with a greater respect for the animals than is evident today.
As for christianity and the reference to the bible, there are many practices that aren't commonplace any more in regards to it. We no longer stone our unruly children, or kill rape victims who didn't scream loud enough. We don't sell our daughters into slavery, we no longer believe the sun revolves around the earth. We know that bats aren't insects and unicorns aren't real. We plant fields with more than one type of seed, men trim their beards and we wear clothing made of two fibres.
Yet, the bible says men can't trim their beards. It claimed bats were insects, unicorns were real, unruly children were to be stoned, daughters sold as slaves, rape victims punished and killed, fields should only have one seed and clothing one fibre. It also said women couldn't enter a holy place during their menstrual periods, so there's another that's been discarded.
To take the bible literally, at this point, with what we know now thanks to science and technology .. would be to walk through the world wearing blinders. It has to be taken as it stands .. a man made creation, full of contradictions, errors and fallacies, that was written more than 60 years after the supposed birth of Christ, and editted by Constantine who discarded more than 600 books he didn't want anyone seeing, in fear they'd revert back to the pagan religions that so many had been converted from.
But to answer your original question, the first religions were pagan. :)
3 people like this
@missak (3311)
• Spain
12 Apr 07
I love your answer, ciniful. Please take a look on the similar discussion by myself. But I don't like you call that religions "pagan", that's the despective name Romans gave it. Say rather animist, mysthical, Mother Earth-based...
@xParanoiax (6987)
• United States
3 Mar 07
Oh everyone will always disagree with this one lol.
If you want to be techical-- viewing it from christianity's poin of view, it'd be cristianity.
If you want to view it historically (and I don't buy the whole 'just because weweren't there we'll never know' bull. Technology's gotten very good at tracing the past..like people found out a while back the amazons -- warrior women-- were real one of those supposed things we'd never learn about) paganism was first. 'Fore one of the leaders -- a roman I believe, converted to christianity..and slowly made everyone else do it too.
As for practices..no one knows. Alot of very ancient ones are still alive today though..from many different religions. So..who knows? Maybe someday we will. Maybe a cave man drew symbols for prayer or something in a cave..we'll know someday, but for now we don't.
@garyeye (202)
• Philippines
3 Mar 07
According to the Bible, our first parents lived in Eden and that our Creator walked with them, this is the first religion. God was with them physically before they sinned, they saw God as He is. Then they sinned and God wants us to atone for our sins, first was to offer an unblemished lamb so that God's anger might be appeased. This points to Jesus, God's only begotten Son who sacrificed his life for our sins, so that one day we will be reconciled to God eternally.