Why do so many people believe in God today...?

Question

but they don't believe in what ancient societies believed in. Religion today is loosely based on all the ancient stuff, but if you ask a devout christian if he believes in Athena, or Apollo, or Zeus for that matter they will say no. It just confuses me that back then people were killed for not believing this stuff and now we laugh when we hear this, bu people today believe in something just a ludicrous as Roman or Greek gods.

Answer 1

SO WHY CANT WE BELIEVE IN GOD? HE CREATED THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH.. HE CREATED ADAM AND THEN CREATED EVE .. HES ALL AROUND US BUT ITS UP TO US TO DECIDE WHOM WE WORSHIP WHICH FOR ME IS GOD MY FATHER IN HEAVEN HOLLOWED BE THY NAME... THY KINGDOM COME THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN... .. THATS ONE OF MY FAVORITE VERSES.. ALSO PSALMS 23 IS MY FAVORITE AS WELL...

Answer 2

Thank you for asking a very intelligent question. I completely agree with you. Most of the Christian holidays were taken from the pagans. Want proof? This next info ill cheese off any Christian that you encounter, but it has a lot of evidence to support it. I will give you the short version. What is the huge holiday (Christian) in December? Here is a hint you start shopping for it in August. That's right its Christmas. Its the birth of Christ who was born under the Star of Bethlehem. Yaddayadda. In the pagan world (way before Christ) that was the Winter Solstice. The early leaders made the holiday because the pagans would be easier to convert with celebrating holidays on the same day.

For the record the Star that was in the sky was the planet Jupiter. A computer program that was able to go back in time was able to figure that out by the elliptical path that it made. Which was how the wise men were able to "follow the star".

Here is the awsome part are you ready. When the wise men got there in December guess who was already 8 months old? If you guessed baby Jesus you would be so right on the money. It is said that he was born in April not December. So basically when you celabrate Easter your really celibrating both! LOL

Now back then the church had armys and they did kill people. As far as the ancient gods go the concept of christianity ws so different. You had a belief system in place that had a real live person instead of a phantom god that nobody ever saw except in stories. Don't get me wrong the stories were very compelling. So much so that the Roman Empire stole of the Greek Gods and made them there own. That was original!

Answer 3

The gods of the Romans were made into saints in the Roman Catholic church as the power of secular Rome slid away. The church of Rome, once a backwater in the Christian church, became a substitute for the Roman Empire. The same families that ruled the Empire took over the Church.

The Christians, a derivative of the Judaic faith but wildly warped to fit in with the Gentile world of Mithraism with the cult of the dying and resurrecting God, believed in one God. Therefore the rest of the pantheon had to be put somewhere. This was inconvenient since many of the devotees still insisted on worshipping Isis (brought from the fertile Nile) and Astarte (from Babylon), Apollo, and Venus.

The solution was to still honor them but to make up stories of holy martyrs and saints. Statues of Isis with Horus at Her breast could easily be explained as the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Infant Jesus.

There has been no change. Look at how the Voodunista have used the Catholic saints for their own African gods. Just another case of borrowing and adapting. The forces of nature are still there. The night is still filled with mystery and scary sounds. Death comes and we want to be assured that somehow we will go on.

Answer 4

Well, Greek and Romans used their gods to explain natural events, such as rain, sun, seasons, etc. But mostly they did it to have a purpose to be good, so you end up in Elysium, which is the Heaven I suppose, for Greeks. The last statement is exactly why people believe in God today. It's because some people NEED something to believe in. There is about as much evidence supporting todays Christian "God" as there is to support the Roman/Greek gods. Simply, there is none. There is no evidence at all supporting any God.

Evolution has more evidence than we could ask for. So does the Big Bang theory. Still, a lot of people believe in something that makes no sense. But anyways, that's up to them.

I think people are so brainwashed to believe in "God" that the thought of Zeus smiting people with thunderbolts sounds so far-fetched it's funny, but when you think about it, so is their God.

Answer 5

One of the reasons for the fall of Greek/Roman mythology is that over the years, the gods and goddesses were anthropomorphized so much that they became human in just about every aspect, and lost what made them "godly" so people stopped believing it. Why worship something that is just as petty, greedy, and vindictive as you or anyone else? They stopped being the symbol of something powerful (love, war, the hunt, etc) and they just became people squabbling with each other, just like we did. Our Christian God is harder to anthropomorphize which is why it has lasted as long as it is. (Study the history of mythology, you'll see this. I learned it in my college gods and goddesses course)

I also think that so many people believe in the Judeo/Christian God because it is real. Why else would so many people believe it, and only 15% or less would think otherwise? You say it is ludicrous, but the majority of people in the world worship the Christian God, and everyone else in the world shares the rest. Athiests/Agnostics/No belief make up 15% or less of the world. They are the definite minority in that they don't believe in a higher power, yet 85% of the world sees what they can't see, there is a higher power.

Answer 6

People believe in God as a way of escaping death. The fear of dieing is bred into all living things. If nothing feared death, life would come to an end. What's the point of scratching out a living if death is pleasant ?
We don't know what goes on in the minds of animals and insects, but they also have a great desire to remain alive, to what ebd, we'll never know.
The idea of escaping death goes all the way back to the stone age. In different parts of the world people came up with their own version of how to cheat the grave. The idea that some tiny sub-microscopic part of us (the soul) will sail off into space, land in this wonderful spot called heaven, then pop back into a full sized person again appealed to many.
Others didn't come up with the heaven theory, they believed that this "soul" passes from one living thing into another. When you appear to die as a person, you actually show up in the body of a cow or a bedbug.
Yes, the old Gods are forgotten while new ones pop up. Some have been worshipped for thousands of years, only to be dropped for the new.The present Gods may be reaching the end of their terms, who knows ?

Answer 7

The monotheistic belief in God supports patriarchal monarchies. Prior to those there were egalitarian and democratic... actually more oligarchal societies. Government follows religion and vice versa, but it often takes a century or two to catch up. Our own democracy was built on a Pagan model, by Deists and Atheists, unfortunately, the infiltration of Christianity has concentrated more power into the President, exacerbated by the Anti-Communist movement.

My point is, they have to be monotheistic to hold up their government model, but since it's a democratic model, monotheism is doomed to die a slow and painful death in America. The alternative is more concetrated power in the Presidency, the abolition of the Republic (the Civil War took care of that), etc. You'll see the correlation if you watch. It's the death throes you're seeing now. The ancient Christians and Jews acknowledged other Gods, they just didn't worship them. Refusal to acknowledge is a desparate act.

Answer 8

I will have to feel out this question as I answer this query because you have asked for alot of information.
Athena, Apollo and Zeus were names and really to define occuranes in life at that time. Death, birth, good crops, savage storms and other good or bad events. Now, they exsist in Mythology but facually, they did exist and were worshipped in times of need. I cannot say that false or idle gods were worshipped because the mythical gods and godesses were worshipped differently. Just as, were they really at that time authinque or marble stautues that remain for tourists to see in Rome and Greece.
As a Christian, I know God and Jesus are real. I pray every day. I do not wait until I am in trouble to remember God; I will pray like crazy "I know I am not going to pass this final, my dad will kill me and after that ground so could you help me ,please,I know it has been awhile but I really need you now".
I also believe in the Earth Mother, God does not seem to mind. The Moon Godess Luna, simply love the moon and she contols the tides, babies are more likely to be born during the full moon phase,planting, havesting and alot more wonders.
Yes, people were killed for being Christian but more than that for entertainment and that is just plain barberic. This issue is truthfull recrored in history.
The witch trials over here in the new world were pure horror and more good women did for others the more were picked out to be witches.
I hope this helps with your confusion and not add to it.

Answer 9

There are some people who hypothesize that God is to people today as fairies were to us a long while ago. It's all just a way of trying to explain the unexplained. It was very interesting because the same people thought that in one hundred years or so it will be a whole new deity of some kind. I guess humans just need to be reassured that there is a higher purpose for us and that our short lives have some mystery to them. My own opinion is that the polytheistic idea is probably closer to what really is out there, but that just might be my humanity speaking.

Answer 10

Believing is God is correct. People have believed in God for since there was the first man and the first woman on earth. That has not changed. Many of the customs of a time have been incorporated, ideas decided by mankind-usually to appease the people in hopes of not offending God. Believing in God is not current history, it's very, very, very ancient history.

Answer 11

When you mention the name God I assume you are talking about the God of the Bible. Belief in God is on the increase today because we are approaching the end times. Prophesy is being fulfilled as never before seen since the days of Jesus on earth. The problem is all this belief is not backed up with change in lifestyle. Jesus as become a convenience putting on a good public face, rather than making a serious change in lifestyle. The old gods are coming back into fashion because Satan is busy with his schedule of corruption. History shows that anytime there is a rise in the number of adherents to God there is a rise in the activity of the devil.