What religions were around before Moses went to the mountain for the 10 commands?

Question

When Moses went to the mountain to get the "Ten Commandments", it was because the people wanted some guidlines for approaching God. Were any other religions developed prior to this time because of the same need? Please give proof and details on research.

Answer 1

Man conceived of and created idols to worship..."heathens"...doing what was "right in their own minds" (and still doing so today). God created Adam and Eve...and revealed Himself to Abraham and Moses. Man created religion...God initiated relationship. The Jews are not a religion...they are a people group decended from Abraham, Issac and Jacob that had a relationship with God. God did not give the 10 commandments to Moses because the people wanted guidelines but because the people had lost track of the road and needed some "white lines" to stay between. Then, realizing they were outside the lines and damaging their relationship with God they would see the need for God...his forgiveness, mercy, guidance and help.. Those who were not decended from the Jewish people group (the Gentiles) are "ingrafted" by faith through belief in Jesus...who He was and what He did. Jesus came that ALL men, separated from God by sin and a sin nature, might be reconciled to God.

Answer 2

Moses, an Egyptian, was an Atenist priest who brought monotheism to the Jews. The Atenist movement was created by Amenhotep IV who changed the longtime traditional polytheist Egyptian religion into a religion worshipping only one god (who manifested itself as the sun). Although Amenhotep's monotheism was short lived in the Egyptian world, the priest Moses founded a monotheistic religion with the Jewish people, choosing the tribal god Yahweh (who had previously been the god of thunder) as the sole deity. From there Moses established a new religion, gave it laws and guidelines and most importantly established a political power against the polytheism of traditional Egypt.

Answer 3

God spoke directly to different people before the ten commandments. He spoke to Noah and told him that he was going to wipe out the population of the earth because he was so displeased with the people of the earth's sin. Noah found favor in God's sight because of his righteousness but the rest of the earth was a violent lot. After the flood God made a covenant with Noah to never again destroy the earth by flood and he gave Noah some rules to live by, not to kill their fellow man or there would be an accounting and not to eat meat with blood still in it. God spoke directly to Abraham and made a covenant with him, and set up circumcision for males and promised to bless and mutiply his descendants. He also set up the burnt offering to God as an atonement, almost asking Abraham to sacrifice his Son Isaac but then having Abraham sacrifice the Ram instead. The sacrifice was God's method of having man give up something as a penance for doing wrong in God's sight. Joseph and Jacob also walked with the Lord God Jehovah and God made covenants with them too. So it seems like God was speaking to his people through His chosen ones that he chose to bless but there was a lot of sin and disobedience prior to the time of Moses and the Ten Commandments. There was Sodom and Gomorrah, the tower of Babel, wars and pestilence, incest and polygamy. So it was more a one on one relationship with God that was passed down from generation to generation in God's chosen people. I do not see any reference in the Bible before Moses to other idol worship but that is not to say that there wasn't. Maybe I am missing it.

Answer 4

The roots of Hinduism date from around 30th to 10th Centuries BC.

Moses was active any where from the 16th to 13th Centuries BC.

Zoroastrism was founded around the 10th Century BC.

Buddism came into existance in the mid-6th Century to the early 5th Century BC.

Christianity came into existence in the 1st Century AD.

Islam wasn't invented until the 7th Century AD.

Pagan religions of various forms existed prior to, during the time of, and following the time of Moses.

Answer 5

There were many religions before Moses and Christianity. The Aztec's, Inca's, and Mayans, to name a few. Most of these believed in more than one god. They worshiped the sun, moon, water and all the natural things they saw in daily life. Many of them lived by nature and a respect for it. Some of these died out, and others were persecuted by Christians, and forced to convert or die. Wicca (witchcraft), although modernized now, has been around longer than Christianity. And still is persecuted by Christians. If you were to study, you would be amazed at how much of the christian church is based on older religions. They gleaned what they wanted, and called the rest heresy.

Answer 6

It is incontrovertible that Hinduism is the oldest religion still in existence, dating back at least 3500 years.

Also, I dispute the Moses story. I claim that priests from the monarchic period in Israel invented the Moses story to give greater justification for the moral laws they recently invented. The so-called Mosaic code has too many similarities to the Code oif Hammurabi (c. 1700 BCE) to be a coincidence. So these laws are from human inspiration, not divine.

Answer 7

First Islam did not appear till the 7th century BCE. Christianity the 1st century BCE. At the time of moses there were many pagan beliefs including the Egyptian Mythology. I also believe that Hinduism was around at that time.

Answer 8

I'm surprised that in all the answers no one mentioned Feng Shui. We know it in the west simply as that, "move the furniture this way for better energy flow," thing but in fact it was a basis with which to work and act in the world. There were even Feng Shui knights who were learned and commissioned by the Chinese Emperor for their spiritual and energy knowledge.

To the best of my knowledge, Feng Shui pre-dates paganism and is the oldest spiritual/energy path still in existence.

Answer 9

The religion of the Egyptians was in its glory. and the druids in England, One of the oldest religions is the Hindu it is over 4000 years old, the gentleman who said Islam is wrong as the was not started till after Jesus had gone for several hundred years. mainly you have to narrow it down buy what part of the world you interested in.

Answer 10

You ask for proof and details on research, yet you simply accept the Moses myth at face value? Sounds like a double standard to me.