if Adam and Eve were the first people on earth and new there was only one god where does polytheism come from?

Question

is polytheism older then monotheism then how could adam and eve be the first people on earth?

Answer 1

*** w57 1/15 pp. 44-45 Monotheism Preceded Polytheism ***

Monotheism Preceded Polytheism

EVOLUTIONARY thinking does not stop with its gradual development of man from inanimate matter. It also makes the supreme God a product of evolution. In the beginning primitive man had no concept of an Almighty God, this evolutionary thinking says. Man first evolved the idea of many gods, and from these many gods the concept of one Almighty God developed. So according to this theory monotheism evolved from polytheism, and it is the view that is generally taught with the same airy glibness and dogmatism that accompanies the teaching of organic evolution.

Life magazine of December 12, 1955, published the article “The Dawn of Religion,” with the subtitle: “Awed by the phenomena of nature and by the mysteries of life and death man evolved a belief in higher powers and rites to honor the spirit world.” Written by the evolutionist Lincoln Barnett, the article said:

“Early man could only imagine some all-powerful and supernatural volition behind such ordered phenomena as the daily rising and setting of the sun, the cycle of the seasons and the nightly rotation of the starry celestial sphere. He could only tremble in fear and wonder at the unpredictable paroxysms of the natural world—the sudden rifting of the earth and the blinking scintillation of lightning in the opaque sky. Here surely lay the origin of his belief in the supernatural. . . .

“But early man must have been aware of equally mysterious and alarming occurrences that took place not in the exterior world but within himself. What, for example, could he think of sleep? The difference between sleep and consciousness suggested that there existed within him something which transcended his body, something which could go away and, in dreaming, lead an active life of its own, traveling wondrously through space and time. And finally, death confronted man with the ultimate mystery. When any individual died the vital attributes of his body disappeared—warmth, movement, speech, breath, volition. Where did they go? Since the flesh itself disintegrated, the body could only be a dwelling place for the spirit that inhabited it in life.”

So it is speculated that from nature myths, star myths, magicism, totemism, fetishism, animism and polytheism man finally evolved the concept of one supreme Almighty God, called in the Bible “Jehovah.” This is not proved. It is only speculation. It is based on another unproved speculation—the organic evolution of man. Since man’s body evolved his brain evolved, and as it evolved his thinking evolved, and from this evolving thinking religion evolved. The article, as is customary in evolutionary writings, cites an imposing list of scholarly authorities as proof of accuracy. This, of course, is no proof to anyone except those willing to follow men blindly.

Are there any facts to prove or disprove the speculation that polytheism preceded monotheism?

--There are several other aspects that this article has that I am not given the space to post, these are some:
*THE EVIDENCE FROM PRIMITIVE .............
*THE EVIDENCE FROM ARCHAEOLOGY.......
*EVOLUTIONARY THINKING A STONE OF STUMBLING...........

Answer 2

Adam and Eve are not real people but symbolize a spiritual story. Adam represent the spirit of man that emanates from God and Eve the soul of man. The soul is very suscpetible to the inclinations of the things of the world (serpent) via our human bodies. The soul is usually the first victim and the spirit may follow suite. Monotheisn is older because polytheism comes as a result of the corruption of monotheism. My answer is derived from my understanding of the revelation of Baha'u'llah the founder of the Bahai faith.

Answer 3

Monotheism was the form of worship practiced by Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob long before other religions ever came upon the scene. And in 1513 B.C. Jehovah God by means of Moses instituted a complete system of worship with the nation of Israel, the distinguishing feature of which was the monotheistic worship of the one true God Jehovah. Supporting the Scriptural position in this matter are such late or recent works as Man, God and Magic, by Ivar Lissner, which develops the theme that ‘man’s original concept of God was monotheistic.’—Ex. 20:1-7.

when we go to the roots of these primitive religions we find, not polytheism, but monotheism, the belief in high gods, and the more crude and polytheistic elements of their worship are discovered to be later additions and indicate a degeneration from an original monotheism into polytheism. For example, among the Australian tribes those of the southeast are the oldest, and concerning their religion researcher W. Foy writes: “It is at first sight surprising to find, especially in South-East Australia, a belief in one god, known as ‘father’ or ‘grandfather,’ who is supposed to have created man and the principal phenomena of nature.” Foy adds that this one high god has a son at his side, “acting as mediator between him and man.”

Answer 4

Polytheism came before monotheism. Adam and were the first people on earth according to the bible. There were many other pagan religions before monotheistic religions such as Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

Answer 5

did you already know what i appreciate - how Adam and Eve were kicked out of the backyard to a special already prevalent crew of folk - so... who were they worshipping? they did not worship each person because this is all thoughts written by folk who had no idea of technology. Plus on a in undemanding words feminist element I resent being created from a rib - Even contained in the starting up of time guy does not supply up something that he easily mandatory for a lady! :p honestly, if the bible change into not written by blokes in extreme places to attempt to keep the plenty calm and homicide loose - it would want to be extra smart to make female first, and guy might want to come from her. I recommend you examine prolonged relatives of the Cave undergo by Jean M Auel in case you ant a strong historic fiction e book - this is about "cave human beings" and the time that Homo Sapiens lived alongside Neanderthals... besides the actual incontrovertible truth that a good number of the concepts interior the e book are literally previous it nevertheless supplies a strong sort of perception into the sorts or religions shall we've practised in our earliest degrees, yet going lower back by 50,000 years nicely worth of non secular historic previous is something we are going to in all likelihood in no way acheive!

Answer 6

Heresy! You're not supposed to ask questions! Just have faith that what they tell you is truth. Your thoughts are being influenced by the devil, he is the one that makes you doubt! You just need to be stronger in your faith!

Note: All of the above is complete sarcasm. But if you ask hard questions like that, you'll probably get non-answers like this.

The truth of it is, Judaism isn't the oldest recorded religion. There are many records, "carved in stone" as it were, documenting the spiritual beliefs of other cultures that are CENTURIES older than anything produced by Judaism. (The source of the Old Testament, just to clarify.) "Adam and Eve" is a mythological story designed to explain and illustrate how the early Israelites THOUGHT man was created.

Answer 7

no , monotheism is older. Polytheism comes from worship of demons like the cults of epsilon and worship of gods like Baal and hinduism, which harness the power of "elementals" or demons. The demons like to be worshiped and fallen lucifer was the one who designed the whole thing, a way to make God mad.

Answer 8

There were intervals where there were no prophets to teach people monotheism ,so some people forgot the One God and worshiped many gods by imagination as I think.

Answer 9

Just like today, people like to make their own rule to fit the situation. After the tower of Babel those with less knowledge of the truth set out to create their own societies. These people thought it would be easier to split the responsibility with many deities than overload one God.
Or just take on the responsibilities all by themselves without God's help.

Answer 10

Contradictions abound in religious texts. Adam and Eve were fictional. With all the religions in the world, no religion can claim to be the right one without being narcissistically arrogant and egocentric.