Did the old gods abandon us or did we abandon them?

Answer 1

¬I just wrote a paper on this. Ill give you the short version. One God came to Abraham and asked him to worship only him. Abraham and his sons all obey him and just left the other gods alone. They called the God Yahweh which basically means one with no name. Yahweh watched over the Hebrew tribe (The ascendants of Abraham) and saved them from the Romans. He gave Moses 10 laws called the Ten Commandments; the first law stated worship no other God but me. And from that moment on the God called Yahweh was the only one man worshiped.

So I guess you could say we abandoned them. But many people have begun worshiping them again.

Answer 2

The people were forced to abandon them.

The history goes that in the last centuries of the Roman Empire, which then ruled all of southern Europe, and parts of Africa and Asia, some of the Roman Emperors converted to the new religion of Christianity.

One Emperor of these named Theodosius decided to outlaw all the old gods in the Empire, and so had all the old temples closed down, and the worship of the old gods banned. Those who refused to abandon the ancient religions were persecuted, tortured or put to death -- especially the priests.

That marked the end of all the Greek and Roman gods, and also the Egyptian ones (since Rome ruled Egypt at the time), not to mention all the forgotten gods of the peoples of France, Britain, Spain, Libya, Mauretania, Syria, Turkey, Armenia and Bulgaria, etc.

It took another 600-800 years for Christianity to spread to Northern Europe. Eventually there kings also converted to Christianity, and the Norse (or Germanic gods) and Celtic, and Slav gods were eventually banned in the Northern lands.

The same thing happened in Arabia, Iraq, Persia and etc. when the Muslim prophet Muhammed and his successors led armies across that region imposing their religion of Islam on all the conquered peoples. Previously they had all worshipped old pantheons of gods.

The Indians, who were just beyond the range of the Muslim empire, alone preserved their old gods, the Hindu pantheon.
The Chinese and Japanese further east also kept their ancient pantheons of gods.

Answer 3

The old Gods were abandoned for the most part, because of invading Christians and such, but there is a revival of the old ways now. Many modern Pagans and Wiccans are worshiping (and have been all along, though secretly) the old Gods. We are becoming more open in our religion, however, so you will see more of us.

Answer 4

Most of us abandoned them, when Judaism and Christianity became religions.

Answer 5

We abandoned them when Christianity came along and demolished all other beliefs

Answer 6

We abandoned them, looking for something better.

Answer 7

hat Thalia said.....for the most part, entire cultures were forced to convert or die. There still are small pockets of people who never gave up their gods, but worshiped/revered them secretly. I, for one, am glad that those few kept the old ways alive and I strive to do the same for me and mine, only not so secretly!

Answer 8

I find myself asking this question constantly...Why didn't they protect us? :( They just let a horde of bloodthirsty christians and cowardly rulers among our own people shut down our religion, our culture, our language and even our identity.

I don't know how to feel about it.

Answer 9

neither............there are people who still believe in the old ways. Some are just side tracked with this hebrew god.....they will return to the old way..........they always do.

Answer 10

The people that believed in them just got tired of their lack of actions and went to other gods for answers..................................... So in a sense the people abandon them........................................................................................