Roman gods, egyptian gods, greek gods etc, we know now they were not real so why do people still believe?

Question

What I mean is back in history people worshiped lots of different gods who we now no did not exist at all, even though these people truly believed in them, what makes the gods that we believe in today so real when others have been proved to be make believe?

of course they are not real, the egyptians worshipped cats and the sun etc, the greeks worshiped thor and cupid etc etc, the romans just worshipped anything that moved lol. its all crazy

Jack P, why do you come on answers which is a site to find others views on other things then tell me other peoples beliefs are not my business hello!!

Answer 1

Those primitive religions have already been relegated to the annals of mythology.

As for the believers of today . . . their religions will suffer the same ignoble fate.

It's inevitable.

Answer 2

You now the problem is that all anyone ever says "how do you know he doesn't exist".

Put simply we don't, and that's cool.

However, recently I asked a question that could bear interest. The theory goes that lets say there is a god, he created the world and all the things in it.

Now, assuming from a religious standing that this is the case, there will be only one religion that is correct. Lets say for arguments sake it's Christianity (in one of it's forms). Good for them, they've been worshipping the right god.

But what about all the others? Does god have a T shirt for all the other religious followers that says "fooled you!"?

So by process of elimination, what you can say is that, even if A god did create the world, how on earth do you know which one it is, and how do you know if you're worshipping the right one?

So it's fair to say God could exist, but there are several that definitely don't (although you can't prove which ones they are).

Answer 3

I think there are a very small amt who say they do b/c they see the attributes credited towards each. For instance, Bast was the goddess of joy (well, in one version). Joy exists and it's more tangible than the OT god so why not?- You can't prove there is not a cat goddess somewhere just b/c you've never seen, felt, heard, etc...
I think claiming one of those religions is just a way to rebel against Christianity but w/o completely losing the concept of a higher, more powerful being.
Actually, the Greek gods/goddesses were more human and the stories made more sense and had more psychology involved.

To Silverlock1974: Athiests base their morals on Christianity? I don't think any of the religions listed, or the Mayans, Aztecs, Norse, Hindu's, Buddhists, or Wiccans based any of the morals or religions on Christianity, especially since some existed a long time BEFORE .
Humans have a basic instinct to do what is best for their surrounding society. Except now, society is being blinded to what is natural by false religions, like Christianity.

Answer 4

Religion is a necessary concept in the human psyche, and in cultural foundations. It doesn't necessarily have to involve "gods," so to speak, but it must involve an explanation of those things inexplicable.

You see, human beings are lucky in that we have an ability to reason beyond our basic instincts. However, it causes difficulty for us because we think to much, and we want to know who created us and why and why people and things die and why the tides change and the sun keeps coming up every day. In the days of the ancients, you'll notice most gods are extremely anthropomorphic, taking the form of seemingly normal people, but with the power to do the inexplicable.

Today, we still have this need to KNOW everything. Science has come along to give new and better explanations for all these things... things that we don't necessarily need to know to live out our lives. But we search for the answers anyway because we're just so damn smart and curious.

However, to many people, science cannot replace their faith. It goes against what they believe, and if one thing is true of human beings, they do not give up their beliefs easily. The use of scientific logic and reasoning is not a priority for many people, which really isn't a bad thing. I find that the uses of religion will provide a strong moral foundation within the people of a society because the people fear the condemnation of god, or karma, or what have you. Those who believe science can answer everything (I'm one of them) can many times slip into believing we're somehow better, or more enlightened. But that is not necessarily so. If the world slips into a nuclear winter, I'm gonna go find some christian deer hunters, or a group of hunter-gatherers who know how to make spears and houses from rocks and sticks... we're at a disadvantage in the natural world, you see. Civilization is the only thing that lets people like us prosper... and civilizations are quite fragile.

Craig

Answer 5

Its an interesting question. God's back in ancient history we're often used to explain things that were completely baffling to ancient people. Why did lightning strike my favorite cousin? Because he angered Zeus, of course. That was the basic logic. Things that we're strange and seemingly unexplainable would also be credited to the gods. It was a comfort to people then, and they were always able to look to their gods and understand the confusing.

But as time progressed, and humans understanding of nature and society expanded, the concept of "god" had become more abstract, more difficult to define. Instead of lots of different gods, for the most part god had unified into one almighty being in the human point of veiw. This god is a lot more difficult to explain away because of the abstractness of it.

I think its necessary to recognize that this god isn't something harmful to believe in at all. This god is the answer to the more abstract, and all encompassing "why" that comes with everything. Some of the basic and ancient concepts are explained with this god, for example unfortunate events or deep emotional connections. We as humans can know why lightning is attracted to the ground, but we can't grasp why its like that, why thats the specific rule and what makes it infallible. I hope this gave you some understanding.

Just to tell you, I'm a spiritual person, but not necessarily biased to one religion, I am agnostic.


The Greeks Did not worship Thor, that is a norse god of the netherlands. The greek equivalent is Zeus, and Cupid was the Roman name for Eros. Perhaps you should do some more research.

Answer 6

I think the question comes down to what can help an individual or society act morally?

Athiests will say that they need to God, yet they must have a belief system of some sort. If they don't, then they would feel that Dahmer, Hitler, Osama, Manson and other lunatics are within their rights to do as they see fit. The funny thing is, most "athiests" in the U.S. have a belief system that comes from Christianity because they were raised in a Christian based society, even if they don't realize it.

The stories of the ancient gods helped civilization agree upon standards for behavior. Also, most of the stories are directly tied to constellations, and the apparent motions of heavenly bodies. So, in addition to setting social mores, the myths also helped ancient peoples easily become familiar with the heavens. (How many of us today could be dropped in the middle of the woods, and recoginze all parts of the sky?) I think they served their purpose quite well for the ancient people.

Allah/God has been a source of spirituality and provided a moral code for thousands of years. Even self-proclaimed Athiests actually follow Christian morality rules, for the most part. (Even though they come to break many rules--as do orthodox Christians--the rules that they claim for themselves are largely based on Christianity).

I guess what I'm saying is that from your perspective, you're picturing a big bearded man named God in the sky. I think to true believers who know their Scripture, God/Allah is a spiritual God that isn't confined to a body somewhere up in the sky.

Do you believe that we people are spiritual? Or is everything we are simply chemicals and electrical signals?

Answer 7

I don't buy that the ancient Gods weren't real and aren't real. No one has proven that they don't exist. You can't prove any negative. Some people still believe, and some claim to have had experiences with them, which I would say is a very good reason to believe. I also don't buy that the modern Gods are so obviously superior either. I agree, if one assumes that the ancient Gods didn't exist - then our modern Gods probably don't either. One more point, the modern move away from Christianity to things like the "new age" and also the extreme dogmatic nature of many modern Christians and the decadent of the older Christian churches are, in my opinion, signs that the Christian religion is dying.

Answer 8

Thousands of "gods" were worshipped over the centuries. You say that we now know that they were not real. That's not true. Because they were abandoned does not say anything about them. New beliefs came up, that does not mean that the new is right and the old is wrong.
"Gods" come and "Gods" go. Some of the old have been worshipped for many thousands of years before being dumped. How much longer does the present batch have to go ?

Answer 9

There is no difference. A thousand years before anyone worshipped Zeus the ancient Greeks believed in other gods, perhaps an early earth mother deity. In another few thousand years the Greeks will have put down their Orthodox hats and will believe in another set of gods - or, more likely, will have dispensed with religion and put their faith in what the secular West does now - science.

Answer 10

You have your story mixed up (The Greeks did not believe in Thor) but I take your basic point.
But think it though
Some people used to believe that the stars were holes in the sky with loight shing through.
That does not mean thatb there are no stars.
The ancients believec that the Three Elemants (from which all matter is made) were Fire, Earth and Water. They had the basic idea right...there are elements. Does that cease to be true because of erroneous belief?

Answer 11

Is there some proof that these gods aren't real? What seperates Zeus from the Christian God? There is no proof that either is real or that either is not real.

The Hindus still worship multiple gods, in fact Hinduism is one of the largest religions in the world. What is different between those gods and the Greek gods?