If you have beliefs from other religions isn't that a form of idolatry?
2007-11-06 18:50:28 · 11 answers · asked by Peter D 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Early Christian Gnostics thought that Yahweh is the Devil. Food for thought.
2007-11-06 18:53:40 · answer #1 · answered by Belzetot 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Idolatry is the worship of idols or adulation. Borrowing or being influenced by ideas from other religions isn't idolatry.
It was either borrowed from them, or simply thought up spontaneously. An idea is allowed to be thought up more than once. It's not like any religion has a copyright on an idea.
I think the 'idea' of the devil is something people would have thought up anyway, just to balance out the story. After all, if there's no devil, how do they explain the state of things now, you can't go blaming God. :-)
2007-11-06 19:16:12 · answer #2 · answered by gandy8158 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God has always been involved with mankind even before there was a such thing as religion. God created man to be interactive with Him it is not odd or strange that early man diluted true worship with idolatry and demons, people are always looking for some new thing and as the different tribes resettled they put their own spin on who and what to worship. This doesn't however diminish the legacy that God has wrought through the Jews as a matter of fact the richness of God's glory and plan is well documented in the Old and New Testament.
2007-11-06 20:02:35 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sigh- Jews don't have ANY devil at all- so it would have made it difficult for us to have stolen the idea from Zaroastianism! The early Christians, on the other hand, might well have norrowed the idea of an evil power oppossing God from Zaroastianism or Mithraism (Most likely Mithraism which was popular in the Roman Empire at the time)
2007-11-06 23:24:23 · answer #4 · answered by allonyoav 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Most religions have forms of idolatry whether they admit to it or not . However it is mostly harmless anyway .If you study religious history or comparative religion I think you will find it easy to connect the dots between similar adopted beliefs in various other different faiths . they will never admit this though so don't worry about your new found knowledge it's not worth argument or vexation.
2007-11-06 18:56:32 · answer #5 · answered by dogpatch USA 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
No, one religion being influenced by another has nothing to do with idolatry.
Hate to say it, but religions aren't invented over night. Books don't drop out of the sky. They have their long origins and influences. And yes, the sharp duality in Zoroastrianism is something that influenced other religions, including Judaism and especially Christianity.
2007-11-06 18:55:36 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
It wasn't taken by the "Hebrews," it was taken by the Christians, along with their version of hell -- a place of eternal torment. There are many differences in the Christian version of Judaism and the Jewish version of Judaism!
And yes, the Christian version of a devil having powers separate from God would add another god to their trinity.
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2007-11-07 01:41:17 · answer #7 · answered by Hatikvah 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Christianity itself is stolen from other religions. Zoroastrians originally came up with the idea of Angels also, Not Judaism. Cultures copied many other cultures during Ancient times. It was nothing new.
2007-11-06 18:53:50 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
Even i you did read that somewhere , that doesn't necessarily mean that it is true. You are starting to sound like superman. Err I mean superman is starting to sound like you or whatever.
2007-11-06 19:01:34 · answer #9 · answered by swindled 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The whole Christian faith is based from pieces of others.
2007-11-06 18:53:55 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋