People from Abrahamic religons, what was before Abraham?

Question

What of those peoples before Abraham? certianly you would agree that they had souls before his covanant which established the Jewish people, and certianly a concept of God existed before that for him to have had access to it (unless you want to say he invented the concept of God which im not willing to do...). Ancient religions professed to have knowledge of God the afterlife, particularly the Egyptians who formed their whole society around it.

my 2 part question: did the souls before Abraham get the chance to be written in the Book of LIfe (be granted eternal life in the presence of God)? and is it possible religions before Abraham (Egyptian, Sumerian, Ancient Greek etc) had any True (from your perspective) knowledge of the afterlife?

Answer 1

according to the hebrew bible, the people who are not abrahamic didnt have to believe in the god of abraham. they had the 7 laws of noah, and if they fulfilled them that was enough. those are very basic moral rules that appear in most religions and cultures.

Answer 2

Before Abraham, there was Goddess, and though they Abrahamists have done everything in their power to erase Her memory, She's still here. Almost all religions have a concept of the afterlife, and most involved some form of ancestor worship. There is nothing new in Christianity except the idea of eternal damnation.

Answer 3

The Catholic Church believes that those who die never hearing of Christ but have sought the truth and does the will of God as they understand it can be saved. See Romans 2:13-16. This is called the Baptism of desire. (1)

If they died before Jesus died for our sins and opened the gates of heaven for us, then they waited in what is called in the Old Testament Abraham's bosom or Sheol.

Catholics believe that after Jesus died on the cross, he descended into Sheol, the place of the dead. While there He freed the holy souls who awaited their savior in Abraham's bosom. (2)

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
(1) sections 1257-1261: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2.htm#art1
(2) section 632 and following: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt2art5.htm#p1

With love in Christ.

Answer 4

Its debatable that modern religion is actually copied from the egyptians, and that Jesus and the whole bible were written by people wanting to push religion on the masses.

Answer 5

Adam was the first human (meaning that he was first to get a human soul, in Hebrew "nashama").
The Hebrew calendar starts with Adam and his human soul.