I'm sure I've spelt it wrong but lately I have become curious as to when people started to believe in just the one god. I have looked on various web sites and it looks as though the "lesser gods" got pushed to the side lines around about the 6th and 7th centuries bc. So then there's the question that Moses definitely came down the mountain with one of the ten commandments stating that we should have no other god but him. So there is the possiblility that before then even the Israelites/Jews worshiped more than one god. Even that Yawah (spelling is bad) had a wife.
I then have the question if this is so does this mean that the actual first people who started to worship one god was the Egyptians under the rule of Arkenaten?? This didn't last as we know.
I have all these questions, I really am curious as to know when we stopped worshiping all the other gods and started to worship just the one.
Anybody got any ideas?[sm=banghead.gif]
RE: monothiesm
Hi Marnie,
Well, Abraham who lived about 1800 BC was the first person (according to the Bible) to worship just one God, although the ancient Hebrew tribes were always slipping back to idol worship! This is an interesting article:
The family of Abraham
Abraham was the first person to conceive of only one God -- a God who is always present, always caring for you. As one source explains: "In the eighteenth century b.c., in what is now southern Iraq . . . a man named Abram -- the leader of a tribe of gypsylike desert wanderers -- came face to face with a radically new concept of God. This god, whom he called Yahweh, talked with Abram. Instinctively, Abram believed Yahweh's words and acted according to His commands"
http://www.cssentinel.com/gv/csps/sentinel1118_02.jhtml
Judy
RE: monothiesm
Hi Marnie,
I’m not sure if this will help you or not, but it’s worth thinking about the fact that sometimes monotheism usually pre-dates polytheism, then of course there’s monolatry (several gods, but only one is worshipped) & henotheism (several gods are worshipped but only one is supreme) to consider.
Christianity has the father, the son & the holy ghost, and I don’t have a single Italian friend who doesn’t pray to mary!?
Anyway, yer man there Akhenaten (14th Century BCE) I think only managed to rule for about 18 years (and managed to p**s all the priests off too lol) – but his one god thing didn’t last more than one year after him.
But to answer your question, he may well have been the earliest to actually ‘impose’ monotheism on a group of people (as opposed to gathering a following).
As to the question of the earliest monotheism as a belief system, that is very hard to answer although perhaps Zarathustra (and his belief of the ‘One’ invisible god “Mazda”) comes the closest; although dates for him are wildly different. Amongst most historians it is accepted that his time was roughly 2000 BCE but have been noted to date him as late as 600 BCE and as early 7,129 BCE (HS. Spencer – The Aryan Encyclopaedia).
“O’ Mazda, when I was looking for you with my wisdom and speculation faculties and tried to find you with the eye of my heart, I recognized that you are the starter and the end of everything, you are the source of wisdom and reflection and you are the creator of truthfulness and purity and the judge and justice for the behaviour of all the human beings.” - Zarathustra (supposedly).
It’s also worth noting that although Hinduism is regarded by many as ‘poly’ it does in fact attribute everything to the one creator – Brahma, which also, has wildly differing dates but has been dated as older than 10,000 BCE.
Having said all of this it is well worth researching the belief systems of both early North and South American Indians and not forgetting the early Celtic thoughts.
LOL… Hmmm! Bet that’s really helped eh?
Rgds,
roger
RE: monothiesm
I think Roger's point on Hinduism is especially apt. It isn't polytheism. I forget the technical term, but the many Hindu deities are but aspects of the One God. (Just as Christianity 'divides God' into a Trinity: "Three in One", etc.)
RE: monothiesm
All,
I am confused! What is 'BCE' when applied to time? I've also seen 'CE' applied to it as well.
What does it mean?
Patsy.
😮