Monotheistic Sect in the Fringes of the Roman Empire

>>2148040

It is not weird tho, Monotheism rises from Polytheism. Lactantius explains this in his book "Divine Institutions". Because the Gods of Polytheism aren't so much "Gods" but more like proxies of a superior one. Also, all of this supposed "Gods" has their power limited by the other ones. I recommend reading him, since it explains how Monotheism can evolve from Polytheism without necesarily having Judaist influence.

(Context: he is a convert from Pagan Roman to Christianity, his book is like a lot of refutation to the pagan faith. But this particular book "Divine Institutions" could explain how Monotheism rises from Polytheism)

>>2148061
>It is not weird tho

Historically, monotheism is "weird", in that polytheism seems to be the rule, and monotheism the exception. True monotheism has only risen comparatively few times, when compared to the myriad of local religions that were dominated by pantheons of gods, ancestor figures, heroes, and nature spirits.

>Because the Gods of Polytheism aren't so much "Gods" but more like proxies of a superior one

Gods weren't thought to be omnipotent. That's a Christian development. Most deities were accepted to be powerful, but not especially omnipotent.

>>2148081

I am mentioning the transition from Polytheism to Monotheism, that is what's not weird. Yes, Monotheism is weird, but it's not weird for a polytheist civilization to become monotheist over the centuries, this mainly arose from the rise of organized religions. And in many cases, the non-superior Gods were transformed into "Saints" or "Spirits" (As we see in a lot of syncretism in the Caribbean with Catholicism and pagan beliefs brought from Africa and Local Amerindian faith.)

>>2148081

Sorry I can't explain myself any better, plus English is not my native language.

>>2148081
>Gods weren't thought to be omnipotent. That's a Christian development. Most deities were accepted to be powerful, but not especially omnipotent
Where did people get that idea? I mean a perfect benign omnipotent creator God as an explanation for the origin of the universe I can get, but why would people believe immortal, not so omnipotent beings existed somewhere?

I speculate when people say something about monotheism, since the definition of monotheism has been in debate by scholar on what it really means. Though monotheism in the Bible is completely different to the doctrine and common beliefs held by the majority of people.

>>2148119
In other words why oh why did people believe in gods?

>>2148061

Neither Judaism nor Christianity is monotheistic.

Judaism had the Elohim, Christianity has the Trinity, Mary, Angels, Saints, et cetera.

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>>2148119
It doesn't have to be stated. Simply look at the behavior of deities in various mythologies. The Greek gods were subservient to the Fates; they didn't always get what they wanted, and had to resort to duking it out by proxy using human champions. Also, the Titanomachy: if the Olympians were omnipotent, why didn't they just will the Titans out of existence? Instead, it was an arduous war between the two.

Remember Aztec mythology? The gods made error after error in the way they created the universe, and even to make this current creation, a number of them had to sacrifice themselves. And in Chinese folk mythology, the various deities are simply celestial bureaucrats that often fuck up and/or get fired, or cause chaos in the human world out of sheer incompetence.

All those 'omni-' traits are ever rarely ascribed to deities outside of Abrahamic circles.

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We can take a good guess when selective signal enhancement first evolved by comparing different species of animal, a common method in evolutionary biology. The hydra, a small relative of jellyfish, arguably has the simplest nervous system known—a nerve net. If you poke the hydra anywhere, it gives a generalized response. It shows no evidence of selectively processing some pokes while strategically ignoring others. The split between the ancestors of hydras and other animals, according to genetic analysis, may have been as early as 700 million years ago. Selective signal enhancement probably evolved after that.

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The whale shark is found in open waters of the tropical oceans and is rarely found in water below 22 °C (72 °F). Modeling suggests a lifespan of about 70 years, but measurements have proven difficult.[5] They have very large mouths and are filter feeders, which is a feeding mode that occurs in only two other sharks, the megamouth shark and the basking shark. They feed almost exclusively on plankton and, therefore, are completely harmless to humans.

>>2148119
>but why would people believe immortal, not so omnipotent beings existed somewhere?
In many of the indo-european religions they weren't immortal either. In Greece the gods needed to steadily eat the golden apples or they would wither and die, and a similar thing happened in the Norse pantheon.
>>2148142
>In other words why oh why did people believe in gods?
Because its easy to anthropomorphize everything. When you have no notion of how random the universe really is you look at a tsunami and see some pissed off "thing" tearing ass across the sea/land. Most pantheons evolved from nature aspects that over the generations became wrapped in story and personification.

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Some anthropomorphic deities represented specific human concepts, such as love, war, fertility, beauty, or the seasons. Anthropomorphic deities exhibited human qualities such as beauty, wisdom, and power, and sometimes human weaknesses such as greed, hatred, jealousy, and uncontrollable anger.

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>>2148196
>>2148218
>>2148255