Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First religions were prehistoric.

Prehistoric humans believes supernatural forces have control over their world, including death. Supernatural forces explain the unknown. Man repeats certain rituals in attempt to influence supernatural force. Rinse. Repeat.

prehistoric means before records were kept. We have only legends of what they truly believed. You don’t know, I don’t know, nobody knows…because they kept no records.

There’s no rinsing and repeating that.

We know prehistoric people had beliefs and rituals from their burial sites.

The same phenomenon happened all over the world.

We don’t know what they believed, and now, we have recognized and recorded belief systems.

Was OP curious about the oldest religions or just the oldest recorded religion?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pagans killed animals humans, in ritual fashion, with their blood being poured into bowls or onto stones. Twigs were dipped into the liquid and shaken, throwing a spray onto the onlookers and the buildings.

No thanks, that is gross and weird and disgusting.

Better than eating flesh or drinking blood?

Who eats flesh and drinks blood?

Catholics.

They do not. There is no human or animal flesh or blood in any church I know of. You are a weirdo.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First religions were prehistoric.

Prehistoric humans believes supernatural forces have control over their world, including death. Supernatural forces explain the unknown. Man repeats certain rituals in attempt to influence supernatural force. Rinse. Repeat.

prehistoric means before records were kept. We have only legends of what they truly believed. You don’t know, I don’t know, nobody knows…because they kept no records.

There’s no rinsing and repeating that.

We know prehistoric people had beliefs and rituals from their burial sites.

The same phenomenon happened all over the world.

We don’t know what they believed, and now, we have recognized and recorded belief systems.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pagans killed animals humans, in ritual fashion, with their blood being poured into bowls or onto stones. Twigs were dipped into the liquid and shaken, throwing a spray onto the onlookers and the buildings.

No thanks, that is gross and weird and disgusting.

Better than eating flesh or drinking blood?

Who eats flesh and drinks blood?

Catholics.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First religions were prehistoric.

Prehistoric humans believes supernatural forces have control over their world, including death. Supernatural forces explain the unknown. Man repeats certain rituals in attempt to influence supernatural force. Rinse. Repeat.

prehistoric means before records were kept. We have only legends of what they truly believed. You don’t know, I don’t know, nobody knows…because they kept no records.

There’s no rinsing and repeating that.

We know prehistoric people had beliefs and rituals from their burial sites.

The same phenomenon happened all over the world.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pagans killed animals humans, in ritual fashion, with their blood being poured into bowls or onto stones. Twigs were dipped into the liquid and shaken, throwing a spray onto the onlookers and the buildings.

No thanks, that is gross and weird and disgusting.

Better than eating flesh or drinking blood?

Who eats flesh and drinks blood?

Anonymous wrote:First religions were prehistoric.

Prehistoric humans believes supernatural forces have control over their world, including death. Supernatural forces explain the unknown. Man repeats certain rituals in attempt to influence supernatural force. Rinse. Repeat.

prehistoric means before records were kept. We have only legends of what they truly believed. You don’t know, I don’t know, nobody knows…because they kept no records.

There’s no rinsing and repeating that.

Anonymous wrote:Pagans killed animals humans, in ritual fashion, with their blood being poured into bowls or onto stones. Twigs were dipped into the liquid and shaken, throwing a spray onto the onlookers and the buildings.

No thanks, that is gross and weird and disgusting.

Better than eating flesh or drinking blood?

Animals and humans

First religions were prehistoric.

Prehistoric humans believes supernatural forces have control over their world, including death. Supernatural forces explain the unknown. Man repeats certain rituals in attempt to influence supernatural force. Rinse. Repeat.

Pagans killed animals humans, in ritual fashion, with their blood being poured into bowls or onto stones. Twigs were dipped into the liquid and shaken, throwing a spray onto the onlookers and the buildings.

No thanks, that is gross and weird and disgusting.

There definitely are NOT more Hindus in the world than Christians. On the other hand, in the US especially, many if not most of those are just nominally Christian. It's just a box they check.

Anonymous wrote:Urg did a flip off a cliff at the same time thunder struck, everyone thought he was so cool and he became a God to the people. Urg worship continued for almost 50 years after his death but fizzled out when people getting sun burns blamed a jealous Sun.

Thunder does not strike. Thunder is caused by the rapid expansion of the air surrounding the path of a lightning bolt. So lightning strikes, and the air around the strike expands and causes thunder.

What you are describing is celebrity worship. People idolize actors, athletes, etc, and place such athletically or physically talented and gifted people as better than “normal” people. Unfortunately, they don’t realize those people are just people, too.

For evidence of this, see the Entertainment forum on dcum; lots of posts about what celebrity has the “perfect life” or what famous person would you choose to change lives with?

I don’t know why people who lived in prehistory are seen as “stupid” by people like you. Have you ever seen some of the inventive and innovative ideas these people had to figure out to live in a world with no grocery stores, pre-made homes, medical care, or clothing they could buy off the rack?

Just everyday survival was extremely brutal and hard. They didn’t worship other people who “flipped off a cliff.” You don’t know the difference between thunder and lightning, and should not be giving advice on more complicated subjects.

Anonymous wrote:Pagan is a word Christians use to describe religious that they think they gained domination over. Christians never gained domination over Hinduism. There are likely more Hindus in the world than Christians. The culture and belief system has been around FAR longer than your religion.

FWIW, I agree that Pagans get a bad wrap. I’m a Christian (largely for cultural reasons as it is my family heritage). The Christian framework resonates with me (when done sincerely) but I believe there are other legitimate paths to God/The Great Mystery. We need to find ways to peacefully coexist.

1. However, Christians currently outnumber Hindus 2-1 largely thanks to colonialism and its dominance in Africa, South America, and Central America. That could certainly change eventually.

Adherents in 2020
Religion Adherents Percentage
Christianity 2.382 billion 31.11%
Islam 1.907 billion 24.9%
Secular/Nonreligious 1.193 billion 15.58%
Hinduism 1.161 billion 15.16%

2. Many Christians don’t seem to understand that our religion is always syncretic because most peoples who converted had other belief systems going on for a long time before Christianity. It makes for very interesting Christian practices around the world. Often formerly traditional beliefs for different areas are merged with Christian beliefs such as in Caribbean and Africa. My own ethic background culture was Pagan for thousands of years prior to collectively converting to Christian. I believe it is important to not be afraid of pre existing religious beliefs and practices but to embrace them as part of our identity and history.

May God bless us all and help us all to find our way to her/him/ transcendent love and mercy.

Pagan is a word Christians use to describe religious that they think they gained domination over. Christians never gained domination over Hinduism. There are likely more Hindus in the world than Christians. The culture and belief system has been around FAR longer than your religion.