II. Ancient Religions

     The Judeo-Christian System - The Bible provides us with a worldview that goes all the way back to the eternal Creator Spirit (John 4:24) and the origin of all created things.  We find that humans were created directly from common elements of the earth and were “human” when they appeared (Genesis 1:26-28; 2:7; 5:1) and were capable of obedience/rebellion (Genesis 3), acceptable/unacceptable worship, persecution, bigamy, bravado, nomadic herding, music, metallurgy, language, and religious expression (Genesis 4; 5:22-24) from the beginning.  Humanity seems to have divided into two basic groups at an early point: those who remember God’s existence and promises (Seth’s line) and those who “depart from God’s presence” (Gen. 4:16) and build for this world alone (Cain’s family).  After at least 1600 years of human culture that overwhelmingly swerved toward great wickedness (Genesis 6:5), God destroyed all but Noah’s family and representative basic “kinds” of animal life in a great worldwide flood (Genesis 6-9).

     Neanderthals – They are now classified as fully human, with the earliest examples being more “advanced/similar to modern humans” than the later examples.  Whether the features of the later examples might have been diseased and vitamin-deficient outcasts of ancient society or caused by extreme age, these people buried their dead with flowers and ceremony.

The Sumerians

     After the great flood, the first recognizable culture in the Middle East called their land "Sumer," hence the name Sumerians.  They believed in supernatural creation, that people had lived long lives before a great flood, and that their ancestors had come from the highlands to the east (they claimed to have come from Aratta - Ararat?).  They settled in the area later called "Shinar" and, there, they built an artificial mountain (tower of Babel?) dedicated to Enlil, the god of the atmosphere.  They may have been Semitic.^[1]

     Sumerian Cosmology - Early Mesopotamian cosmology had a series of generations where divine beings became more distinct, until Enki/Ea arose, imbued with supreme wisdom, and decided to end the formlessness and chaos of the early universe.  Out of the primordial water, a creator had split the heavens and made the earth or had separated heaven/earth.  This was followed by various other acts of creation - land, rivers, and beasts.  However, there were no temples yet for the god's to inhabit so as to enjoy the life of ease that their creations could now offer - hence, man was created to serve the gods.

     Theocratic City-States - They built cities with ziggurats and there is good reason to see here the origins of post-flood civilization paralleled in Genesis 10 and 11 - Genesis 10:9-12 mentions Erech, Kish, Eridu, Ur, Nippur, etc.  As in Egypt, the city-state was the basic political unit, with each city dominated by a “priest-king” and temples that employed large numbers of people.  Each temple contained a room for the statue of the god, which was washed, dressed, and fed each day.  Archaeology indicates that the city of Uruk (3,000 B.C.?) had two main temples, one for Anu the supreme god, the king of heaven and the other for Inanna the great mother, goddess of fertility, love, and war.  The high priest was sometimes also the king of the city.  The city of Nippur worshipped Enlil.  The city of Eridu worshipped Enki, ruler of fresh waters from beneath the earth, and was the site of a magnificent temple (above left).  The city of Larsa worshipped Utu, the sun god.  The city of Ur, which later was the home of Abraham, worshipped Nanna the moon god (possibly derived from Inanna).

     Pre-flood Lifespans – Archaeologists have found a stone record of the earliest Sumerian rulers, each living very long lives (right).  The first king to be mentioned in both an early "king-list" and parallel inscription is Enmebaragisi of Kish and, while last in the list, he is a member of the dynasty that ruled "after the flood."  Before him are twenty-one predecessors of fabulous reigns, mention of the Flood, and, beyond that, the age of the antediluvian kings.  There is mention of the celebrated Etana, who was a shepherd taken to heaven,^[2] probably a parallel to the Biblical Enoch story (Gen.5:22-24).  One of the pre-flood rulers listed by the Sumerian king list, Tammuz, eventually was worshipped as the Greek god Adonis.

      These people seem to have been somewhat influential in the founding of three great pockets of civilization, which seem to have suddenly emerged in the Nile, Tigris-Euphrates, and Indus River Valleys around 3500-3,000 B.C.^[3]  There is reason to believe that a good deal of the following Akkadian and Babylonian civilizations was retained from the Sumerians.^[4]  The Sumerians were very literate and archaeologists have found clay grammar and dictionary tablets.

The Akkadians (2300 ‑ 2000?)

     The Akkadians adapted Sumerian culture and writing.  The Epic of Gilgamish, known for its parallel to the Biblical flood, is a product of Akkadian culture.  It is the story of Ut-napishtim, the only mortal to win immortality.  As the Romans would adopt and re-name Greek gods, so the Akkadians adopted and renamed the Sumerian gods (right).

The Egyptians

     The Egyptian civilization appeared rather suddenly in the Nile River valley around 3,000 B.C. and it had a phonetic alphabet to begin with.  The priesthood of Re (sun-god) was in control of Egypt until ca. 2400 B.C.  Then, a revolt of barons divided Egypt and brought the Re priesthood under control.  The Semitic Hyksos invaded and controlled Lower Egypt until expelled ca. 1570 B.C. and Egyptian pharaohs regained control.  They played three different priesthoods (Amun, Ptah, Re) off against each other.  Animals, birds, and insects were deified, along with the Nile River.  The Apis Bull (above) was one of the major objects of reverence, probably inspiring the Israelites to think a golden “calf” idol would make the Egyptians more willing to accept their return.  Pharaoh became known as the "son of the gods" and ruled as a living god.  Elaborate burial preparations were made for them and the great pyramids were to be their burial vaults.  While numerous gods filled the Egyptian worldview, the god of the dead was the jackal-headed Anubis (left).

     An important element in Egyptian religion was the cult of Isis and Osiris.  Osiris was an ancient mythological king who was unjustly killed by his brother, Set.  His body was found floating in the Nile by his wife, Isis.  She and her sister used various means to halt the decay process and either they or Re, the sun-god, miraculously restored Osiris to life with the gods.  Having experienced resurrection and being vindicated before a heavenly tribunal, Osiris became the "savior" deity.  Osiris did not actively intercede for anyone, but "saved" by showing how it was done.  Each person had to similarly clear two post-death hurdles: (1) maintain the body (embalming) and (2) pass the tribunal examination of their works.  Death and hope for an afterlife made Egyptian funerals very similar to ours (below).

     An unusual event occurred a short time after the traditional and early date of the Israelite "exodus" out of Egypt, Sinai wanderings, and conquest of Canaan (c. 1446-1398 B.C.).  Pharaoh Akhenaten (Ahmenhotep IV, 1375‑1350 B.C.) tried to impose monotheism on Egypt.  He elevated Aten (the sun disk) as the only god and closed down all other temples and priesthoods.  Derived of power and income, the other priesthoods quickly reasserted themselves upon the death of Akhenaten.  What would have motivated a Pharaoh to attempt such a major restructuring of Egyptian religion?  Could the impact of the plagues (Exodus 9:13-16), exodus and Israel’s conquest of Canaan have influenced this Pharaoh toward monotheism, in the same was that the report of the exodus was still in the minds of the Canaanites 40 years after the event (Joshua 2:10)?

The Babylonians (1800 - 536 B.C.)

     Babylonian culture existed in several different eras and recognizable city-states.  The earliest eras revealed a clay tablet depicting the Garden of Eden story (right), wherein a man and woman sit on either side of a tree and a serpent stands beside the woman.

     A later phase of Babylonian culture (under Hammurabi, c. 1750 B.C.) built a great temple to Marduk, the patron god of the city.  Vestiges of Babylonian religion persisted into the Persian era (536-336 B.C.), as is evidenced by the names adopted by Jews living in the Persian capital, Susa - Mordecai (Esther 2:5, from Marduk) and Esther (Esther 2:7, from Ishtar).

The Canaanites (1800 ‑ 600 B.C.)

     Canaanite religion was rooted in the Phoenician pantheon and did not pass away when Israel conquered the land under Joshua, but remained (remember the Israelites left many pockets of them in the conquest - Judges 1:27-36) and corrupted Israel until the Babylonian captivity (606 ‑ 536 B.C.).  Canaanite worship included numerous plated idols and statues, pillars to the dead, sacred groves, fertility rites, ritual Temple prostitution, and human sacrifice.  The Canaanite gods were arranged in a family: (1) El was the chief god (El means, simply, "god"), Father of gods and men, but a shadowy background figure represented as a bull; (2) Asherah was El's wife and the mother earth/fertility goddess; (3) Anat was El's daughter, a goddess of love and a bloodthirsty warrior; and (4) Baal was El's son, god of the weather/storms/lightning and worshipped at many local sites - thus, Biblical reference to “the Baals”^[5]

     In addition to the basic Canaanite pantheon, the surrounding nations all had their own "national gods" which Israel had trouble with: Molech/Milcom (Ammon - 1Kings 11:7), Chemosh (Moab - 1Kings 11:7), Ashtoreth (Phoenicia), Quas (Edom), Dagon & Baalzebub (Philistia), Hadad (Damascus).  Several of these clearly included child sacrifice in their worship.^[6]

     When Israel entered the land of Canaan, it was not long after the conquest before the Israelites embraced Canaanite religion (Judges 2:10-11) and the reasons are obvious.  If not taught the distinctions, Israelites were soon deceived by the outward similarities between Canaanite and Israelite worship – similar names for deity (El & Baal), temples/sacrifices, and feasts based on the agricultural calendar.  The Canaanites had good crops, thus their “theology of agriculture” seemed to work - temple prostitution and “imitative magic” was thought to encourage Baal (god of storms and rain) to impregnate his mother, Asherah (mother earth).  To make sex a part of worship would be very appealing to the fleshly-minded.

The Assyrians (1400 - 612 B.C.)

     Like Babylonian culture, the Assyrians were on the scene for a long time, evidence of which comes in the form of the "Adam and Eve" seal found by Speiser at the bottom of the Tepe Gawra mound, twelve miles north of Nineveh.  In the seal, a naked man and woman appear to be bent over in a position of shame, with a serpent behind them (right).

     The early Assyrians adapted early Babylonian culture.  Enlil became Ashur, which was the god after whom the land was named.  They fought for Ashur, but allowed other nations, if submissive, to keep and worship their own gods.

The Ancient Persians

     Persian theology went something like this.  Zoroaster (Zarathushtra) was hailed as the divinely-chosen prophet (ca. 600 B.C.), stressing personal free-will choice between good and bad.  The "wise Lord" (Ahura Mazda) was the sovereign and friend of all men, but a destructive spirit (Angra Mainyu) had opposed the wise Lord from the beginning and it is he who created the evil spirits and rules hell.  A cosmic battle has been waged throughout history:

     1. During the first 3,000 years, both sides were balanced

     2. Zarathushtra's birth signaled the assurance of Angra Mainyu's defeat

     3. During the next 3,000 years saviors would appear at 1,000 year intervals to destroy a part of the evil creation each time

     4. The third savior would raise the dead and introduce final judgment

     5. A renovated earth will be the home of the righteous

The Ancient Greeks

     A number of stages can be traced in the development of Greek culture.  The Minoan Age (?-1450 B.C.) was a period of bull worship/"leapers" (right) and sacrifice.  The Mycenaean Age (1450-1100 B.C.) paralleled the time of Israel's exodus, conquest, and Judges Era.  The Homeric Age (ca. 800-400 B.C.) was the time when the Iliad and Odyssey portrayed men and gods mixing together.  The Homeric gods were portrayed in human terms, but immortal.  They could change appearance, size, and attributes.  In character, they were much like humans, having the same lusts and vices.  Their deeds were as sinful as those of the humans that worshipped them.  The Greek gods, like Poseidon (left), illustrates that the Greek gods were, simply, amplified versions of humanity.  In the Greek myths, the gods of Olympus lied to each other, were sexually immoral, and, essentially, did all of the sinful things to each other that people were doing. With time, they became remote and received less reverence as atheism increased.

     The "Gods of Mt. Olympus" were: Zeus (king of gods, having over-thrown his father, Cronos), Apollo (sun), Artemis (moon), Athena (wisdom), Aphrodite (love, beauty), Hera (marriage), and Hermes (messenger).  Much of this was absorbed and adapted by the Romans after they conquered Greece.

     It is not surprising that such gods would not be taken seriously by philosophers and a small group of Ionian philosophers began to appear in the 6^th century B.C. (Anaximander, Empedocles, etc.) that rejected the gods of Olympus.  In their place, these skeptics offered an optimistic philosophy of materialism and naturalism - only physical matter exists and natural processes making accidental experiments over time cause it to take various forms.  The origin of life was handled by assuming that matter itself is alive (hylozoism).  Thus, “Evolution,” in its basic philosophical form, originated here and was later rejuvenated by the French philosophes in 18^th century France as their alternative to politically-focused, superstitious, and tradition-encrusted Roman Catholic “Christianity” and bitterly-divided Reformation Protestantism.

     In this milieu, Plato (428-348 B.C.) and Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) focused a good deal of study on nature and were both skeptical of atheism and its impact on society, but rationalized “God” as a necessary and impersonal "first cause."  Aristotle’s pupil, Alexander the Great, brought in a period of Greek conquest, wealth, and cultural expansion (the "good life" usually de-emphasizes the spiritual realm).  With the decline of belief in the Olympian gods, the more mystical religions arose - the Gnostic "Mystery" religions, the "Oracles," and the healing cults.  The Cult of Dionysius began as the worship of a fertility goddess who later became a god of intoxication, and wound up a “son of god” who turned water into wine, died to save mankind, and was resurrected.  His annual worship, widespread amongst the Greeks, involved drunken revelry and tearing apart a goat, bull, or even a man to eat their flesh and drink their blood.^[7]

     The Gnostic and Mystery religions continued from 300 B.C. into the 3^rd/4^th centuries A.D. - all claiming to have exclusive information (mystical secrets) necessary for salvation - hints and passwords for to aid one in surviving the alleged post-death trials and period of testing involved in judgment.  These Gnostic sects were often the sources of the pseudo-Gospels and writings that appeared in the 2^nd century A.D. claiming to offer further information about Jesus.  It is these that skeptics and charlatans have identified as “hidden/suppressed” writings that give us the “real story” on Jesus/early Christianity.  They were similar to what they have instigated in the modern world of “The DaVinci Code/The Jesus Papers” - fiction to intrigue the naïve and gullible.

     The Oracles were men and women who claimed inspiration and clairvoyance and were sought out for prophecies and predictions of the future.  Ionian “Sibyls” issued oracles that were believed by millions of Greeks.  There was a collection of ancient oracles at Athens and a government-supported crew of skilled interpreters.  Public Oracles were set up at many of the temples in Greece.  Two of the more famous Oracles were found at Dodano and Delphi.^[8]

The Ancient Romans

     The Romans inherited a number of ideas from the people they displaced when they conquered Italy - the Etruscans - one great God (Tinia) commanded the Twelve Great Gods (it was a sacrilege to pronounce their names), they practiced sacrificial divination, and believed that one suffered for sins in a tortured afterlife, but one’s time in that condition could be shortened by the death of an enemy or the prayers and gifts of living friends, by which they would be allowed to ascend to the joys of life with the gods above (origin of Roman Catholic “Purgatory”?).

     By 146 B.C., Rome had conquered Greece and adopted their gods, simply taking the Greek deities and applying Latin names, as the text box to the right above illustrates.  In addition to these gods, Rome believed that national gods ruled over each of the different territories they had conquered.  Thus, in addition to their own traditional gods, Rome encouraged the worship and honor of the gods of each new area conquered by including their statues in the Pantheon of Rome.  Worship could only be given to those gods which were legally recognized.  New religions, if not authorized, were viewed as "insults" to the already acknowledged official local gods and harmful to the social order.  Failure to honor the ever-growing collection of the "gods of Rome" was viewed as treason and civil disobedience.  Roman worship was heavily aimed at supporting the social and political system.  The Vestal Virgins tended the sacred fire and were the official diviners for empire business.  Worship gradually passed from the Greek gods to the Roman state and, finally, to the person of the emperor (later first century A.D.).  The emperor took the title Pontifex Maximus (Chief Priest) of the Roman religion (source of the title Pontif for the Pope).

     The empire also became saturated with Greek philosophies.  Epicureanism held that the gods exist, but have no concern for the world (i.e. Deism).  Stoicism said that the world is ruled by a divine logos (Intelligence).  The Skeptics tended to suspend judgment on religious matters and sought the "untroubled life," while the Cynics lamented the corruption of society and tried to point people back to basic morality.

The Ancient Northern Europeans

     The Celts (Gauls) stretched from Ireland to Asia Minor, with the Picts (earliest Celtic inhabitants of Scotland) believing that they had migrated from the Middle East following the tower of Babel incident.  They worshipped a "horned god" of fertility and war named Cernunnos.  The Druids were the Celtic priesthood, specializing in sacrifice (including humans), divination, and liturgy.

     The tribes of Germany were militant, prone to battle, austere in their family morality, but a chaste and monogamous people.  Three of the main deities were Wotan, Tiwaz, and Thor.  In the area of modern Norway, the active cult of Odin (Wotan to the Germans) was for leaders and warriors.  The "Valkyries" were warlike goddess-maidens who rode on swift horses with spears, shields, and helmets.  Odin would send them onto battlefields to choose dead heroes for Odin's great hall, Valhalla, where there was battle during the day and great feasting at night.  Thor was widely revered as the god of thunder.  The gods themselves would someday perish in battle and then a new heaven and earth would arise, centered around the great "world tree" named Yggdrasil (the “Tree of Life”? Genesis 2:9; 3:3; Revelation 22:2).

     The Scythians lived in the Caucasus Mountains region and were a fierce nation of warriors.  They had two main deities: Papa who was the “sky father” and Api the Mother Earth goddess.  There was also a war god represented by a sword raised on a heap of brushwood.  To him were large numbers of horses, cattle, and war prisoners sacrificed.  Scythian religion had no images of the gods, altars, or temples.

My Thoughts on Ancient Religions

     As I ponder all of these ancient (and largely extinct) religious systems, a couple of things come to mind.  First, none of these religions compare with the Judeo-Christian God and story as a likely universal and original true system.  The Biblical story flows reasonably and coherently from Creation to a heaven and earth, capable of continuing without Palestinian Jewish culture to support it.  Without primarily being spread by force, Christianity has been the most successful at being cross-cultural without the continuing support of its original Jewish foundations (in fact, Jews are often the most aggressive cultural enemies of Christianity (evolutionary leaders, the ACLU, etc.).  On the other hand, most of these ancient religions neither survived the culture that produced them or went cross-cultural by inherent persuasion value.

     Second, all of them appear to me to be localized spiritual expressions that developed from a combination of elements: (1) sometimes a vague memory of the original Creator and events down to the separation of languages at Babel, (2) human formalization/ traditionalizing/ deification of early people/ ancestors/ heroes / man-made ceremonies,^[9] (3) the immoral nature and degrading elements (child sacrifice, ritual prostitution, etc.) of many religions probably were inspired by demonic forces at work (1Corinthians 10:20), (4) the nationalistic “self-worship” of many religions demonstrate their limited cultural connections.

     Third, there seems to be some clear cases of certain gods/notions being passed on over time between civilizations - the early post-flood Nimrod/Semiramus origins of the “mother earth/fertility” worship seems to have clearly spread out over the Mediterranean world following the division of languages at Babel.  The sky-god impregnating mother-earth as an “agricultural theology” was widespread and similar in many nations: Tammuz/Ishtar (Babylon), Astarte/Adonis (Syria), Cybele/Attis (Phrygia), Baal/Asteroth (Canaan), Isis/Osiris (Egypt), and the Gaea/Uranus and Hades/Pluto & Persephone stories (Greece).^[10]  It is, therefore, no accident that the same “ritual/Temple prostitution” notions that Israel succumbed to in Canaan were paralleled all around the Mediterranean world down to the time of Jesus’ first coming - sex is fun and the crops kept growing, so what fleshly-minded pagan would want to change something that was popular and seemed to work?

      Truly, a survey of ancient religions yields a picture very similar to what Paul described,

and saying, "Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you in order that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them.  And in the generations gone by He permitted all the nations to go their own ways; and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness. "  (Acts 14:15-17)

     Worldly life now sounds a great deal like it was described 2,000 years ago,

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.  Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. (Ephesians 2:1-3)

This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.  (Ephesians 4:17-19)

For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. (Titus 3:3)

As it did in the ancient world, humanly manipulated (and demonically influenced - 1Timothy 4:1-3) religion adapts to whatever people want - substitute pop psychology and self-help in “sermons” rather than discussing sin and redemption if that is what people want to hear and it will draw the biggest crowd, remove baptism from the Gospel if it doesn’t seem “reasonable” and people are offended, remove communion from the Sunday morning assembly because of all of the “seekers” that are present, cancel Lord’s Day assembly if it interferes with the Christmas holiday, condone homosexuality and even ordain practice homosexual clergy if the culture encourages it, de-emphasize the things God identifies as “sin” and make your own new list, avoid unpopular Biblical truths while emphasizing speculative or clearly false ideas that appeal to the people (2Timothy 4:3-4), etc.

     On the other hand, the Jewish Scriptures present a high and lofty concept of God’s nature while condemning Jewish self-righteousness (Deuteronomy 7:7-9; Isaiah 65:5), consistently portraying the Jewish people as rebellious covenant-breakers (2Chronicles 36:14-16), and consistently expressing a God whose concerns and plans were international (Genesis 12:1-3; Isaiah 49:5-6; Jonah 4:11).  I am convinced that something unusual and different was unfolding through the Patriarchs (Genesis 5 & 11:10 - 12:3), the nation of Israel, and Jesus of Nazareth who fulfilled many elements of Hebrew prophecy, resulting in the development of an international brotherhood of people that began to develop from beginnings in Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:2-4; Luke 24:46-47).  Old Testament History does not look like self-glorifying Jewish fiction, nor does their conception of God appear to have been borrowed from other cultures!

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Charles E. McCoy - 4/20/06