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Post by moviemouth on Sept 10, 2022 18:25:23 GMT
It just occurred to me that perhaps most people have a belief in a creator of all things that loves, protects and speaks to them, because of memory of being in their mother's womb.
Thoughts?
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Post by Isapop on Sept 10, 2022 19:53:13 GMT
As I recall it, being in my mother's womb was overrated. But maybe womb conditions have improved since then.
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Post by Sarge on Sept 10, 2022 20:33:06 GMT
No other animals worship gods, it's our imagination creating superstitions and those superstitions being exploited for power and money.
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Post by clusium on Sept 10, 2022 22:30:53 GMT
It just occurred to me that perhaps most people have a belief in a creator of all things that loves, protects and speaks to them, because of memory of being in their mother's womb. Thoughts? No, because a)nobody can remember being in their mothers' womb; & b)if that were the case, goddess worship - not God worship - would be the predominant religious belief.
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Post by moviemouth on Sept 10, 2022 23:22:03 GMT
It just occurred to me that perhaps most people have a belief in a creator of all things that loves, protects and speaks to them, because of memory of being in their mother's womb. Thoughts? No, because a)nobody can remember being in their mothers' womb; & b)if that were the case, goddess worship - not God worship - would be the predominant religious belief. That stuff comes later with religion. I am talking about just the belief in a creator God. Babies do have memories of being in their mother's womb. They recognize the mother's voice after they are born for that reason, or so I have read. I am obviously talking about subconsciously remember being the your mother's womb. Remember, this is just a theory. I have no great evidence for it, but it makes sense to me. Not sure how my hypothesis could be tested though.
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Post by moviemouth on Sept 10, 2022 23:23:26 GMT
No other animals worship gods, it's our imagination creating superstitions and those superstitions being exploited for power and money. Yes, we are creating the God as it is in religion. I am theorizing on why almost ever culture has had a belief in a God throughout history.
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strawdawg
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Post by strawdawg on Sept 10, 2022 23:54:43 GMT
People are weak and need something greater than themselves to trust in.
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Post by Sarge on Sept 11, 2022 0:07:29 GMT
No other animals worship gods, it's our imagination creating superstitions and those superstitions being exploited for power and money. Yes, we are creating the God as it is in religion. I am theorizing on why almost ever culture has had a belief in a God throughout history. The superstition probably predates the creation of those cultures. It has probably existed since homo erectus.
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Post by clusium on Sept 11, 2022 1:36:20 GMT
No, because a)nobody can remember being in their mothers' womb; & b)if that were the case, goddess worship - not God worship - would be the predominant religious belief. That stuff comes later with religion. I am talking about just the belief in a creator God.
Babies do have memories of being in their mother's womb. They recognize the mother's voice after they are born for that reason, or so I have read. I am obviously talking about subconsciously remember being the your mother's womb. Remember, this is just a theory. I have no great evidence for it, but it makes sense to me. Not sure how my hypothesis could be tested though. I realize. But, if it had its origins literally in the womb, then we would be worshipping the Creator as a goddess, rather than as God. While it is true, the Creator actually Has no Gender, Being Pure Spirit, but we address the Creator in the Masculine Tense, as opposed to the feminine (for the most part).
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Post by Admin on Sept 12, 2022 0:05:05 GMT
No other animals worship gods, it's our imagination creating superstitions and those superstitions being exploited for power and money. Yes, we are creating the God as it is in religion. I am theorizing on why almost ever culture has had a belief in a God throughout history. A better theory would be that almost every culture realizes that they didn't bring themselves into existence and that they are smart enough to know that nothing comes from nothing and that everything in this universe dies. We created religion, not God.
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Post by Winter_King on Sept 12, 2022 11:26:57 GMT
It just occurred to me that perhaps most people have a belief in a creator of all things that loves, protects and speaks to them, because of memory of being in their mother's womb. Thoughts? No, because a)nobody can remember being in their mothers' womb; & b)if that were the case, goddess worship - not God worship - would be the predominant religious belief. Some have suggested that matriarchal religions were the norm when humans were hunter gatherers.
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The Lost One
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Post by The Lost One on Sept 12, 2022 11:51:44 GMT
But, if it had its origins literally in the womb, then we would be worshipping the Creator as a goddess, rather than as God. It seems that many earlier cultures did conceive of God in feminine terms (good article on it here: medium.com/360-on-history/mother-goddess-when-women-were-worshiped-81ba106f7d4b), possibly due to the connection between fertility and farming. Some have argued that male conceptions of God came later, perhaps as society became more patriarchal - but it's all pretty theoretical with not much to go on. Some have also argued that Mother Goddess worship was absorbed into Christianity with Mary taking on many aspects of various Mother Goddess cults. Back to the OP, I think its plausible that conceptions of God are shaped by thinking of our parents - in Christianity, God is thought of as 'The Father' after all. Maybe it goes even further back than that, into the womb - but I don't know how that could ever be demonstrated.
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Post by clusium on Sept 12, 2022 14:34:45 GMT
No, because a)nobody can remember being in their mothers' womb; & b)if that were the case, goddess worship - not God worship - would be the predominant religious belief. Some have suggested that matriarchal religions were the norm when humans were hunter gatherers. Yeah, that theory is no longer taken all that seriously. Debunking The Goddess Myth
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Post by clusium on Sept 12, 2022 14:35:19 GMT
But, if it had its origins literally in the womb, then we would be worshipping the Creator as a goddess, rather than as God. It seems that many earlier cultures did conceive of God in feminine terms (good article on it here: medium.com/360-on-history/mother-goddess-when-women-were-worshiped-81ba106f7d4b), possibly due to the connection between fertility and farming. Some have argued that male conceptions of God came later, perhaps as society became more patriarchal - but it's all pretty theoretical with not much to go on. Some have also argued that Mother Goddess worship was absorbed into Christianity with Mary taking on many aspects of various Mother Goddess cults. Back to the OP, I think its plausible that conceptions of God are shaped by thinking of our parents - in Christianity, God is thought of as 'The Father' after all. Maybe it goes even further back than that, into the womb - but I don't know how that could ever be demonstrated. See my response to Winter_King.
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Post by Winter_King on Sept 12, 2022 14:43:42 GMT
Some have suggested that matriarchal religions were the norm when humans were hunter gatherers. Yeah, that theory is no longer taken all that seriously. Debunking The Goddess Myth The website immediately goes to ancient Egypt and Babylon which weren't hunter gatherer societies but full blown agricultural civilizations I'm talking about pre-history. Before the first civilizations. Back when humans were sculpting Venus figurines. Matriarchal religions might not have been the norm back then, but that website didn't debunk what I was suggesting.
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The Lost One
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Post by The Lost One on Sept 12, 2022 15:37:40 GMT
It seems that many earlier cultures did conceive of God in feminine terms (good article on it here: medium.com/360-on-history/mother-goddess-when-women-were-worshiped-81ba106f7d4b), possibly due to the connection between fertility and farming. Some have argued that male conceptions of God came later, perhaps as society became more patriarchal - but it's all pretty theoretical with not much to go on. Some have also argued that Mother Goddess worship was absorbed into Christianity with Mary taking on many aspects of various Mother Goddess cults. Back to the OP, I think its plausible that conceptions of God are shaped by thinking of our parents - in Christianity, God is thought of as 'The Father' after all. Maybe it goes even further back than that, into the womb - but I don't know how that could ever be demonstrated. See my response to Winter_King . I think that article you posted only argues that a patriarchal view of God didn't start with the Hebrews which is fair enough. There definitely does seem to be at least some worship of Goddesses common in early European and Near Eastern civilizations. The myth seems to be more that these civilizations were feminist utopias which I accept they almost certainly weren't. I think it's plausible that hunter-gatherers may have initially seen God in female terms and male conceptions of God came later which would fit with the OP's theory. But evidence is very weak, it's equally plausible that male conceptions of God are as old or older. I know Winter King mentioned Venus figurines for instance but we have no idea if these were depicting goddesses.
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Post by clusium on Sept 12, 2022 18:15:03 GMT
Winter_King & The Lost One, That is just one website, yes, but, not the only one to call the claims that ancient religions were originally goddess-centred bunk. Ancient religions were, for the most part, polytheistic, meaning that had numerous deities of both genders. Men were the hunter-gatherers & women were the homemakers because women were the ones that actually bore & nursed the children, & thereby, men believed they had to be the ones to go out & search for food & protect the women alongside the children.
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The Lost One
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Post by The Lost One on Sept 12, 2022 19:02:50 GMT
Men were the hunter-gatherers & women were the homemakers because women were the ones that actually bore & nursed the children, & thereby, men believed they had to be the ones to go out & search for food & protect the women alongside the children. I'm no expert but I don't think this is quite right. For one thing, women seemed to have done more gathering and processing of food than men, but on top of that there is evidence of female hunters and warriors too.
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Post by clusium on Sept 12, 2022 19:36:07 GMT
Men were the hunter-gatherers & women were the homemakers because women were the ones that actually bore & nursed the children, & thereby, men believed they had to be the ones to go out & search for food & protect the women alongside the children. I'm no expert but I don't think this is quite right. For one thing, women seemed to have done more gathering and processing of food than men, but on top of that there is evidence of female hunters and warriors too. True, particularly in the Greek myths about the Amazon women. Still, all in all, throughout the millennia, men did most of it.
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Post by Admin on Sept 12, 2022 22:49:32 GMT
Just an open question to the thread:
How would a notion that God is female square with the notion that Jesus is God?
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