Would the Egyptians still worship their gods?

[1137]

Let us look back into the history of human religion. The gods of old were generally representations of forces of nature - both physical such as storms and light and nonphysical such as forces that sustain the universe. This make sense, we are talking about newly formed agricultural societies that relied on that patterns of nature to survive and function. If you rely on the Nile then create a god of the Nile to pray to and keep happy so nothing bad happens to the Nile. A god of storms to ward off dust storms, a god of sunlight to make sure the sun keeps rising, and so on.

It's very understandable. I do not hold these beliefs against the Egyptians - how could they know better? And considering they lasted for 3,000 years we can see their religion was not disruptive, rather it was just an fundamental aspect of their lives. Today is different in many ways. Countries don't all believe in a united religion, we understand how forces of nature work, the need for appeasing deities is gone. So my question is, if the ancient Egyptians or Sumerians or Greeks survived to this day do you think they would still believe in their gods? Would they still see them as deities or simply symbols representing certain things? Would they drop it all together? Obviously we can only speculate but what's wrong with that?

Personally I would think it would be a mix. I think their societies would resemble ours with the atheists, the people who use symbols, the people who still believe despite lacking evidence, and all that fall in between. Humans are human after all.

 

[outhouse]

if the ancient Egyptians or Sumerians or Greeks survived to this day do you think they would still believe in their gods?
.

The Sumerians would claim, that Israelites perverted their deity EL, after the Canaanites perverted it.

Today many people indirectly worship Sumerian and Canaanite deities, they just dont have a clue, nor care.


When you hear the phrase my Father in heaven, that is going back to El as he was seen as the father of all deities.


Bit since all religions used to evolve, one needs to be specific about dates, when describing any sort of definition.

 

[1137]

The Sumerians would claim, that Israelites perverted their deity EL, after the Canaanites perverted it.

Today many people indirectly worship Sumerian and Canaanite deities, they just dont have a clue, nor care.


When you hear the phrase my Father in heaven, that is going back to El as he was seen as the father of all deities.


Bit since all religions used to evolve, one needs to be specific about dates, when describing any sort of definition.

All interesting trivia yet irrelevant to the question asked

 

[Sees]

I don't think it is speculation, people do still worship the old Gods of various names associated with certain rivers, thunder, love, war, etc. If we transported the people of the past to present day it would be similar...some do, some don't, some make the motions, some...

It doesn't really get to the heart of the matter that we understand the processes of nature much more in depth now. It assumes the associations and attributes were always taken literally and that a God must be this or that or not at all. In lieu of quality education people develop even more advanced forms of theism or it goes bye, bye all together - we all know this.

There is a problem with presenting old time religion as being in a little box that can fit into a few pages of a book and made as simple as possible. You basically get the 5 year olds dummy version with a ton of assumptions sprinkled on.

 

[outhouse]

if the ancient Egyptians or Sumerians or Greeks survived to this day do you think they would still believe in their gods?


.

Why wouldnt they?

 

[1137]

Why wouldnt they?

Many of the gods were simply explanations for unexplained phenomenon. This differs from some modern beliefs where god is essential a crutch to lean on or the answer to nihilism. Maybe they'd give it up.

 

[outhouse]

Many of the gods were simply explanations for unexplained phenomenon. .

Honestly brother. Have you read any of the ancient Cuneiform mythology at all?

It is not mythology based on ignorance.

Some aspects were, but much of it is just straight up mytholoy and fictions. Just like todays religions.

heck the flood mythology further back holds more truth then todays versions. Because it was closer to the regional flood that spawned the mythology.

 

[columbus]

All interesting trivia yet irrelevant to the question asked

But your question was "If ancient religions hadn't died out, would people still believe in them?". Trivia seems like a reasonable response.

Tom

 

[Riverwolf]

So my question is, if the ancient Egyptians or Sumerians or Greeks survived to this day do you think they would still believe in their gods?

What makes you think they're not still around? The people of those places are still there.

 

[Bunyip]

Let us look back into the history of human religion. The gods of old were generally representations of forces of nature - both physical such as storms and light and nonphysical such as forces that sustain the universe. This make sense, we are talking about newly formed agricultural societies that relied on that patterns of nature to survive and function. If you rely on the Nile then create a god of the Nile to pray to and keep happy so nothing bad happens to the Nile. A god of storms to ward off dust storms, a god of sunlight to make sure the sun keeps rising, and so on.

It's very understandable. I do not hold these beliefs against the Egyptians - how could they know better? And considering they lasted for 3,000 years we can see their religion was not disruptive, rather it was just an fundamental aspect of their lives. Today is different in many ways. Countries don't all believe in a united religion, we understand how forces of nature work, the need for appeasing deities is gone. So my question is, if the ancient Egyptians or Sumerians or Greeks survived to this day do you think they would still believe in their gods? Would they still see them as deities or simply symbols representing certain things? Would they drop it all together? Obviously we can only speculate but what's wrong with that?

Personally I would think it would be a mix. I think their societies would resemble ours with the atheists, the people who use symbols, the people who still believe despite lacking evidence, and all that fall in between. Humans are human after all.

It seems a malformed question - the Greeks and the Egyptians do still exist and so do their gods. Religions and gods are human inventions. They absorb, evolve and transform over the centuries - there is a great deal of Ra, Horus, Isis and Osiris in the Christian bible. There is also a large influence from the Greeks in Jesus teachings.

So those peoples and those gods are still there and still worshipped. Superficial things change - like names, but the rest persists.

 

[LuisDantas]

I expect ancient Egyptian beliefs to hold their ground better and less changed by time than Abrahamic ones. They were built more solid, since they do not make belief a central point.

There is better acceptance of atheism (which will always exist, and must) and less room for fundamentalist damage. The religion will become more of a cultural and linguistic reality and less of a goal in itself, thereby better serving society and spending less of its valuable time and resources.

 

[paarsurrey]

Let us look back into the history of human religion. The gods of old were generally representations of forces of nature - both physical such as storms and light and nonphysical such as forces that sustain the universe. This make sense, we are talking about newly formed agricultural societies that relied on that patterns of nature to survive and function. If you rely on the Nile then create a god of the Nile to pray to and keep happy so nothing bad happens to the Nile. A god of storms to ward off dust storms, a god of sunlight to make sure the sun keeps rising, and so on.

It's very understandable. I do not hold these beliefs against the Egyptians - how could they know better? And considering they lasted for 3,000 years we can see their religion was not disruptive, rather it was just an fundamental aspect of their lives. Today is different in many ways. Countries don't all believe in a united religion, we understand how forces of nature work, the need for appeasing deities is gone. So my question is, if the ancient Egyptians or Sumerians or Greeks survived to this day do you think they would still believe in their gods? Would they still see them as deities or simply symbols representing certain things? Would they drop it all together? Obviously we can only speculate but what's wrong with that?

Personally I would think it would be a mix. I think their societies would resemble ours with the atheists, the people who use symbols, the people who still believe despite lacking evidence, and all that fall in between. Humans are human after all.

What is the evidence of being correct for what I have colored in magenta? Please

Regards

 

[GoodbyeDave]

Look at India: their religion is still going strong. The census shows the total of unbelievers and non-Indic religions is just 0.7% of the population. Hinduism has held up much better than Christianity!

Believing that a god is responsible for the sun, as it were, doesn't imply ignorance. The Hindus who venerate Surya are no more ignorant than you. The Anglican Christians whose rituals include ceremonies for Blessing the Plough and Blessing the Seed are no more ignorant than you.