Why do people believe in religions?

What do all religions have in common?

Every complex religion in existence today can be categorized as either monotheistic or polytheistic. What is the difference? Can you name one of each? ◦ polytheistic religions have more than one god

◦ monotheistic religions have only one god

I. Zoroastrianism is

the oldest of the

world-religions, and

it has probably had

more influence on

mankind, directly

and indirectly, than

any other single

faith

A. The religion was

founded by

Zarathustra

(Zoroaster in Greek)

B. Historians and

religious scholars

generally date his life

sometime between

1,500 and 1,000 BCE

(BC) on the basis of

his style of writing.

C. It may have been

the first monotheistic

religion.

D. Zoroaster / Zarathustra

1. lived in Persia, modern day Iran.

2. Legends say that his birth was predicted and that

attempts were made by the forces of evil to kill him as a

child.

3. He preached monotheism in a land which followed

native polytheistic religions.

4. He was attacked for his teaching,

but finally won the support of the

king.

5. Zoroastrianism became the state

religion of various Persian empires,

until the 7th Century CE (AD).

E. Zoroastrianism has had a great impact on

Judaism, Christianity and other later religions, in

the beliefs surrounding God and Satan, the soul,

heaven and hell, savior, resurrection, final

judgment, etc.

1. The Hebrews, the nomadic Mesopotamian Tribe that came to control modern-day Israel, believed that their god had direct control of their lives.

2. They recorded their history in the Torah, which is also their sacred text and known to Christians as the Old Testament.

1. According to the Torah, a man named Abraham lived near Ur in Mesopotamia. He and his family migrated to modern-day Israel, then called Canaan. Abraham is considered the father of the Israelite nation.

2. Eventually, when a major drought hit the region, many Hebrews were forced to migrate to Egypt where they were eventually enslaved.

1. Although all bloodline Jews and Arabs of today are descended from him, Abraham himself was not a Jew or an Arab.

Hagar, the Egyptian hand maiden of Sarah was the mother of Ishmael, Abraham's first son.

When Isaac, Sarah's son, was born Ishmael mocked his younger brother so that Sarah asked Abraham to banish him, together with his mother.

Abraham provided them with bread and a bottle of water and sent them of into the desert of Beersheba.

When the water was spent Hagar put Ishmael under a bush to die and then sat some way off, weeping.

But an angel appeared and showed Hagar a well.

Abraham and his

wife Sarah were

too old to bear

children, but God

enabled them to

have a son Isaac.

God later tested

Abraham by

commanding

Abraham to kill

Isaac in sacrifice.

1. Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt and they wandered the desert for forty years before returning to Canaan.

2. Moses is not allowed to enter Canaan. Joshua, Moses’ successor leads the Hebrews in battle and defeats the Canaanites.

1. By about 1000 BCE the Israelites had set up a kingdom called Israel.

2. David, son of Joshua and a strong king, united the Twelve Tribes of Israel into one nation.

3. Solomon, David’s son, turned the city of Jerusalem into an impressive capital, with an enormous engineering defeat called the Temple of Solomon dedicated to their god YAHWEH.

1. Solomon’s

Temple, like the

Egyptian Pyramids,

drained the nation

of resources and led

to Israel’s ultimate

downfall.

2. The kingdom of

Israel split into:

› a. Israel in the North

› b. Judah in the South

1. 722-721 BCE :

› a. Divided Israel could

not maintain power,

conquered by Assyria.

2. 586 BCE :

a. Judah was conquered

by Nebuchadnezzar of

Babylonia who:

i. destroyed Jerusalem

and exiled Jews to

Babylon for slaves

ii. destroyed Temple of

Solomon

• 3. 539 BCE : • a. Cyrus the Great of Persia

conquered Babylonia, he permitted the Jews to return to Israel.

• b. Under Persian rule the Jews were allowed considerable autonomy. They rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem and codified the Mosaic Law, the Torah, which became the code of social life and religious observance.

1. The history of the

Israelites is

considered by the

Jews as God’s

divine plan for

them

› a. believed in “one

true God” that was

all-knowing and all-

seeing.

1. The Torah states that God made a covenant, or binding agreement, with Abraham in which Abraham agreed to worship God and God agreed to aid and protect the Hebrews

I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with the juice of the grape. All mankind shall know that I, the LORD, am your savior, your redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. › Isaiah Chapter 49: Verse 26.

1. The Torah set out rules for everything from food preparation to cleanliness, to criminal law.

2. Rich should help the poor, the strong should help the weak.

3. Leaders were not divine, but subject to God’s Law.

1. Basic set of beliefs of

the Jews.

› a. According to the

Torah they were given to

Moses directly from the

Hebrew god.

2. First four

commandments tell

people how to

treat/worship god.

Included the Sabbath,

or day of rest.

3. Next six tell people

how to treat

others…honor father

and mother…don’t

steal, kill, take another

man’s wife

1. Diaspora: scattering of the Jews from their homeland. › a. Spread influence and ideals

2. Jews maintained their identity by strict obedience to a unique way of life created by the Torah.

a. Christianity and Islam are based on Judaism