Why is "sacrifice" such an integrel part of many religions.?
Q. From the peaks of the Andes mountains to the fog of the Celtic shores, ancient religions (probably including ancient semitic religions) practiced human sacrifice as a form of worship. Why??? In fact, why is sacrifice so intrinsic to religion? (sacred=sacrifice)
Asked by Hafway Holmes - Sat Apr 10 23:58:44 2010 - - 8 Answers - 0 Comments

A. Because bad things happen to them or their people and a sacrifice is a way of gaining favor with the gods (or god). a fire destroys your crops, the wild animals migrate, a plague kills half your tribe. You have no control over these things, therefore a being much more powerful than you must have done this and the wisest thing to do would be to gain favor with it. We still "sacrifice", in a manner of speaking. When a loved one gets cancer we might pray "god, if you take away their pain I will never drink again" (or something like that). A sacrifice is a bargain with god. We've been doing it since the dawn of trouble and we'll do it until our troubles cease.
Answered by Badhorse - Sun Apr 11 00:05:39 2010

Number of Followers for the following religions:?
Q. Hi just out of curiosity, how many followers did each religion have since the start of the said religion (including present day followers if the religion is still followed) Baha'i Faith Christianity (all branches) Gnosticism Islam Judaism Rastafari movement Sethianism Hinduism (all types) Buddhism Sikhism Zoroastrianism Confucianism Shinto Taoism Ancient Egyptian religion Ancient Semitic religions Mesopotamian mythology Greek polytheism Hellenistic Luciferianism Satanism Wiccan Whoever gives the best and most detailed answer gets best answer than you!!
Asked by Pameer - Tue Mar 23 17:06:19 2010 - - 3 Answers - 0 Comments

A. There is no comprehensive world census of religious belief. You can only get broad estimates. Try here:
Answered by LabGrrl - Tue Mar 23 17:08:15 2010

What are your thoughts on this religious comparison?
Q. In the study of comparative religion, an Abrahamic religion or Judeo-Abrahamic Faith is any religion deriving from a common ancient Semitic tradition and traced by their adherents to Abraham ("Father/Leader of many" Hebrew ("Avraham") Arabic ("Ibrahim"), a patriarch whose life is narrated in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, and as a prophet in the Qur'an and also called a prophet in Genesis 20:7. This forms a large group of largely monotheistic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mandaeism, and the Baha'i Faith from wikipedia on "Abrahamic religion" to Ronin, i don't like or dislike this, im not a very religious person, but was raised catholic
Asked by saxon_148 - Wed Sep 20 01:54:32 2006 - - 12 Answers - 0 Comments

A. All the world needs is freedom of religion and peace !!!
Answered by KISSAHOG - Wed Sep 20 01:58:40 2006

Why do otherwise educated people ignore their own logic and knowledge when it comes to religion?
Q. Take Mike Huckabee, for example. He's affable, interesting, and certainly not stupid. Yet when it comes to religion, he literally reads into the Bible events that are preposterous: the Biblical Flood and Noah's Ark, Jonah and the Whale, and Creationism. Using pure logic, one would of course deem the Bible illogical and unfounded: A thousands of years old text, written by people of ancient technology and agrarian mindset, cannot have any scientific merit (in fact, even the Egyptians and Greeks of the same Bronze Age period were more technologically savvy than the Semites of the Levant). Why is it more logical to assume that these primitive people did not make up these stories, which are really myths that most cultures share, than… [cont.]
Asked by Alan H - Wed Aug 11 13:22:49 2010 - - 6 Answers - 0 Comments

All major religions have failed to bring peace or enlightenment to the world -What lessons should be drawn?
Q. Christianity --- a religon of peace and love - The US likes to call itself a Christian nation --- It has been at war since the end of world war 2 against someone somewhere for some reason Vietnam Korea Nicaragua Chad Libya and a dozen more I can not remember ( please do not list them all -- there is no point) The Jewish religions from what I have read make up about 2 % of the worlds population --- The nation of Israel has been in a constant state of war or war preparations The other Semitic religions including Muslim and others have been at war against someone somewhere for as long as I can remember ( mostly against Israel ) Buddhism Toaisim and the other religons have been around for a long time --- The world is still at… [cont.]
Asked by Trout - Tue May 19 00:13:04 2009 - - 19 Answers - 1 Comments

A. Religion served an evolutionary purpose of giving sense of community, explaining the world thousands and millions of years ago. That role is over. Today and the last hundreds of years religions are reactionary tools to oppress people, attack science and slow down progress. It serves power on every side in misdirecting people's justified anger and discontent into nonsensical rituals and ideas, sometimes even bloody actions The lesson should be we don't need religion but and that's very important people should arrive at that conclusion voluntary because outlawing religion is not only unlawful but also leads people to cling to these outdated superstitions more than they already do. Religious distress is at the same time the expression… [cont.]
Answered by justgoodfolk - Tue May 19 13:18:57 2009

Have you noticed that the world's major religions have a common origin?
Q. Though Judaism , Islam and Christianity are known as the Semitic, Abrahamic faiths ,they owe far more to the religions of ancient Persia (Iran) such as Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism and Mithraism. They also owe much to the Greek and Roman religions. Greek, Roman and Persian cultures in turn can be traced back to the prehistoric Indo-European society of the Russian steppes, as can Hinduism and Buddhism (indirectly). The Indo-Europeans are without doubt the most successful race in the history of the world in terms of the spread of their language and culture. So, it beggars belief that the religion that spurred them onto world domination should be reviled by the Atheists and others, don't you think?
Asked by Enemy of the Atheist - Sun Jun 15 12:52:03 2008 - - 3 Answers - 0 Comments

A. Millions of people believing that the world is actually an obtuse triangle, does not make it an obtuse triangle. Bad argument, pal. Try again.
Answered by Reileah - Sun Jun 15 12:59:31 2008

What is Judar? Anyone who's Jewish, do you have it?
Q. Judaism is a religion not an ethnicity, understood. But then why do some people say people "look Jewish"? Ancient hebrews are Semitic, an ethnicity. Why not acknowledge Judaism as a religion AND an ethnicity?
Asked by GreenGrasshopper - Mon May 15 20:55:14 2006 - - 4 Answers - 0 Comments

A. Although Judaism accepts converts from any race or people, nevertheless, most Jews today are not converts nor descendants of converts. That being the case, most Jews are, in fact, Semetic thus may have a "semetic look". As to someone's reference to the Khazars: that was a speculation by a historian in the book "The Thirteenth Tribe" by William Kunstler (sp?) in that today's Ashkenazi Jews are descendants of converts from the Khazar tribe. Mainstream historians discount this. Thus, this is what I will acknowledge. Jews are both part of a religion (whether they observe Judaism or not) and ethnicity. Judaism itself is a religion.
Answered by BMCR - Tue May 16 19:40:23 2006

Christian Denominations? Which is closest to the original?
Q. I would have to say the Ancient Assyrian church, mainly based in Iraq. It has never been incorporated into the Roman and western churches, and thus was not subject to the great alterations and interferences that occurred from around 100AD onwards. The attempt to shoehorn christianity, which is a SEMITIC, near eastern religion into Greco-Roman culture and belief systems perverted the religion greatly. It was also founded within living memory of the death of christ. Its services are in Ancient Aramaic. Assyrians STILL speak Aramaic as a first language to this very day. And of course, Jesus, his disciples and John the Baptist all spoke Aramaic, as did the first christians, and the earliest christian texts were written in Aramaic. Also… [cont.]
Asked by HAMMURABI - Sun Dec 23 05:53:07 2007 - - 12 Answers - 0 Comments

A. If you want to know more about the Christian faith in the early days and especially if you want to know more about Jesus himself, you need to do research into ancient Aramaic texts and Semitic Middle Eastern culture. Of all the Aramaic dialects, Syriac is by far the most important with thousands of surviving Syriac manuscripts, many hundreds of which are older than 1000 years and a few dozen are older than 1500 years. Other than Aramaic literature which is by far the oldest, the earliest languages of Christian literature were, (oldest first): Coptic, Latin, Middle Persian and Greek. The Christian literatures which survive in Arabic and in Armenian are also very important and little researched.
Answered by Steven Ring - Sun Dec 23 06:24:51 2007

What significance does tree-worship by the ancients have in modern day Paganism?
Q. The worship of trees through history has been a common practice throughout much of Europe, and even the Old Testament contains references to sacred groves and to semites setting up altars under trees such as sacred oaks, which was associated with the semitic mother goddess Asherah. Representations of tree trunks in stone pillars can be found in the standing stones or menhirs of western Europe, and a further stage involved either placing a mask on the tree or pillar to represent the deity within or carving them to represent a god or goddess. In ancient Egypt it was believed that spirits dwelt in sacred sycamores that existed on the border between this world and the next, and Persian mythology also contains references to trees as dwelling… [cont.]
Asked by zeitgeist pirate - Sun Jan 17 18:09:13 2010 - - 8 Answers - 0 Comments

A. Well, I wouldn't say I worship trees, but I've always been rather fond of them and I do think they should be protected and not treated with such callus as they are. It makes me sad when I see trees being cut down for no reason or butchered instead of being properly trimmed.
Answered by Bo s, p rr itt - Sun Jan 17 20:17:38 2010

Bible experts PLEASE HELP! Surprising line in the book of Amos.?
Q. Were the biblical Jews of ancient times actually black??? Prior to reading this line, I already knew that the Jews got their language, religion & culture from the Canaanites & Sumerians through Babylon, the original ancient Hebrew alphabet was identical to that of the Phoenicians, and "Semitic languages" are really dialectical variants of African languages but I never really thought "So did Jews start off as being black?" But then I was reading the book of Amos and I come across Amos 9:7 which says "Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel?" saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? Surpringly enough, I am coming to the… [cont.]
Asked by Devour12 - Fri Jan 23 00:51:54 2009 - - 10 Answers - 0 Comments

A. I have also run across references that suggest that Moses himself may have been black... and later, Phinehas, (who killed the race-mixing trasnsgressors and received God's eternal blessing for that deed) was also said to have been black. Miriam, Moses' sister also tried to start a rebellion based on the fact that Moses married a Cushite (Ethiopian, black) woman... and Moses had a lot to say about the race-mixing problem, and that it should not be done. Perhaps he was speaking from personal experience? He certainly experienced more than his share of problems. Personally I have no opinions on this subject; I reflect only what I have read in other places. Interesting question tho.
Answered by Monarch 441 - Fri Jan 23 05:31:37 2009

What happened to the ancestral language of the Germanic peoples? What happened to the language they had before?
Q. What happened to the ancestral language of the Germanic peoples? What happened to the language they had before they switched it to the ARmenian ARyan (Indo-European) dialect from which ancient Germanic languages evolved? Language is acquired, the earliest and most important teachers being the persons among whom the individual grows up when a child, not necessarily the parents in every case. Owing to migrations, to altered environment, to contacts with strange peoples, the ancestral language may be forgotten, and a foreign language acquired, while the native pigmentation of hair, eyes, skin, the form of the nose, etc., are not lost. Any races may, without in any way changing their racial character, change their language and, vice versa,… [cont.]
Asked by Natural Rights r the TRUE RIGHTS - Sun Aug 15 04:55:10 2010 - - 4 Answers - 0 Comments

A. Cutting through the garbage and assuming your question is serious: The languages in Europe before the advent of PIE-based languages were possibly related to Euskara (Basque). Most linguists believe that Basque is a remnant of the pre-PIE languages used in Europe. It's also possible that the pre-Germanic languages were from some unattested earlier language. There are no records, so we'll probably never know for sure.
Answered by dollhaus - Sun Aug 15 20:37:17 2010

Are Falashans (Black Ethiopians) Jews? or Native Ethiopian tribe?
Q. The public opinion is once again badly manipulated by state propagandas. News coming from Israel mention the "return" of the Falashas (the word is put between brackets by the daily le Monde), the so-called "Black Jews of Ethiopia". We have here a serious confusion which might carry dramatic consequences. Ethiopia is an extremely complex web of different societies, ruled by ancient traditions. Its modernization has long been denied by the endless rule of Emperor Haile Sellassie and is still in its early start. The Falashas, whose role in Ethiopian history is well known, never presented themselves as Jews before some missionaries and European travellers got interested in them and their religious particularism, from 1860 onwards. Physically… [cont.]
Asked by vojo007 - Sun Aug 17 22:04:35 2008 - - 2 Answers - 0 Comments

A. They are mixed native Black Ethiopians with immigrant Semitic Whites(Arabs and Jews).They claim Semitic heritage as Black because they believe Semitic Whites are Black-i.e.- the Semitic White Chaldeans. They practice the Jewish religion, not ethnicity. Many do express Semitic facial features, especially the raised hooked or pointed nose(versus the flat,wide Black African nose) and thin lips.Their only claim to being Jews by ethnicity is through admixture and by religion, practicing.In other words, they are Mulattos(Black/Semitic White mix) practicing Judaism(faith).Where and when the admixture occured is controversial. They, themselves, based on a legend of theirs, claim to be one of the lost tribes of Israel.They believe they are… [cont.]
Answered by Clyde N - Mon Aug 18 09:48:26 2008

Do Christians use idolatry such as the symbol of the fish because they bite so well?
Q. ichthys-fish The pre-Christian history of the fish symbol: In China, Great Mother Kwan-yin often portrayed in the shape of a fish. In India, the Goddess Kali was called the "fish-eyed one" In Egypt, Isis was called the Great Fish of the Abyss In Greece the Greek word "delphos" meant both fish and womb. The word is derived from the location of the ancient Oracle at Delphi who worshipped the original fish goddess, Themis. The later fish Goddess, Aphrodite Salacia, was worshipped by her followers on her sacred day, Friday. They ate fish and engaging in orgies. From her name comes the English word "salacious" which means lustful or obscene. Also from her name comes the name of our fourth month, April. In later centuries, the Christian… [cont.]
Asked by Lone Dissenter 4th time round - Sat Sep 4 09:11:15 2010 - - 2 Answers - 0 Comments

A. Thank you for sharing the "pre-Christian" history of the fish symbol. It is all rather interesting. However, it is, as you say, *pre* Christian, yet you ask about the reasons that *Christians* use the fish as a symbol. Christians adopted the "fish* symbol in response to a Gospel writer's metaphor (yes, this time, it *really* was/ is a literary metaphor, just as your grammar teacher taught) that seeking out persons for inclusion in the gospel would be, for the disciples, like "fishing," an act with which the Galilean fisherman who surrounded Jesus as disciples were well familiar. It is not unexpected that the writer would use a familiar act to illustrate the new act which would be expected of them, the act of seeking "souls" to believe… [cont.]
Answered by Spirit Progeny - Mon Sep 6 09:31:12 2010

Book of Genesis is a Darwinian concept. What do you say to this?
Q. In the Book of Genesis 4:2-16, the story of Cain and Abel is a timeless tale of sibling rivalries between close kindred nations. Although Cain and Abel are de facto siblings it's an irrefutable fact that one race is superior to the other. Consequently, the history of civilization has been a history of struggles between close kindred, which is to decide the fate of nations. Hence, the question of the Birthright or "Who shall inherit the earth?" is the ultimate theme behind the history of conflict, struggles, and war between close kindred. "I have loved you, said the LORD. Yet you say, Wherein have you loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? said the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste… [cont.]
Asked by Mark - Fri Jul 16 04:38:09 2010 - - 6 Answers - 0 Comments

GOD IS ON THE SIDE OF ISRAEL AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THIS?
Q. Islam could never triumph over the west, because god is on the side of israel and the united states of america. what do you say to this?:- In the Book of Genesis 4:2-16, the story of Cain and Abel is a timeless tale of sibling rivalries between close kindred. Although Cain and Abel are de facto siblings it's an irrefutable fact that one race is superior to the other. Consequently, the history of civilization has been a history of struggles between close kindred, which is to decide the fate of nations. Hence, the question of the Birthright or "Who shall inherit the earth?" is the ultimate theme behind the history of conflict, struggles, and war between close kindred. "I have loved you, said the LORD. Yet you say, Wherein have you loved us? [cont.]
Asked by Mark - Sun Jul 18 18:15:28 2010 - - 15 Answers - 0 Comments

A. "God hates disabled people". I had never seen that much ignorance packed up together.
Answered by Mahmood The Cantaloupe - Wed Jul 21 06:43:32 2010

Book of Genesis is a Darwinian concept. What do you say to this?
Q. In the Book of Genesis 4:2-16, the story of Cain and Abel is a timeless tale of sibling rivalries between close kindred nations. Although Cain and Abel are de facto siblings it's an irrefutable fact that one race is superior to the other. Consequently, the history of civilization has been a history of struggles between close kindred, which is to decide the fate of nations. Hence, the question of the Birthright or "Who shall inherit the earth?" is the ultimate theme behind the history of conflict, struggles, and war between close kindred. "I have loved you, said the LORD. Yet you say, Wherein have you loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? said the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste… [cont.]
Asked by Mark - Fri Jul 16 04:43:09 2010 - - 2 Answers - 0 Comments