"The God of the Old becomes the Devil of the New"

I must first mention that this theory is not mine, but originates from the studies of Margaret Murray, specifically her book titled "The God of the Witches", written in the early 20th century, and she herself may have used the theories of others. I understand she has very little proof, and has been criticized, but I'm going to use her general theory, and go beyond her own analysis.

Her theory basically states that the Devil, as in, a horned beast, was the main God of pre-Christian Europe. The God of the Old religion becomes the Devil of the New religion, and the New religion was Christianity, which "demonized" the previous horned God.

Of course this makes sense, but I will go beyond this. I will first add the serpent, which was not mentioned by her, as another respected deity in non-Christian religions, as the serpent is known to have wisdom and a great amount of symbolism.

But my main point was to look at even older religions.

More primitive societies today, and those of the past, worshiped a variety of Nature spirits. Not only in Islam, but in ancient Mesopotamian religion, spirits of the wild areas were their demons. In Islam these are called Jinn, and in ancient Mesopotamia the same characters were demons by various names, and the wild Nature spirits were dangerous and evil. Remember again that the pre-Islamic and pre-Mesopotamian-civilization Nature spirits were worshiped, and then became demons after a new religion was established. I might add that lifestyle changes occurred, such as the shift from hunting & gathering to nomadic herding, farming, and urbanization, among other changes.

Even in Christianity, demons of the wild desert or other wild areas are mentioned in the Bible, even in the New Testament. The Bible does not mention what exactly the Devil looks like, however, unless the serpent could be representative, but it is not mentioned often outside the first book, Genesis. The Devil is mainly a trickster in the New Testament.

Looking the modern religion of Wicca, a fast-growing neo-pagan religion, it is easy to see how their beliefs are not new, but mainly derive from the pre-Christian religions. The horned God or Goddess, and the crescent moon, and so on, are making a come-back, possibly with the rebellion against Christianity. It may be a cycle then, that old Gods return to be worshiped.

Another topic I need to discuss is the Mother Goddess of the Neolithic/Stone-Age, and the Venus figurines found throughout Europe and West Asia, originating at a time of mostly hunting-gathering societies. In these societies, as in modern hunting-gathering societies, women are actually more important than men in the obtaining of food. There was a high degree of sexual equality in the Stone Age, and an obese woman represented the fertile earth that was worshiped.

This obese Mother Earth Goddess was before the beginnings of the domestication of plants and animals. It was likely that women slowly lost equality during the beginnings of civilization, with the new worship of a more masculine horned God. In some areas there was likely a shift soon after to a more equal society or Pantheon of Gods and Goddesses.

In early civilizations there is often a duality theme in the Pantheon. The sun & moon, man & woman, and so on, are examples. Christianity came with a trinity overcoming this duality and making the duality heretical, for example calling Nestorius a heretic for saying Jesus had a separate divinity and humanity. Then Islam began with the One God theme, calling the trinity heretical. Rastafarian came more recently saying that Babylon (modern society) is Evil, and Zion (more simple life) is the correct path.

I could go into more detail, and give more examples, but I just wanted to begin a discussion, and open people's minds on the subject.

Originally posted by bettermakings

In early civilizations there is often a duality theme in the Pantheon. The sun & moon, man & woman, and so on, are examples. Christianity came with a trinity overcoming this duality and making the duality heretical, for example calling Nestorius a heretic for saying Jesus had a separate divinity and humanity. Then Islam began with the One God theme, calling the trinity heretical. Rastafarian came more recently saying that Babylon (modern society) is Evil, and Zion (more simple life) is the correct path.

I could go into more detail, and give more examples, but I just wanted to begin a discussion, and open people's minds on the subject.

Hello. I believe that Christianity has, is, and will go from trinity to quaternity when the Sacred Feminine returns and the Christ and His Bride wed (Heiros gamos).

"One becomes two, two becomes three, and out of the third comes the one as the fourth." -Axiom of Maria

[edit on 12-8-2010 by Student X]

Eh, it all works out in the end. God is and was the same God in the old and the new. The main differences is that prophets/scribes concentrated on his wrath during Tanakh. More so with Job. we see an "entity" challenge God. This entity is to be the devil. although, Judaism does not enjoy giving spirits, demons, angels and other metaphysical beings name because it puts fear inn them. So they remove the names of all angels in the Tanakh for good reason. This is why the devil never is mentioned. also, the serpent is an obvious metaphor for a liar. You are like a snake. example.


So this is where it comes down to. You can take every other religion on earth and connect it to Judeo-christian. In some form or another they are all interconnected. Even paganism. So, to seperate these religions do not make any sense to me. I see you all doing the same damn thing, just at a different pace, chant, ritual, prayer/medatation.
Paganism even has a part in christianity. just no in the polythestic point of view. more of the earth bound. who does christianity think created the earth? God. so it is all the same when you look at it in a judeo-christiain point of view
I am far more interested in pre hebrew, sumerian religions than babel.

[edit on 12-8-2010 by Jordan River]

Student X : very interesting. I've heard a theory that Jesus was a man who had the blood of a woman. We'll see how your theory works out.

Jordan River : I did mention many different religions, including prehistoric which you are interested in. I was trying to analyze the evolution of religion in different times & places, so of course I think they are all inter-connected, that's part of it.