Why is it that Judaism isn't the oldest religion? If the God of Christianity and Judaism is the one true God, why was He not recognized until a certain time period? Why was there a belief of multiple Gods in ancient times? - Anonymous

A fascinating question!

I would suggest that, in one important sense, God was in fact recognized from the very beginning. There’s a sort of “religious instinct” in the human heart that has led all human societies from the very beginning of Homo sapiens (as far as we can tell) to have some sort of religion. We’re simply drawn towards the infinite, to something greater than ourselves that transcends us.

But God couldn’t be called by his name until he chose to reveal it. The whole story of the Old Testament is of “progressive revelation”: God little by little tells us more about himself and about what he loves. We can figure out the barest details of his existence by the human reason he has given us, but to really get to know him, he needs to tell us.

So if that’s the case, it’s easy to see why the first human societies got part of the story right and much of it wrong, and ended up in religious dead ends like paganism. The Catechism’s explanation (#37) of how easy it is for us to err in this regard really hits the nail on the head. Perhaps the best explanation is the YouCat’s, on page 7 of this PDF.

Essentially God’s decision was to reveal himself little by little, preparing us (we were pretty rough around the edges 4 millennia ago) for the fullness of truth in Christ. For more on how those “stages of revelation” worked, check out the Catechism from #53 on. It’s pretty neat, but at the same time it should make us really give thanks to God…

For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it. (Luke 10:24)

God bless you!

- Father Shane

∞Posted on January 31, 2012

Notes: 26 notes

Tags: #religion, #christianity, #judaism, #jew, #jewish, #christian, #catholic, #catholicism, #orthodox, #pagan, #paganism, #history, #old testament, #new testament, #revelation, #reveal, #revealed, #gods, #god,

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  1. fathershane posted this
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