I often answer questions to stimulate thought, not to provide solutions.
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Ancient people saw the forces of nature and were frighted by their destructive powers. Weather, volcanoes, tremors, thunder, hail, wind, fire, and disease killed many people and caused much destruction and pain. Religious leaders personified these forces into gods and gave them human-like personalities. These gods were jealous, vengeful, angry, capricious, or even careless. As they occupied the celestial abode, their harsh actions would wreak havoc on Earth. Early religions were less about controlling people, and more about controlling the gods.
A common approach to deal with these gods was to appease them by feeding their appetites. They imagined that the fire-god must like consuming a fair number of people per month, the god of hail must like pelting a certain number of people too, and the god of the ocean waves gets hungry for some sailors during fishing season. So rather than allowing the god to take arbitrarily, we give the god those things we are willing to give up. Perhaps that will make him go away.
But who or what to give them? Most pagan religions figured out that it's easier to give up their weak children, virgin girls, or extra cattle. So by sacrificing a few animals (or people), perhaps the mean god would be satisfied and would not take any more people when he gets angry. Some gods were bribed easily. Some were a bit greedy. And some gods were only satisfied when the priests were also given a cut of the action and given some nice meat (or virgins). At least that's what the priest said.
How did they know this would work? They probably felt that their gods were quite similar to the bullies who control the local water supply or the access to the fruit grove, so you have to pay them off a bit once in a while. Such "sacrifices" are still common in some municipalities when you need to get the building inspector to approve various projects that don't exactly meet with building codes.
Appendix. Since others included biblical notions in their answers, I'll add the following here: There is no Biblical word for sacrifice! The Hebrew term קָרְבָּן (korban) is commonly and incorrectly translated "sacrifice" meaning, to give something up, actually means "that which brings closer." The related term, מִנְחָה (mincha) means "gift." The Biblical form of this ritual was not about appeasing the gods, but was about finding some way to get closer by bringing gifts.
The Biblical concept deviated from the pagan ritual in many ways:
No human should be killed. Human sacrifice, though common in the pagan world, is abhorrent to the biblical person. Any suggestion that a human should be sacrificed for any good reason is a shocking and strongly rejected idea.
Nearly all of the קָרְבָּן (korban) offerings were consumed by people (with one exception, the עלה), thus served a practical need -- to feed. None of the מִנְחָה (mincha) offerings involved killing any animals, and were thus vegan. And the only thing that was actually put on an alter inside the Jewish temple was the קְטֹרֶת, the incense offering of spices (also vegan). Indeed, anything related to killing animals took place outside in the temple courtyard -- whereas the only things in the temple itself was light, bread, and burning spices. This started a process that distinguished the Jewish temple from those of the surrounding pagan temples.
The culmination of the biblical development of animal offerings eventually lead to a reality where the whole establishment of these rituals were abolished altogether and replaced with meditation and verbal expressions of thoughts and gratitude.
As a result, you can see a historical development from the pagan notion of appeasement to the gods, to the biblical notions which started to recast the ritual in a slightly different way. This development leads to the current state where there is no animal sacrifice at all. What will the future bring? Some think animal sacrifices will be restored, others insist they will never be restored and were only mandated because ancient people had ancient ideas.
Thus ancient people thought that animal sacrifices allow people to gain favor with the gods. Biblical people thought that the modified animal rituals would help them get closer to God.
I often answer questions to stimulate thought, not to provide solutions.4.9k ViewsAncient people saw the forces of nature and were frighted by their destructive powers. Weather, volcanoes, tremors, thunder, hail, wind, fire, and disease killed many people and caused much destruction and pain. Religious leaders personified these forces into gods and gave them human-like personalities. These gods were jealous, vengeful, angry, capricious, or even careless. As they occupied the celestial abode, their harsh actions would wreak havoc on Earth. Early religions were less about controlling people, and more about controlling the gods.A common approach to deal with these gods was to appease them by feeding their appetites. They imagined that the fire-god must like consuming a fair number of people per month, the god of hail must like pelting a certain number of people too, and the god of the ocean waves gets hungry for some sailors during fishing season. So rather than allowing the god to take arbitrarily, we give the god those things we are willing to give up. Perhaps that will make him go away.But who or what to give them? Most pagan religions figured out that it's easier to give up their weak children, virgin girls, or extra cattle. So by sacrificing a few animals (or people), perhaps the mean god would be satisfied and would not take any more people when he gets angry. Some gods were bribed easily. Some were a bit greedy. And some gods were only satisfied when the priests were also given a cut of the action and given some nice meat (or virgins). At least that's what the priest said.How did they know this would work? They probably felt that their gods were quite similar to the bullies who control the local water supply or the access to the fruit grove, so you have to pay them off a bit once in a while. Such "sacrifices" are still common in some municipalities when you need to get the building inspector to approve various projects that don't exactly meet with building codes.Appendix. Since others included biblical notions in their answers, I'll add the following here: There is no Biblical word for sacrifice! The Hebrew term קָרְבָּן (korban) is commonly and incorrectly translated "sacrifice" meaning, to give something up, actually means "that which brings closer." The related term, מִנְחָה (mincha) means "gift." The Biblical form of this ritual was not about appeasing the gods, but was about finding some way to get closer by bringing gifts.The Biblical concept deviated from the pagan ritual in many ways:No human should be killed. Human sacrifice, though common in the pagan world, is abhorrent to the biblical person. Any suggestion that a human should be sacrificed for any good reason is a shocking and strongly rejected idea.Nearly all of the קָרְבָּן (korban) offerings were consumed by people (with one exception, the עלה), thus served a practical need -- to feed. None of the מִנְחָה (mincha) offerings involved killing any animals, and were thus vegan. And the only thing that was actually put on an alter inside the Jewish temple was the קְטֹרֶת, the incense offering of spices (also vegan). Indeed, anything related to killing animals took place outside in the temple courtyard -- whereas the only things in the temple itself was light, bread, and burning spices. This started a process that distinguished the Jewish temple from those of the surrounding pagan temples.The culmination of the biblical development of animal offerings eventually lead to a reality where the whole establishment of these rituals were abolished altogether and replaced with meditation and verbal expressions of thoughts and gratitude.As a result, you can see a historical development from the pagan notion of appeasement to the gods, to the biblical notions which started to recast the ritual in a slightly different way. This development leads to the current state where there is no animal sacrifice at all. What will the future bring? Some think animal sacrifices will be restored, others insist they will never be restored and were only mandated because ancient people had ancient ideas.Thus ancient people thought that animal sacrifices allow people to gain favor with the gods. Biblical people thought that the modified animal rituals would help them get closer to God.
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4.9k มุมมองคนโบราณเห็นกองกำลังของธรรมชาติ และ frighted ด้วยพลังทำลายล้างของพวกเขา อากาศ , ภูเขาไฟ , tremors , พายุ , ลูกเห็บ , ลม , ไฟ และ โรค ฆ่าคนมากมายและก่อให้เกิดการทำลายมากและเจ็บปวด ผู้นำศาสนาสร้างกองกำลังเหล่านี้เป็นมนุษย์เหมือนพระเจ้าและให้พวกเขามีบุคลิกที่พระเหล่านี้ อิจฉา พยาบาท โกรธ เอาแต่ใจ หรือประมาท เช่นที่พวกเขาครอบครองถิ่นสวรรค์ การกระทำที่รุนแรงของพวกเขาจะ wreak กลียุคบนแผ่นดินโลก ศาสนาต้นน้อยที่เกี่ยวกับการควบคุมคน , และอื่น ๆ เกี่ยวกับการควบคุมพระเจ้า
วิธีการทั่วไปที่จะจัดการกับเทพเหล่านี้ถูกทำให้สงบโดยป้อน appetites ของพวกเขา
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