As per french prehistorian Jacques Cauvin, gods were created in people's minds between 10 000 BC and 9 000 BC, so around 12 000 years ago. The first gods would be the mother-goddess and the bull-god (not the bull dog!).
Before that, people were religious but did not believe in a God. They believed in souls for instance. So, God is relatively young in the history of humanity. What do you think of that?

I'm not that great with dates or anything, but the ancient Sumerians believed in gods/goddesses also, they are the oldest known civilization. It seems to me that the "belief" in god/goddess has been around as long as man has been on this earth.

I would have to tentatively agree. Perhaps, By-Product, you could source the article? I would like to read it. I have to say that as a civilized people, 10,000 years seems a large majority of the time beyond that which we spent clubbing things with big sticks.

A source article would be very helpful. It would help us to know how they identified this.

I wasn't aware that writing existed for the long. I am not saying this is not true, I am just wondering how he came to this conclusion.

i believe God are ONE and ONLY...
and dont have a time to measure his age...
and the God will LIVE forever...

You know he doesn't look a day over 10,000. Must be his diet.


I know I'm going to hell for that one.

On the real side, it is interesting, but could you please provide a link or more background information.

Surely he'd be too old to blow out all the candles!

Lets hope he's here for another 12 000, I doubt it the way things are going these days...

hmm...it's actually quite likely that our earliest relatives worshipped gods of some sort, before civilisation. As has been seen, religion was created as a way of explaining what, at the time, people lacked the understanding to explain themselves.

I don't see any great reason why humans of twelve thousands years ago would have had that need, when say...those of thirty thousand years ago (the last ice age) did not. Certainly, religion would have been far more diverse at that stage, probably varying greatly from tribe to tribe.

The Christian god is, certainly, an infant, some tens of thousands of years younger than modern man.

no birthday candles for THIS god, no no no, this god will just spend the day kicked back and listening to "running down a dream" by tom petty while playing grand theft auto: san andreas.

We know for a fact that the Indians believed that pretty much everything in nature was God. The Sun, Moon, etc.. However they were simply, admiring something they didn't understand. Like shadowsleet said it was made up, to explain something that wasn't understood at the time.

Conversation between Gabrial and God before GTA

God: Ah my friend, the world is vast and green. We have triumphed.
Gabrial: Yes my world. The wonders of your creation are amazing indeed.

After GTA

God: Hey homey, pass the f****** strap, I gotta go ice that Satan ******
Gabrial: Fu'Sure.

I thought god was untemporal and infinit

I believe this thread is assuming the christian god (and all other gods for that matter) to be a mythology.

Only if you believe it.

Here's something I came across when searching. I have been trying to find the oldest religion known to mankind, but a lot of different religions "claim" to be the oldest form.


So; "what is the Oldest Religion?"

Every religion today most likely has some aspect of an ancient belief in its philosophy or practice, but to say that one particular religion is the oldest is naive. The reality is-- we do not know. We have no basis for comparison. Most reference books list Hinduism as the oldest world religion. This is probably because Hinduism has the oldest recorded roots, which lie in Dravidianism. Dravidianism is estimated to have been practiced around 6,000 to 3,000 BCE and as such predates the Sumerian, Egyptian, and Babylonian cultures.
Source

I don't think that we can prove or validate the time when people started to believe in god, for the fact we have assumptions and educated guesses on it, but we don't have historical records from each and every time period. There is a lot we have lost, and probably a lot we still haven't discovered.

Doesn't this follow the same lines of the topic I started that's just a few topics down "Where did God begin?" The same thing is being discussed.

NO wonder it just sits there and watch.

My reference is an article in the french magazine "Science et Vie" of August 2002, page 48. The title is "12 000 years ago were born the gods" or something like that (excuse my translation).
It's hard to say when the gods were born in people's minds. 12 000 years, It's a theory, it's just that we don't find artefacts dated before.

Haven't we found dinosaurs? Which date back 65 million years! And don't forget the oldest human remains are 160,000 years old!

artefact: an object, such as a tool, made by human craft.

And I was talking of an artefact represinting a god like being.

I believe my God to be both male and female, therefore, united with a Goddess.
I also have to agree with Pendeka Temir, there is no measurement of time and the higher power will live on eternally.

Blessed Be.

Nightshade
xxx.

Nightshade, can you demonstrate a beginning of a shadow of a proof of what you say? I think people believe by conditionning. They believe what people of their society usually believe. Long time ago, people did not believe in gods but only in souls. Today the custom is God so people believe in God.

It makes a great link between God and mind, or should I say Mind and god.

Im just participating in this debate ProductEvolution.
Can you prove what you are saying to be true??? Based on what factors???

It's just a theory but you, you seem so sure of what you affirm!

Evidentally the ancient Canaanites/Hebrews believed the same - "At two sites, Kuntilet Ajrud in the southwestern part of the Negev hill region, and Khirbet el-Kom in the Judea piedmont, Hebrew inscriptions have been found that mention 'YHWH and his Asherah', 'YHWH Shomron and his Asherah', 'YHWH Teman and his Asherah'. - Wolfie

So doesnt these words what I say speak for themselves Evolution???
My faith is strong.

No, nighshade.
The theory that I explain in this thread is based on archeologic findings dated 12,000 years ago. Yours is based apparently on nothing!

I seem to think that Evolution is not happy unless you agree with him. lol
I'll try again; The Gods and Goddesses have been around for centuries such as ancient Greece, ancient Egypt etc, therefore, what I am trying to say is , that God is both male and female in unity and this is what I worship although, others may worship the same, others have their own beliefs.

Why do you say that. I'm happy and just try to discuss.

So, what are your "proofs"? In other words, your faith is based on what?

Paganism.

Your faith in paganism is based on what?