Monotheism

Let's assume Moses was real and not legendary. (Someone did come up with monotheism - why not Moses?) My point is that he was a genius! What an advancement in human thought! Absolutely revolutionary. It's taken me some time of studying paganism to see that.

Being a pagan was very complicated. Man lived in a world where gods were everywhere: moon, sun, stars, trees, stones, etc. They all were gods and these gods were unpredictable and could make man's life miserable. So man went around worried about ritually appeasing the gods with sacrifices which meant sacrificing his children, his animals, and/or offering up part of his crops and much more. But then, he also had to worry because what he sacrificed may not make the gods happy in quality or quantity. He also had to worry because he may be overlooking some god who would then, in anger for the slight, proceed to make his life miserable with illness, crop failure, whatever.

Pagan life just seemed full of worries and very complicated in terms of number of gods, hundreds of rules for dealing with the gods and coming up with the goods to give the gods. Then there comes monotheism. There is only God to worry about and the world is simplified. The sun and moon and stars are explained as created things, part of the natural world and not to be worshiped. And the same thing is done for everything! The wind, rivers, sea, trees and all animals. All explained as part of the natural world (one can start to see a glimmer of the scholasticism that has brought us to where we are today.) Modern man is so used to seeing the world this way that, when he reads Genesis, he says "So what?!

As part of monotheism, rules are also simplified. From hundreds of rules on how to make the gods happy, Moses hands out 10 rules! So simple to learn. Considering the advantages of monotheism, I'm really not sure why it was so difficult for man to adapt to it. It may be because, with the pagan gods, man felt in control: if things turned out badly then he could ascribe it to the sacrifice not being good enough, etc.? With YHWH, it is to be humble and practice justice and charity. Maybe those are the hardest virtues for man to practice.

"He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" - Micah 6:8