Coincidence?

[Username]

Why had all these separate religions deduced the existence of a god? Were they all somehow influenced by each other, or did they all coincidentally and independently come to similar conclusions (that there is a god)?

Cheers.

[Insert name here]

Hello username, you should make an introduction post, as for your question, there may be several reasons as to why, denial for one, people tend to take comfort in the idea that they will live forever and escape death, this is the reason why a lot of people believe that there is an afterlife. It could also be a misinterpretation of some event, or simply being ignorant to what they were actually seeing, which struck them with the idea that some deity must have made it happen. I hope this helps.

[Username]

Thanks for the reply.

I understand why they may believe in a god, however I'm finding it strange how several groups of individuals had created (?) the idea of a creator. How several separate religions had formed the same ultimate conclusion (the existence of a creator). Were all these separate ideologies influenced by each other, or did they all coincidentally draw similar conclusions? Because I think creating & believing the idea of a creator wouldn't be so commonplace if the idea of such had never been exposed to an individual beforehand. Which is why I find it strange that so many religions may have all came to similar conclusions (unless they were all influenced by each other which would eliminate the idea that several individuals deduced similar beliefs independently).

[brimstoneSalad]

Your conception of mythology is a bit off. Some beliefs start with a personified creator, many other start from chaos, or ice, or an infinite ocean, or something along those lines. Others still believe the universe is infinite in time, and things have always been.

There's a broad mix of creation myths, and mythos that lack creation.

It's a similar false question to: Why do all Cultures have a concept of dragons and Unicorns and Phoenix?

Well, they don't.

Chinese "Dragons" and European dragons are drastically different, for example.
The same with Chinese "unicorns" and European ones, and "Phoenix" as well. Read about it and you'll see the dramatic differences.

They only have minor superficial similarities. There's no reason to think they'd need to be inspired by a common source (beyond, say, birds which do clearly exist), and it's not really even a coincidence.

The same is the case with deities. Devas in Vedic Mythology (and later Buddhist and Syncretic Asian which it influenced) are different from Gods and Titans in Greco-roman mythology, and those in African and Mesoamerican mythos, and all are very different from the Abrahamic concepts of a monotheistic god. They're only superficially similar.

I think you're just seeing similarities where, statistically, there aren't really any.

Now, the modern "god" concepts have all cross-pollinated substantially, including a good dose of historic revisionism and re-interpretation to go with it. So, it can be confusing in that light. Religions like to pretend they have all always believed the same thing about "god", but that's not even remotely true.

In terms of common sources, most concepts of higher spirits or human-like beings derive from ancestor and "ghost" worship.
If you follow the lineage of YHWH back, you can trace it to El, who was probably a human being and tribal leader at some point in the distant past.
Many deities, the world over, can be traced more clearly back to human beings who have been worshiped in life, and deified in death.

[Username]

Very enlightening post, thank you.