We may divide the last 6,000 years of history into different periods using religion as our primary category. Today we will cover the beginning of history and its first two great periods.
4004 BC Creation
Following the Bible, we learn that Yahweh created Heaven and Earth, as well as Adam and Eve, in 4004 BC. Shortly after their creation, however, Adam and Eve broke their relationship with Yahweh, one another, and the rest of creation. With that fall from grace began our first period of human history: the Age of Olympianity.
4004-1921 Age of Olympianity
With Adam and Eve’s fall from grace, Olympianity became the universal religion of humankind. From that day to ours, the six false gods of Olympianity have been the dominant gods of our universally Olympian societies, cultures, and personalities.
1921 BC-AD 70 Age of Yahwism
In 1996 BC, Abraham was born. When he was 75 years old, Yahweh invited Abraham to enjoy a special relationship with him. Abraham accepted this invitation and moved far away from his hometown to enjoy it.
With this invitation, Yahweh began a new and special relationship with this man and, through him, with humankind. With his move in response to Yahweh’s calling, Abraham broke with Olympianity and began a new and special relationship with Yahweh: the one true god of freedom, truth, love, and vitality. We may call this new era the Age of Yahwism.
Yahweh renewed this invitation with Abraham’s descendants. They renewed their acceptance of it by also moving away from the Olympian beliefs and practices of surrounding societies and cultures.
Even after the beginning of the Age of Yahwism, Olympianity still remained the universal religious context. Almost everyone still remained loyal to its six false yet conventional gods. But Abraham, and those who followed him, became witnesses, at their best, to a very different god by practicing a very different way of living.
We may call this age the Age of Yahwism because Abraham and his descendants embodied the most significant new religious movement since the fall of Adam and Eve and Yahweh remained the source, center, and goal of it.
Copyright © 2013 by Steven Farsaci.
All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.
All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.
