01-20-2011, 06:11 AM
The Religions, as the institutions they've become, were formed around the message given.
The person or group that initially offered the message and gave teachings did so in humble service, with the intention of giving truth and a code of conduct conducive to increasing the spirituality of man. Also, this would include instruction on practical matters -- it's often forgotten that these practical instructions, such as not eating shellfish, are dependent on the circumstances. Today the cleanliness of pigs in not such a huge consideration in eating them, 5000 years ago this was not the case.
This usually gets distortded into a rigid moral code.
After some time, the person is deified, the combination of the two result in a consideration that the institution (along with the specific moral code) is divinely ordained, when that's not necessarily the case.
The person or group that initially offered the message and gave teachings did so in humble service, with the intention of giving truth and a code of conduct conducive to increasing the spirituality of man. Also, this would include instruction on practical matters -- it's often forgotten that these practical instructions, such as not eating shellfish, are dependent on the circumstances. Today the cleanliness of pigs in not such a huge consideration in eating them, 5000 years ago this was not the case.
This usually gets distortded into a rigid moral code.
After some time, the person is deified, the combination of the two result in a consideration that the institution (along with the specific moral code) is divinely ordained, when that's not necessarily the case.