The most ancient monotheistic Religion - Zoroastrianism

Being a pagan, doesn't mean we have to close our mind to all the other religions that work around a single deity, in fact I think that if we want to find a religion that makes us feel better with the world around us and helps us understand the course of life or a spiritual path that makes us happy and completed some how, we really should make a long study about religions, not all of them or we would take a long time, but most of them, different religions from different cultures, knowledge is one of the most precious things we have and no one can take it from us.
Today I am going to give you friends a little bit of History, about the most ancient monotheistic religion which is still practiced today in some parts of India, however, it isn't a religion that was formed in that country. Along this post, you will find out really good ethical values and also some similarities with Christianism, but that is normal, in a lot of ancient religions both monotheistic or polytheistic, we find a lot of similarities with Christianism because in truth the Christian faith is based on a lot of ancient belief from a lot of religions.

Zoroastrianism is the most ancient monotheistic Religion still practiced today, even if it wasn't, it would probably be the most ancient one to worship a single deity. It was formed on Ancient Persia in the area which ​the ​current country of Iran is. The pantheon of the old Iranian deities was vast and the religious philosopher Zoroaster made it simple when the god of all creation appeared to him in a prophetic dream, his name was Ahura Mazda. This god was the embodiment of all the previous gods and as such, this deity should be venerated as the sole creator god, the bearer of light, bringing the total goodness in the world. Unlike the Christian god, which in fact contradicts his nature of being the all mighty but in truth there is Satan which was created by him and is the oposite and negative force and God can't destroy him, so that doesn't make him the all mighty at all, Ahura Mazda was the creator of the cosmos and the very forces of nature but not all mighty because Angra Mainyu or Ahriman. which means Prince of Darkness, existed and was the dark side of all things, an evil spirit, the evil entity. As such, both of the deities fought battles, the good agaisnt evil and both sides created other deities to aid in the fight.

Thus Zoroaster wrote the first religious book called Avesta with seventeen hymns (Gathas), a religion that believed in the immortality of the soul, while the body dies and disappears, the soul remains and is subject to trial, a final judgment after all acts committed on earth. With an ethical code, behave well, have a right conduct.
 In this religion the sacrifice of animals was forbidden, the man must respect animals because the animals are here to serve us, the animals are the source of food, such as fire, fire also should not be touched by man, and as such was prohibited, therefore cremation of bodies was also prohibited.

Later, after the creation of the Christian religion, in this same Area of ancient Persia, nowadays Iran, another similar religion but yet perfected, appeared, it was called Manichaeism, which comes from the prophet Mani. This religion was the the final revelation, this was a religion which proposed unification of all other religions, the religion of light. Yet again, this religion had a God creater of the cosmos and put it to work, a force of nature that was not all powerful because there was one negative entity in the world, an opponent called Satan (Again you can see that Christianism never stoped attaching other's beliefs to their own religion, is there something that is really genuine in Christianity? of course, but few things compared to the many other peoples beliefs that were attached to this religion). Anyway, in this religion, the eternal battle of good against evil was still on, but this faith was a was a highly individualistic religion, God didn't choose what ones life would be like, nothing in human life was governed by his will, each person chose their way, would be the bad one or the good one, but in the end it had everything to do with personal choice, the free will.

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