well.. the jews wandered the desert... kicking ass and writing it all down. as witness we have the old testament. christianity evangelized the conquered nations and pretty much forced everyone to accept the beliefs of the conquering force. islam was similar. mohammed kinda rolled into town with an army and everyone was like "i believe that guy"

Well, Judaism didn't really catch on until it evolved into Christianity; and Christianity didn't really take hold until Emperor Constantine declared it the official religion of the Roman empire. Islam became popular because the Arabs were feeling left out -- Mohammed gave them the chance to claim that one of their own was a prophet of God, and that their guy had the final word on what Allah wanted for humanity.

I think it's because these religions got their beliefs written down so it was easier to proliferate.

Hindus still have a billion followers. This is inspite of the fact that the Hindu homeland, India, was once largely ruled by Muslim invaders for centuries, followed by two centuries of Christian British rule. So it appears that the proliferation of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism simply replaced religions with weaker followings.

Heey Everyone, I would just like to say that i have no hard feelings for any Religion as everyone is free on earth to do,think and say whatever he wants. But, as an Arab i wanna say that the 3 main religions Judaism, Christianity and islam are extention to eachother regarding the History flow and time.. The 3 religions are about almost the same ideas and principles, managing the Human Behaviour on earth and beleving that we are the Lord Creatures. The 3 religions could make it up to now coz they r true and based on solid ground, prophets,and deep principles of God. I only have 1 thing that i have to say, Islam didnt came all of a sudden it was an extention for Christianity,as Christanity came as normal extention for Judaism..Islam didnt spread by force and Arabs back then at thses ages werent left behind as some of u replied, we were v.progressed concerning arts and science and this is all registered in books. And Muhammed wasnt a sultan nor a king, he was a deser inhabitant from a good family and coul touch the arabs hearts and minds so that they followed him... Hope that these words didnt bother and it was small explaination of what i read Also, Muhammed didnt force people to belive in him by soard, otherwise everyone could of abandon Islam after his death..

First they are all interconnected. Second, the jewish prophesies in the Old Testament came true in Jesus Christ(the Jewish Messaiah) who by the way did things no man of any other religion ever did. And if anyone ever did why did the news of these people ever spread? Islam is the interesting one....it started in the late 7th century with a view that Christ was merely a prophet and not the Messiah, they strongly deniy the trinity so on and so forth. In the end just an early cult that took off like so many even in the modern day. So in the end the reason for these religions replacing the pagan religions of old is becase they are interconnected by similar beliefs and mainly Jesus Christ who was man's way of meeting God.

I don't think you can link the three Abrahamic relgions together in a discussion of how they spread, for their spreads were entirely different. Firstly, Judaism was a largely localised religion. It was centred on Israel. The Jews were not concerned with expansion politically, because they only needed to hold the Land God had promised them, Israel. Judaism did not actively evangelise- to be a Jew you had to be born one, and so did not make much of an impact on the nations around them, conversion wise. Most Jews outside Israel were there because of business (they were traders) or they were there because they had been taken as slaves (Babylonia). There are a few exceptions to this, where local rulers of some of the Arab tribes converted to Judaism, the chief usually taking a Jewish woman as a wife to cement the bloodline (Jewish blood traditionally goes through the woman in later Judaism). This also happened in some tribes on the edge of the Persian empire eg the Khazars. Islam, if you look at its history, was spread by the sword and politics from its inception. Read Wikpedia: "Economically uprooted and with no available profession besides that of arms, the Muslim migrants turned to raiding Meccan caravans for their livelihood, thus initiating armed conflict between the Muslims and Mecca.[92][93][94][95] Muhammad delivered Qur'anic verses permitting the Muslims to fight the Meccans (see Qur'an 22:39–40).[96] These attacks provoked and pressured Mecca by interfering with trade, and allowed the Muslims to acquire wealth, power and prestige while working toward their ultimate goal of inducing Mecca's submission to the new faith.[97][98] In March of 624, Muhammad led some three hundred warriors in a raid on a Meccan merchant caravan. The Muslims set an ambush for the Meccans at Badr.[99] Aware of the plan, the Meccan caravan eluded Muslims. Meanwhile a force from Mecca was sent to protect the caravan. The force did not return home upon hearing that the caravan was safe. The battle of Badr began in March of 624.[100] Though outnumbered more than three to one, the Muslims won the battle, killing at least forty-five Meccans and taking seventy prisoners for ransom; only fourteen Muslims died. They had also succeeded in killing many of the Meccan leaders, including Abu Jahl.[101] " Spread of Islam throughout the now Muslim world was also largely by either the sword or political clout. Certainly the conversion of Java and Sumatera, from Hinduism and Buddhism, took place at the time the Mughal Empire dominated in India. (Contrast this with the acceptance of the former religions in this region at the time when Indian empires of the particular religion dominated the trade routes of SEA. India's religion always radically affected what went on in island SEA, for obvious reasons) Christianity was different. For the first four centuries of its existence, it was heavily persecuted and was largely underground. It was only in the early 300s that it was given some backing by the Emperor Constantine,( who, nevertheless, did not officially accept Christianity until his deathbed, when he was baptised). One can only presume that it was something about the beliefs and the strength of those beliefs that led to its rapid spread and acceptance by large numbers of people within the Roman Empire, without having any political or martial influence.

"BTW, the Emperor was not baptised until his deathbed! " True. 24 years after he legalized Christianity. And really, all he did was legalize Christianity and stop the persecution of its adherents. Christianity didn't become the "state religion" until almost 70 years later, under Theodosius.

The leaders of old times used the threat of death to all who would not convert to the 3 religions. Theses leaders set up their days of religious worship on days that would attract Pagans to hopefully gain members though familiarity. I really wonder why the leaders back then converted to these newer religions, or why there was such a strong following of people to pressure them into converting. I really think it has to do with control.

Well Christianity absorbed the pagan religions. Their traditions, their gods sometimes, slowly taking over. There is also the Romans wiping out a lot of the people who practices the various Pagan religions.

The one true God of Abraham. (answers both questions) An interesting sidenote: The word Pagan is defined as anyone who does not believe in the God of Abraham. Feel free to look it up. With love in Christ.

good question, I dont know the answer, but they are no different in many ways...........

As mentioned earlier here Judaism didn't really catch on but nearly vanished, until it evolved into Christianity, and Christianity didn't really take hold until the weight of the Romans empire came to bare. Islam and Christianity are similar in their expansion, when installing control over a land conquest; it was common practice to enforce your own religious doctrines upon the vanquished. If your armies god was just destroyed by another armies god, guess which god was now yours. Mohammed knew this very well, and practiced a little trick he stole from the Jews, annihilation of the men folk, or some other savagery in the name of his god. This would basically put out a clear message to his enemies, namely my gods harder than your god.

Well, each one of those religions was considered pagan at one time. Times change, beliefs change. Some religions make it, others don't. A big thing that those three had was one god, and a nicely written down set of rules. Simple in concept. Being a species that likes the quick route, those three seemed pretty good.

swords and spears and lots of gold

Well if we continue to learn and evolve intellectually, eventually the 'major' religions will fade and become ancient religions.

christendom, not christianity (there is a difference)islam and judaism have so much in common with the pagan religions of old. why practice paganism if this is exactly what these three have become now for centuries. christendom and islam for example have so much more in common as far as doctrines are concerned it is sad that they do not get along better. they are far from being the religions that the true God of the heavens only approves of. he only approves of one. i know this will anger most that read this, the truth is never easy to accept. i do not wish to get into a battle of words, i only know what the inspire word of God says. whoever wishes to refute this, i will not answer. the truth is out there being sounded off day and night.

The pagans did it for free.

Christianity, because paganism was entirely about success and glory in this world, and offered no solace - also because Christian exorcists were a lot more effective than pagan ones. (Laugh all you like, but all the sources confirm that. Even today, Christian missionaries to remote primitive peoples win far more converts through excorcism and "power encounters" with their local spirits than they do with the good news of redemption from sin.) Islam, however, converted the heathan by the sword: "Submit or die!" -- at least in the early centuries, particularly under Mohammed and the first 4 Caliphs.

I think it's a question of being in the right place at the right time, to be honest. Religions are constantly evolving, and swapping. Lots of them are dead, like ancient Greek mythology. We all think Scientology's mental now, but who knows? In 500 years maybe it'll be the predominant Western religion!! :O

I think that it was at least partly due to chance.If history had been slightly different, I suspect that none of these religions would be so well known or widespread. Firstly, Judaism could easily have been destroyed if the Ancient Assyrians had captured Jerusalem when they invaded Judah in around 701BC.If the Jewish elite had been killed or enslaved, then Judaism would have died out and Christianity or Islam would never have existed. Secondly, if Constantine had not converted to Christianity, then Christianity would probably remained a minor religion like Judaism. Thirdly, if the Romans and Persians had not so weakened their empires in a devestating war, then the Muslims probably would not have been able to conquer the Middle East.Islam might have remained a minor religion in the Arabian peninsula. This is just speculation, but it seems like reasonable speculation.

I think a religion is easier to use as social control if people only have one god to worship, hence monotheism.

First there was elemental worship. IE fire is god. Then symbol worship, the sun is god. Then came personified worship. Gods were people-like. Then came killing religions, where god's would kill the enemies in time of need. Then came non-killing religions, where it's all love and peace and sh!t. Paganism was more of a killing religion than a non-killing one, so they were an evolutionary dead end, as it were.

The Pagan religions did not have followers with political and military power