iano writes:
... those different beliefs aren't really all that different in essence. One core thing they have in common is that mans destiny w.r.t. whatever the god in question happens to be, is in a mans own hands. And that all he need do is fulfill certain requirements the god has in order to achieve a positive position w.r.t. that god.
Which leaves man free to carry on with the rest of his life as he wishes, his god safely compartimentalised away and making a something-less-than-an-absolute call on the mans life. Compare to Christianity...
Hmm. You'll need to be more specific there, Iano. Which version of Christianity should we be comparing to? I'm pretty sure the commonality you describe among the other beliefs has been ascribed to at least some varieties of Christianity as well -- e.g. the notion of Catholic confession sounds to me like something that "leaves man free to carry on with the rest of his life as he wishes..." And the founding of the Church of England, in opposition to the Roman Catholic church, seemed to have a similar element, allowing the King of England to divorce and remarry without losing his soul or going to hell. But I must apologize -- I'm sure this is taking us way off topic.
Getting back to the OP, perhaps it would make more sense to tackle the issue of the timing. Is everyone really agreed that there could have been only "a few hundred years" between the flood and the polytheistic culture enshrined in the pyramids, or that Noah was still alive when some of the pyramids were built?
You seem to be suggesting that mankind is so horridly bad that folks can turn their backs irrevocably, even on the faith of their parents and siblings, in the blink of an eye. But fleshing out a whole population of specialized deities with their intertwined "back stories" -- not to mention coming up with a hieroglyphic writing system to set all that in stone -- that takes time, don't you think?
Edited by Otto Tellick, : fixed a silly typo
autotelic adj. (of an entity or event) having within itself the purpose of its existence or happening.
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