Do you think religions invented prophets/prophecies to compete with the...

[pr0t0ur]

...predictions of science? Maybe those wishing to control the minds of society realized the importance of the scientific method and its ability to predict....summer, winter, spring, eclipses, etc. Religion had no predictions, so turned to things like the world ending, jesus returning, etc?

how can religion predate science when things like fire, the wheel, and agriculture came LONG before superstition.

[MattM]

I think they did it to keep followers. If you tell people the world is ending and they must be a part of your religion or they will burn in an eternal fire pit, people tend to listen. Fear is the best propaganda.

[priestessyemaya]

No, I don't.
Those religious "prophecies" happened long before the hard science of today was developed as we know it.
They were people's way of understanding the world around them.