Religion God Essay Research Paper A true

Religion: God Essay, Research Paper

.A true religion makes hope possible rather than despair convincing.

Religions come in all forms but essentially serve the same purpose in human.s lives. By definition, religion is .human beings. relation to that which they regard as holy, sacred, spiritual, or divine. (Webster 1). It is commonly associated with a person.s relation to God or gods or spirits. Worshiping and following religious doctrines is a main cause for followers. behaviors and a societies social mores and folkways. These basic religious elements prescribe different .moral conducts, right beliefs and participation in religious institutions. for followers to adhere to in order to fulfill their religious life (Britannica 1).

Through the ages there has been many different religions served the followers with the sense of a meaningful life and made .hope possible rather than despair convincing.. Even in prehistoric religions, archeologists have found remains from the Middle Paleolithic Period burial sites that consist of the .corpses accompanied by stone tools and parts of animal. that were laid in the burial site (Britannica 2). Some of the impressions of the corpses were buried with the tools in their hands, implying that they needed them in their after-life. This shows that even these primitive humans and societies had some concept of an after-life, which implies a primitive religion that the people of the Paleolithic Era.

Even the people of Mesopotamia practiced a religion of their own. The religious beliefs of the Sumerians and Akkdadians who were the earliest inhabitance in Mesopotamia followed a religion of their own. It consisted of deities that .tended to be localized, centering around the subsistence of the community. (Britannica 3). These deities were believed to promote .fertility of the fields, water, and flocks. (Britannica 3). These deities .took the form of the phenomenon which the deity represented. For example, the deity associated with the rain cloud was pictured as a dark, lion-headed bird hovering in the sky. (Britannica 3). Again, showing that ancient civilizations knew that there was a force greater present in the universe than just their inhabitance of the Earth.

As time continued to elapse and the sophistication of each society grew, the societies adopted more complex religions. Dating back to ancient Egypt, Egyptian religion consisted of a polytheistic faith that was .characterized by numerous deities having both animal and human forms. (Britannica 4). One of the most foremost concepts of Egyptian religion was the idea of Ma.at. .Ma.at signified the correct world order as given to man by the gods. (Britannica 4). Ma.at included .the ideas of truth, justice, and correct social behavior. (Britannica 4). This concept leads the followers to lead lifestyles adhering to ways of ancient Egypt society. Leading a good life allowed for the judging a person.s heart in accordance to how they lived their lives on Earth. After they pass their judgment, only then they can live their after-life with all the deities and kings who have passed before them. This just like the religions of past societies provide a reason and purpose for life on Earth.

Later in the chronology of time, other societies had much the same religions as the ancient Egyptians did. In ancient Greece, the concept of a polytheistic belief of gods or deities that controlled all the aspects of everyday life and natural phenomena. Some of these gods were Zeus, Aphrodite, and Hades. Zeus was the ruler of all the gods who governed over all the human inhabitants, as well as all of the gods. Aphrodite was the goddess of love that allowed humans and gods to love and fall in love. While Hades was the ruler of the underworld, being .hell. in Christian terms. The Greek religion had numerous beliefs, but .the sole requirement was to believe that the gods existed and to perform ritual and sacrifice, through which the gods received their dues. (Britannica 5). These gods served as the standards for the acceptable mores and folkways of the Greek society.

As time progressed, many of the polytheistic views of religion gave way to a monotheistic view of religion. Monotheism proposed that there is only one God ruling over all the events and phenomena of the world as well as the spiritual realm. Most of the monotheistic religions are based on the events and encounters that occurred in The Bible.

The Bible depicts many different religions and events throughout The Old Testament. The Old Testament also depicts the actions and prophecies of events to come, such as the coming of Jesus. Some religions just use the teachings of The Old Testament as the main backbone of the religion. One of these religions is Judaism.

Judaism is the religion of the Jews. It is .the complex expression of a religious and ethnic community, a way of life, as well as a set of basic beliefs and values. (Britannica 6). Jewish religion was developed from .the response of the people of Israel to the divine presence in history . . . and for mankind itself. (Britannica 6). Jewish faith helps structure .the pattern of communal and individual life. of the people (Britannica 6). The continual analysis of history resulted in the establishment of a covenant that was documented into the Jewish holy book, The Torah. The basis of the Torah was to develop .a further means by which the divine p