When Was Religion Invented?

Genesis 1, Job 38, Romans 2:14-15, Romans 14:10-12, 2 Corinthians 5:10

Watch on YouTube

When did religion really start? It’s a big question that many people have. There is been religion in human culture for as long as human history has existed. You go to every human culture in history and you find the same thing. There’s some form of religion. So we wonder where did it come from?

People throughout human history have observed certain pieces of evidence that lead them to ask certain questions, and religion has sought to answer those questions. Some of the evidence that all human beings have is the observable world. They see the world around them, and they see how complex it is, how the plants and the animals and the sun and the rain and all of the weather, all of it works harmoniously, as if it was designed to be that way.

We also think about how complicated those organisms are, whether plants or animals or even human beings. And it leads us to the conclusion that something must have made us because we’re so complex, we couldn’t have just came about by chance. And so throughout human history, people have been trying to solve this problem or answer this question where did we come from? Or where did the world come from? And the answer is found in religion. And so religions trying to provide that answer.

Another question that people have is wondering about the sense of right and wrong that you can observe in every human being. You go to every human culture throughout human history, and you see that there is a code of behavior of right and wrong. Where did that come from? And so many people have, over the millennia, been trying to explain that in terms of religion. Well, God placed that on people. He told them that in their hearts and gave them the sense that it is wrong to murder, that it’s wrong to steal. And so religion has come to explain that as well.

Another big thing that human beings have observed throughout millennia is that we all die, too. And so they asked that big question, well, what happens when you die? And so religion has also sought to answer that question as well.

You know, for myself, obviously I’m a Christian pastor. And so I believe that religion was created by God himself, the one who made heavens and earth. He revealed himself to mankind at the creation, and he has continued to reveal himself, I believe, through His Word, the Bible, as well. And God has provided some incredible answers to those big questions that human beings have had throughout millennia.

He’s answered who the true God is. Well, it’s a God that’s greater than the creation. He’s greater than just an ordinary human being, or an animal, or the sun, or even a statue. He’s something outside of it all, something that made it all. (Genesis 1, Job 38)

And God also has provided the answer concerning why we have the sense of right and wrong, that he’s the one that’s placed it on our hearts, and he also is a God of right and wrong, and has a standard of the way that he wants us to live in this life as well. (Romans 2:14-15)

Christianity has also provided the answer to what happens to when you die. The Bible tells us that after we die, we will stand before that God of Justice, (Romans 14:10-12) on the final day, and we must account for what we have done in our bodies on this earth. Whether we have done things that are good or things that are evil, and that God will bring us to justice on that final day. (2 Corinthians 5:10)

But the big thing that Christianity especially reveals and especially provides comfort for us, that there is a way for us to make it through that judgment. You know, we think about Judgment Day and standing before God, who’s perfect in every way. Isn’t he going to find a few faults with us? Is God really going to accept us, or is he going to say, well, you’re going to have to suffer for that sin and that sin and that sin as his justice is carried out on us? Certainly none of us believe that we’re perfect. The God in the Bible has also told us, he’s revealed that he has sent someone to solve the problem of your sin and of your evil. And that person is His Son, Jesus Christ, who is true God from all eternity. He sent him to live a perfect and holy life in your place, to follow all of his rules, his commands absolutely, 100% perfectly for you and to ultimately give that perfect life in your place at a cross where he suffered the punishment that your sins, your evil deserves. And he’s taken it all away because his Son has paid the price for you.

And now he tells us that by believing in Jesus, we have nothing to fear. We don’t need to fear that God in his wrath is going to send us to hell for eternity. We don’t have to fear what is going to happen when we die, but instead, because of Jesus, we can have peace right now knowing we are right with God, knowing that we are forgiven because of His Son, and knowing with confidence that we are going to be with him forever in heaven. Amen.