Catholic Catechism
TYSHKEVICH
THE NEED FOR RELIGION
Religion can be seen either as a collection of truths concerning God and due reverence for Him, or as a constant inner disposition of the soul, which through these truths enlightens and controls man. In the first sense, religion contains a set of positions that we must believe in and indicates our responsibilities to God; in the second, she has us to worship God, to fear and love Him as children, to harmonize our lives with His revelation, and to faithfully keep all His commandments; in this last sense a man is said to be religious.
To solve the question: should one have a religion? - it is enough to know that God exists and that he created man. And in fact, if there is a God, the Beginning, the Cause and the Creator of all things, then He has both supreme authority and complete dominion over all that He has created, among other things, over man. Man is completely dependent on God; therefore God has the right of obedience and respect on his part. Man, as a being endowed with reason, seeing in God his Creator, Benefactor and Father, must honor the Lord, obey Him, love Him, trust Him and give Him due worship. The need for religion stems from the concept of God as Creator and therefore supreme Ruler and Ruler of man. And although God does not need our worship and worship, finding in Himself infinite perfection, it is still impossible that He does not require us to fulfill our saints in relation to Him: He is righteous and always desires what is in accordance with with truth and good; but what could be more agreeable to the truth and goodness of the obligation of creation to always honor its Creator, to love Him, to worship Him, and to thank Him? For this reason, once God created man, he gave him instructions and asked him to worship God. He gave the Revelation of the true religion to Adam and the patriarchs, his descendants, as we see from the books of Scripture.
For many centuries, people have preserved this primitive religion in all its purity. But then they began to distort it, gradually mixing with it superstitions and countless delusions, so that gradually it was almost forgotten on earth. Then God, through Moses, revealed to the people again His will concerning the worship of God; thus the "law of Moses" arises. Finally, when the religion of Moses has the same fate as the religion of the primitives and the darkness of idolatry covers, with the exception of the Jews, the whole universe, then God sends to the world His only begotten Son, Who teaches men true worship. The Christian religion is a set of truths and responsibilities that Jesus Christ teaches people while visibly remaining on earth as a God-man. This divine religion of Jesus Christ does not remove the religion of Moses, but only reveals, clarifies and improves it more, just as the law of Moses previously revealed and improved the original religion. All people are called to practice the Christian religion as the only true religion given by God.
candle. S. Tyszkiewicz CATHOLIC CATECHISM Satéshisme Satolique