Religions appeared a very long time ago, but even earlier people began to believe in various deities, in the paranormal. Belief in such things and interest in life after death appeared when people became people: with their feelings, thoughts, social institutions and bitterness over the loss of loved ones.
First of all, paganism and totemism appeared, then world religions were formed, behind almost each of which there is a great creator - God in different understandings and ideas, depending on faith. Moreover, each person imagines it differently. What is God? Nobody can answer that for sure.
Let's look at why people believe in God below in the article.
What does religion give?
There are different situations in a person's life. Somebody is born into a very religious family, so he also becomes like that. And some experience loneliness or get into such random dangerous situations, after which they survive and after that they begin to believe in God. But the examples don't end there. There are many reasons and explanations why people believe in God.
The power of faith in God sometimes knows no bounds and can really be beneficial. A person receives a charge of optimism and hope when he believes, prays, etc., thathas a beneficial effect on the psyche, mood and body.
Explanation of the laws of nature and everything unknown
What is God for the people of the past? Faith then played a key role in people's lives. There were very few who were atheists. Moreover, the denial of God was condemned. Civilizations were not advanced enough to explain physical phenomena. And that is why people believed in deities responsible for various phenomena. For example, the ancient Egyptians had the air god Amon, who answered a little later for the sun; Anubis patronized the world of the dead and so on. This was not only the case in Egypt. Praising the gods was also accepted in ancient Greece, Rome, even before civilizations as such, people believed in deities.
Of course, there have been discoveries over time. They discovered that the earth is round, that there is an immense space and much more. It is worth considering that faith has nothing to do with the human mind. Many scientists, discoverers, inventors were believers.
Nevertheless, answers to some main questions have not yet been found, such as: what awaits us after death and what was before the formation of the Earth and the cosmos as a whole? There is a theory of the Big Bang, but it has not been proven whether it actually happened, what happened before it, what caused the explosion, and more. It is not known whether there is a soul, reincarnation, and so on. Exactly as it has not been proven for sure that there is an absolute and complete death. On this basis, there are a lot of disputes in the world, but this uncertainty and uncertainty cannot be put anywhere, and religions provide answers to these eternal questions.
Environment,geography
As a rule, a person born into a religious family also becomes a believer. And the geographical place of birth affects what faith he will adhere to. So, for example, Islam is widespread in the Middle East (Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, etc.) and in northern Africa (Egypt, Morocco, Libya). But Christianity, with all its branches, is widespread in almost all of Europe, North America (Catholicism and Protestantism) and in Russia (Orthodoxy). That is why in a purely Muslim country, for example, almost all of the believers are Muslims.
Geography and family usually affect whether a person becomes religious at all, but there are a number of reasons why people believe in God already at a more mature conscious age.
Loneliness
Faith in God often gives people some moral support from above. For single people, the need for this is slightly higher than for people who have loved ones. This is the reason that can affect the acquisition of faith, although before that a person could be an atheist.
Any religion has such a property that adherents feel involved in something worldly, great, sacred. It can also give confidence in the future. It is worth noting that confident people are less dependent on the need to believe than insecure people.
Hope
People can hope for different things: for the salvation of the soul, a long life, or for the cure of diseases and purification, for example. In Christianity, there are fasts and prayers. With their help, you cancreate hope that everything will be really good. It brings optimism in many situations.
Some cases
As mentioned above, a person can strongly believe in God. Often this happens after very extraordinary life events. After the loss of a loved one or illness, for example.
There are cases when people suddenly think of God when they come face to face with danger, after which they are lucky: with a wild animal, a criminal, with a wound. Faith as a guarantee that everything will be fine.
Fear of death
People are afraid of many things. Death is something that awaits everyone, but usually no one is ready for it. It happens at an unforeseen moment and makes everyone close to grieve. Someone perceives this end with optimism, but someone does not, but nevertheless it is always very uncertain. Who knows what is on the other side of life? Of course, one wants to hope for the best, and religions just give this hope.
In Christianity, for example, after death comes hell or paradise, in Buddhism - reincarnation, which is also not an absolute end. Belief in the soul implies immortality.
We have looked at some of the reasons above. Of course, we should not discard the fact that faith is causeless.
Opinion from outside
Many psychologists and scientists suggest that it doesn't matter if God really exists, but what matters is what religion gives to each person. So, for example, American professor Stephen Rice conducted an interesting study, where he askedseveral thousand believers. The survey revealed what beliefs they hold, as well as character traits, self-esteem, and much more. It turned out that, for example, peace-loving people prefer a good God (or try to see him like that), but those who think that they sin a lot, repent and worry about this, prefer a strict God in a religion where there is fear punishment for sins after death (Christianity).
The professor also believes that religion gives support, love, order, spirituality, glory. God is like a kind of invisible friend who will support in time or, on the contrary, scold, if it is necessary for a person who lacks composure and motivation in life. Of course, this all applies more to people who need to feel some kind of support under them. And religion can provide that, as well as the satisfaction of human basic feelings and needs.
But scientists from Oxford and Coventry University tried to identify the connection between religiosity and analytical/intuitive thinking. It would seem that the more analytic in a person, the higher the likelihood that he is an atheist. However, the results showed that there is no relationship between the type of thinking and religiosity. Thus, we found out that the inclination to faith in a person is determined rather by upbringing, society, environment, but is not given from birth and does not arise just like that.
Instead of a conclusion
Summarize why people believe in God. There are many reasons: to find answers to questions that cannot be answeredno answer, because they "pick up" this from their parents and the environment, to fight feelings and fear. But this is only a small part, since religion really gave a lot to humanity. Many people believed in the past, will be in the future. Many religions also mean the creation of goodness, from which you can get pleasure and peace. Between an atheist and a believer, the difference is only in the presence / absence of faith, but this does not reflect the personal qualities of a person. This is not an indicator of intelligence, kindness. And even more so does not reflect social status.
Unfortunately, scammers often profit from a person's inclination to believe in something, posing as great prophets and not only. You need to be careful and not trust dubious persons and sects, which have become very numerous lately. If you are reasonable and treat religion accordingly, then everything will be all right.
