These days, even to define exactly what truly is religion, is no longer as easy as it sounds.
For, this very world we are living in today is really very busy; noisy; politicized; secularized, and materialistic. Millions of people nowadays do not belong to any religion at all.
Some people, to some extent, do manage to remember and to worship god. Some do manage to find time and, at least pray to god. And, some neither worship nor pray nor even, remember nor believe in the existence of god.
Apart from all these, the life of this very material earthling world is full of known knows. It has several unknown knows. Yet, it is full of unknown unknowns.
And, if we will really pause to ponder and to reflect, we may likely come to the full know that:
“No one ever can truly understand who really is god, nor let alone appreciate god without religion ”.
So, …
what is religion ?
Ever before you ask anyone, he or she will literally or at least pretentiously appear to be on the full know of what religion is. But, if you really ask him or her to explain what is religion; definitely he or she will find it extremely very hard to define.
Well, one of the major reasons for this is because the question is not that easy to answer. Another major reason for this is the fact that there are so many different divisions and practices and systems that people often identify as religion.
And, the third major reason is the fact that it is not everything that is attributed or called religious that truly refers to god. It is not all that you see or hear people tag as religion that are concerned with moral teachings and livelihood.
Yes!
It is not everything that people identify as religion that have beliefs in resurrection and in the hereafter.
So, as you can see from here, it is not at all an easy task for anyone to quickly sum all religions up into one single complete and acceptable definition.
But, despite its difficulties in definition, people the world over do not, and can never stop defining religion. What often happen in most cases is, at least, any person that attempts to define what is religion, will particularly give a definition of his or her own religion.
Hence, to many people, there is no single definition that can exactly and acceptably sum up the meaning of religion. But, in whichever way that a person defines religion, his or her own definition can, at least tell people something about religion, and or probably draw them nearer to some understanding of what is meant by religion.
For instance:
• Longman’s active study dictionary defined religion as:
“ a particular system of belief in one or more gods, especially the belief that he / she / they made the world and can control it “.
• Online encyclopedia britannica of 2006 explained religion as:
“ human beings’ relation to that which they regard as holy, sacred, spiritual and devine “.
• In the twelve-pound look of 1910, j.m. barrie has it that:
“ one’s religion is whatever he [ or she ] is most interested in “.
• As ralph waldo emerson puts it:
“ religion is to do right. It is to love. It is to serve. It is to think. It is to be humble “.
• In accordance with william james:
“ religion, whatever it is, is a man’s total reaction to life “.
• To several other theologians and philosophers religion, they say is:
“ a set of beliefs and or practices that are designed to direct people to god ”, etc, etc, etc .
In short, any compiled list of people’s definitions of what religion is can easily go on, and on, and on. And, this reminds me of a poor funny rural herdsman.
This man was eventually involved in a very fatal road accident. And without any identity, he was unconsciously rushed to a hospital. Several medical doctors and nurses in white robes surrounded and battled to save this man’s life.
So, after a few days in the hospital’s intensive care unit, the poor herdsman, luckily began to gain consciousness. The first voice he heard was:
“ please, tell us your name? “.
This man, surprisingly looked around himself lying down in a very strange place, bandaged, surrounded by a number of strange figures in white robes, asking him to give his name.
And, out of real fear, and or out of a consideration of himself as a dead person, this man ‘ sincerely ’ answered the doctors and nurses, saying:
“When i was alive, my name used to be aradu. But, now [ that i am dead ], any name you give me, i’ll accept “.
Well, this is just a very funny short story. And here, it is in fact a great lesson. But for now, let’s forget a little about the funny mr. Aradu, … or are you still laughing?
Ok !
Anyhow, there are two great lessons here from this story of aradu.
The first is:
“That religion, like aradu, is surrounded today by numerous definitions, does not mean that the right answer to what truly is religion, is really lost or that it is non-existing ”.
The second lesson here is:
“That true religion, unlike aradu, is so very sensitive and devine that it can never, in any way accept whatever name or definition that is merely given to it ”.
See !
God almighty is not in any way the author of any confusion. For the real author and owner of true religion is no other but god almighty himself.
And, it is only him, and him alone that has all the very bests of definitions of what religion truly is.
