RELIGION, AND ITS EFFECTS ON MAN'S SIRITUAL GROWTH

Religion is a set of ordinances, beliefs, systems, rules, traditions, behavioural attitudes, ethics, and moral codes, organised to ensure strict adherence to its tenets and geared towards the worship of the preference of a "higher" being or force. It seeks to govern its followers with strict rules, which no compliance commands dire consequences. It also emphasises the role of effort and sacrifice on the part of the devotee. Religion can be pure and undefiled and holy. It can also be a yoke that binds and controls the behavioural patterns of its adherents. With a quick scan of the world's systems and peoples, one would discover a plethora of different religions and their tenets of worship. The object of worship can range from inanimate objects to animate ones like trees, stones, humans, ancestors, or intangibles like seasons, et al. It has been said that Christianity is not a religion but a way of life because its rules of engagement are at variance with that of every other religion. The Christian faith has, at its core, the finished work of Christ at the cross of Calvary. It emphasises a relationship based on trust and total dependence on what has been done, unlike every other religion, whose main thrust is in the "doing", recognising the effort and rituals on the part of the worshipper. It insists that to be accepted or qualified for anything, the worshipper must be willing to adhere to laid down rules. It is why most religions emphasise repetition as the once and for all sacrifice of the Christian belief is too easy. In other words, the more arduous or demanding the efforts are, the more efficacious they are believed to be.