Religion as a phenomenon inherent in human society throughout its history and covering so far the overwhelming part of the world's population, is nevertheless an area inaccessible and at least incomprehensible to very many people.
It can be viewed from two sides: from the outside, that is, as it appears to an outside observer, and from the inside, which is revealed to the believer and living in accordance with the spiritual and moral principles of this religion.
From the outside, religion is a worldview defined by a system of specific provisions, without which (or at least without one of them) it loses itself, degenerating into witchcraft, occultism, satanism, etc. All these pseudo-religious phenomena, although they contain individual elements of religion, are in reality only a product of its decay, degradation, and perversion. The universally binding truths, for example, the Christian religion, include the confession of a personal, spiritual, perfect supra mundane
Principle — God, who is the source (cause) of the existence of all that exists, including man.
Another important element inherent in religion is the belief that a person is capable of communication, union with God, and eternal life with him. This axiom of religious teaching is actually his very being. Religion itself got its name from it, for the Latin word “religion”, from which the word “religion” comes, means “to connect”, “to connect”. This connection of man with God is carried out through faith, which means not only the conviction of the existence of God, eternity, etc., but also the special character of the whole structure of life of the believer, corresponding to the dogmas and commandments of this religion. Religion is that which gives a person, subject to the rules of spiritual life, the possibility of oneness with the source of life, truth and good — God.
The indicated element is inseparable in religion from its teaching that man is fundamentally different from all other living beings, that he is a creature not only biological, but primarily a spiritual one and possesses not only a body, but also, most importantly, an immortal soul, a bearer personality, her mind, heart, will. Hence, all religions always contain a more or less developed doctrine of the afterlife, posthumous existence of man. In the Christian Revelation we find the doctrine of universal resurrection and eternal life, thanks to which earthly human life and activity acquire a new meaning.
It is in the solution of the question of soul and eternity that the spiritual orientation is most clearly revealed in every person: whether to choose faith in eternal life with the ensuing fullness of truth and moral responsibility for all his deeds, or he will stop on faith in the final and absolute law of death, before which is equally meaningless not only all ideals and all the confrontation between good and evil, truth and falsehood, beauty and ugliness, but also life itself.
There are a number of elements that characterize religion (the doctrine of the spiritual world, cult, austerities, etc.), all of them are organically and logically connected with these basic. It is also important to note that any teaching that does not contain basic truths is not religious, although it has certain elements of a cult or mysticism. A classic example is the Jewish teaching of the Sadducees, who deny the soul and eternity in full compliance with the cult of the Old Testament religion. Another example is Satanism, which does not deny the existence of God and the mystical world, but which preaches hatred of all goodness, truth, beauty, truth, is full of irreconcilable hostility to God. Obviously, neither teaching is a religion.
It is important to note that religion is not a means of special treatment of a person from diseases of the physical, nervous, mental, etc. Her goal is one — to heal him from moral and spiritual ailments (passions), which are the causes of all human troubles.
A person who is not involved in it can say very little about the inner side of religion because it would be an attempt to describe the inexpressible in his spiritual experience. If, from the outside, each religion appears as a system of dogmas, moral requirements, and certain sacraments (cults), then from the inside for a truly, not a nominally believer, it opens up the spiritual world and God, and all that infinitely diverse gamut of experiences about which to another person (although would know perfectly well the external side of religion) simply do not know anything and to which it is impossible to convey.
Thus, religion is one of the main options for the existence of a system of moral standards. It formulates absolute, true, moral commandments that a person must follow in life. Religious thinking focuses on borderline situations in life, when comfort and compassion may become more important for a person, rather than rational argumentation proving that death, for example, is a natural and necessary process.