Genesis 4:6 tells us, "To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD" (Genesis 4:26). Seth was Adam and Eve's son, so Enosh was their grandson. It was when Enosh was born that people began to identify themselves as worshipers of God. The oldest religion is worship of the One True God, Yahweh.
The Bible doesn't tell us much about how these people worshiped. We know Adam and Eve's first sons, Cain and Abel, understood that sacrifices were necessary (Genesis 4:3–4). Moses, the writer of Genesis, tells us that these people knew God's name and called upon it.
Soon, that religion was corrupted and hundreds of ways to worship were developed. When Noah appears on the scene, God's name was nearly forgotten and " … the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5). It is six more chapters, and much history, later when Abraham called on the name of the Lord and built an altar to Him (Genesis 12:8).
In Egypt, many gods were worshiped by the time Abraham arrived there (Genesis 12 and on). The Egyptian religion is the first recorded false, or pagan, religion.
Later, when Moses was born in the 15th Century before Jesus, God revealed His own name again (Exodus 3:14). God gave the Israelites the Law and required them to call upon His Name, Yahweh, and no other gods (Exodus 20:3–4). The monotheistic religion of the Israelites would have certainly stood out in the polytheistic world.
Christianity, born in the Hebrew prophesies and fulfilled in Jesus Christ, is the true and perfect expression of Judaism. The writer of Romans writes, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek" (Romans 1:16).
The Bible shows us the one true religion goes through cycles of God revealing Himself to specific people and individuals, then those people worshiping for a time before becoming reliant on themselves or others. Then, God restores the truth and the cycle continues.
Copyright 2011-2024 Got Questions Ministries - All Rights Reserved.
