We often hear people speaking of religion in a colloquial, undefined way, but the word actually has a more specific meaning.

From various dictionaries we find some definitions of religion:

a. The word religion comes from the Latin word “ligare”: to join, or link, bind back (“religare”), classically understood to mean the linking of human and divine.

b. The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal god or gods.

c. A religion is a particular system of belief in a god or gods and the activities that are connected with this system.

From this we get that religion is a joining, a linking together or linking back of a person, to a god. If you believe in the Bible like I do, it makes it simple and clear there is only one God who were are ‘linking back’ to.

“… there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live”

(1 Corinthians 8:6, NIV)

To ‘link’ or ‘bind back’ is rather interesting. To link is fairly easy to grasp as many things or people are linked together by close association. But what about ‘bind back’? This gives the idea that there was previously a link, which was at some time broken. Now there is an opportunity to rebuild that link, to ‘bind back’.

We can read of the original link in the first book of the Bible, Genesis. After the world was created and God was pleased with it, there was an atmosphere of harmony and peace with God and all creatures, both human and animal. This was the original binding.

Sometime later, Adam and Eve broke the simple law that God had given them. In doing this, they broke the relationship between themselves and God, which had bound them together since their creation. God was no longer pleased with the situation. That wonderful link between Him and all His creation was broken. Their disobedience led to punishment. They were expelled from their beautiful surroundings in the Garden of Eden, and a curse was put on the whole earth and mankind.

God has a plan that will eventually re-link all mankind back to Him. But there’s an important condition. We have to learn to love and obey Him.

Want to know more about God’s wonderful plan? Pick up your Bible and read it!