Man's Spiritual Need
So man's genetic makeup drives him to satisfy these needs. Is this all there is for any man to expect while on earth? Is this earthly world the result of a cosmic accident that has created this situation for mankind? Is the reason that man is the most successful and dominant species on this planet simply that his drives to satisfy needs make him so powerful? Is death just a tool of nature to bring forward new generations of humans that can survive and thrive better than the previous generations? Is the survival of the homo sapiens species the only real scientific purpose of each man's life? Since the earliest time, there is evidence that man has been curious about whether the secular world is really just random or if there is some kind of order. Is there a Creator? If so, has the Creator ever communicated with man? Is there something this Creator or God wants from us? Despite the tremendous growth of scientific knowledge, there are no scientific answers to these questions. But man has shown a willingness to consider what is beyond scientific knowledge in order to find answers.
There is one more kind of need that must be added, which is called a spiritual need (or self-transcendental need), It is satisfied only with believing in the supernatural. Some people do not have this need at all (such as atheists), but the majority do, evidenced by the history of man's spiritual beliefs. The three great Egyptian, Greek, and Roman civilizations, spanning thousands of years, all had organized, ritualized worship of multiple idols and gods representing nature's forces and important activities in secular life. As mighty as these civilizations were in their time, they no longer exist, nor do their spiritual belief systems. Rather, there are five major organized religions today: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddism. The first three are related in that they believe there is one God who has revealed Himself to them historically. The last two do not believe in one god nor in any historical evidence that God has directly communicated with man. Judaism existed at the time of the three great civilizations but had only a small group of followers. It is called Abrahamic because the person of Abraham played a key role in the development of the faith. Christianity and Islam are also Abrahamic. The Jewish Bible contains stories about people who have interacted with God before the coming of Christ. The Christian Bible contains two parts: the New Testament which tells of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ; and the Old Testament which is the original Jewish Bible. The Christian Bible has to include the Jewish BIble because Christ grew up as a Jew, referring to many of its stories and thus validating it. The Islamic Quran comes chronologially later, rewriting the stories in the Old Testament, recognizing the existence of Jesus as a prophet but not as the Son of God, and focusing on the life and teachings of Mohammed as the most recent prophet.
