True Worship​—Man-Made or Revealed by God?

ALMOST everything man knows, he has had to discover for himself.

The most basic of shreds of knowledge​—how to grow food and cook it, how to build a roof over his head—​have come only by painful trial and error. But the last century has seen man rapidly expand his horizons beyond mere domestic needs. Now he splits the atom, flies faster than the speed of sound​—even routinely sends men into outer space. Does this mean, however, that man is equally capable of figuring out for himself how best to serve God?

Not according to the writer of Psalm 143:10, who said: “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Your spirit is good; may it lead me in the land of uprightness.” The psalmist thus recognized that man, for all his know-how and ingenuity, needs divine assistance in order to learn God’s will. (Compare Jeremiah 10:23.) This would mean, however, that God must somehow reveal himself to man.

Has such a thing occurred? For millions, the Bible is evidence that such a divine revelation has already taken place. Others, however, disagree. They are so bedazzled by man’s ingenuity that they see no need for such a revelation. These ones may claim that religious knowledge is “inborn in every person” or that such knowledge “can be acquired by the use of reason” rather than “through either revelation or the teaching of any church.”

However, if this is true, it would, in effect, be up to man to invent his religion, to develop his own doctrines and moral standards. Does this seem reasonable to you? What purpose would a man-made religion serve? Would it really be able to satisfy man’s spiritual needs? (Matthew 5:3) Could it really answer the questions that truth-seeking individuals ask about God?

Let us explore these questions by taking a brief look at a religion that has tried to find God through human reasoning and philosophies​—the Hindu faith.