"...without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Romans 11:6).
I am getting through Mircea Eliade's seminal work, The Sacred and the Profane. Much like Rene Girard, Eliade makes the convincing case that historically, while Wikipedia will tell you monotheism has not always existed, humans have actually always worshipped a supreme being -- and by pleasing this God, humans always believed they could and would achieve favorability. Despite the different traditions (some involving polytheism, animalism, etc.) the internal impulses that have always existed in women and men have been towards one true God. The ways history has revealed how we have aimed to please this supreme God -- many ways barbaric, genocidal and horrifying -- is testament to this impulse.
When God was more fully revealed to humankind 2000 years or so ago, so was the only way we draw the reward of God: Through the divine, cosmic currency of Faith.
