Why does God want to be “worshipped” with songs and kneeling, etc.? What kind of personality is it that wants worship? And wouldn’t He get tired of it after a few years?
Why do religious people feel that God wants to be worshipped? I guess there are services prescribed in Leviticus or someplace, especially the cattle that are supposed to be sacrificed, but did Jesus say we should go to church and worship? And why should the Absolute be loved?
Does He want love? How theology account for a God that does worse things than any Hitler or horrible sadistic maniac abuser? If it is to teach us lessons, we have to ask would a human beat a dog to death to teach it a lesson or train it? Would a human even beat a dog at all to train it unless he was an HSM? (Horrible Sadistic Maniac). Are people religious because of the Stockholm Syndrome of siding with one’s captors in the hope that they won’t do any worse?
Do theologians say we worship God because of awe? But why don’t atheists or anybody else worship Nature or the Universe, which is awesome?
I think he’s probably very insecure. I mean, he was all by himself for at least a week, and then had to make his own friends…
Well, atheists don’t worship anything. Agnostics don’t worship anything in particular, but admit that there’s a higher power.
Most Pagan religions (primarily Wicca andDruidism) do worship nature. What I don’t get is why do the Fundies insist that this is inspired by Satan? What’s wrong with worshipping (what they beleive is) the creative masterpiece of God?
I dont’ think He so much wants to be worshiped as to start a debate. A Great Debate, so to speak.
Ummmm actually, check this thread for a discussion of the what differentiates an agnostic and an athiest. Even with everyone trying to define the views of everyone else, I don’t see anyone saying that agnostics admit there’s a higher power.
The dictionary definition: “a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and prob. unknowable; broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god.” makes no mention of 'admitting there is a higher power."
In fact, the entire idea of agnosticism is that we cannot know whether God, or any sort of ‘higher power’ exists or not.
blessedwolf said,
“What’s wrong with worshipping (what they beleive is) the creative masterpiece of God?”
I think you are supposed to worship the Creator, not the created.
I’ll try to help you out with this from a Christian point of view. I’ll admit that I’ve struggled some with that in the past. A lot of people praise God simply because they feel that it is a demand of His, something that He requires and they therefore must do. I think that there is a lot more to praise than this. In fact, I think there must be more to worship than this. God is does not long for us to worship Him like “a vain woman who wants compliments.” Rather, He longs for us to find our joy in Him, and praise is the natural overflow of delight. The world is full of praise: we praise the ones we love, praise our favorite pastimes, or praise a the excellence of a good author. If we praise these things that delight us, these things that have value in our lives, does it not make sense that the Christian praises that which is supremely valuable to him and brings the most perfect delight? Worship should stem from the heart, from a sense of love and joy and knowledge that He is worthy.
That’s a lot of questions, but it reminds me of something author Karen Armstrong said when being critical of the way most of the Western world worships:
Paraphrased, “We spend all of this time singing songs, talking, telling God how great he is. Don’t you think he knows this already? But we spend hardly any time listening.”
Yer pal,
Satan
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Well, I’ll give you the (Orthodox) Jewish perspective on prayer:
The short answer is that prayer is beneficial for us, and is not at all necessary for G-d.
Prayer falls into basically two categories: making requests, and talking about how great G-d is (included in this second one is the sub-category of thanking G-d for things we have; that thanks is really just an expression of his greatness).
What is the point of verbalizing requests, if, as we religious folks believe, G-d knows everything? (and, since at least we Orthodox Jews believe G-d has no physical self, it would be kind of pointless to think that the sound-vibrations we make are detected in some way that our thoughts can’t be) The answer is that when we verbalize our requests, we have a better understanding for ourselves of what we’re really asking for. It give us pause to think about what’s really important to us. Thoughts come and go fleetingly; desire is easily mistaken for need. When we are forced to verbalize, we are forced to hear exactly what we are asking for and to decide whether or not it’s something we really want and/or need.
So what about the other category of prayer? That provides the necessary context for our requests. It does this in two ways: 1) It makes the point that G-d is the one who is most in a position to grant those requests, as he is omnipotent, and 2) It humbles us so that when we make those requests, we do not take lightly the fact that we are talking to G-d. Granted, he can do anything, and granted, we can ask for anything, but by what right do we expect those requests to be granted? Only when seeing ourselves in the proper perspective do we make our requests with the necessary attitude of awe and humility. And by verbalizing these, it gives us the best context in which to verbalize the requests, as above.
I worship gods Who are the Universe (as well as us), not its creators. The general term for this is pantheism, which for me is in the context of Wicca.
God doesn’t give a damn about the nonsense. it’s the morons in authority playing the religious power games that want to use God for their purposes. of course you can’t use God, only his name.
how does that line go?
Thou shalt not use the name of the lord thy God in vain.
and it has a higher priority than murder. hmmmm!
Dal Timgar
Worship (Webster Collegiate, edited): 1) A person of importantance - used as a title by various officials. 2) reverance offered a divine being or supernatural power 3) a form of religious practice with its creed and ritual 4) extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem
- obviously doesn’t apply
- Nature is by definition natural, so 2 doesn’t apply
- Practicing a nature religion gets you Wicca (or various other nature based religions). Haven’t run across too many agnostics or atheists real big on religious creed and ritual.
- Some atheist/agnotistic probably worship nature or the universe by this definition (i.e. belong to the Sierra Club;)) . I get hung up on the extravagant qualifier myself.
Oh, I do worship good chocolate. And I let my husband think I worship him.
I think you can build a good case that god really, really likes to hear how good he is. Isn’t their a passage in the bible that mentions that he has several circles of the different classes of angels around him at all time, all singing his praise endlessly? This is constant and forever, as god cant get bored (can he? or would that make him less than all powerful?).
Its all signing praise, sitting at tables and being blinded by the light in heaven. Give me fiery, sulpherous pits anyday.