# What does it mean to "worship God"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 25, 2005, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-worship-god/332665 "2005-11-25T08:19:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-worship-god/332665/1 "2005-11-25T08:19:16Z")
This is a letter that I just wrote to a Catholic friar. In it, I imply that I am far more religous than is true ( I have not stepped foot in a church for years) but the sentiment of the question is still true. A few hours ago I came across the sentence “I worship Jesus” in an article. Although I have heard, read and professed such an asseveration countless time myself, for some reason it troubled me as never before. I have never quite thought of my praise and faith in God and Christ as “worship”. As never before the idea of worshiping them, or anything, felt abhorrent. It seemed to imply the sort of status formally given to royalty, wherein a such were fundamentally superior to the commoners, that because of their caste they are above any law. For example, that it would be no crime for a royal to casually kill or otherwise violate the rights of their subjects because the will of the king is law. The best I can explain my feelings of worshiping the Lord is somewhat like how one would acknowledge and praise a great man, such as an Issac Newton or Aristotle, yes they are better than I, yes they have earned a deference to their opinion, but they are not above the law. I study and follow the scriptures in the same way as I would a calculus textbook, because it is true and demonstrably correct. I worship God because I recognize that God is an entity of unerring logic and rationality. A thing is not true because God said it, 2+2 would not equal 5 if it was commanded so, God said such things because they are true. I do not see this as a limitation upon God, there is no other possibility than what is revealed. If someone says “if God in omnipotent then let’s see him make 2+2=5” they are speaking gibberish, as if they said “let’s see God wennkljrr a miufflangtl”it is a nonsensical request. I have always felt that we are somewhat equal to God. I do not deny the divinity of God or Christ, or mean to imply that we are such. I mean, for example, that God could not steal my car and not have it be a sin. Again, this is not a limitation on God, for such an act would be just as irrational as saying 2+2=5 and an entity of perfection is incapable of such things. I have thought that all evil is not so because of some capricious proclamation, but are so because they are as irrational as trying to “wennkljrr a miufflangtl”. I have seen this as one of the great proofs for the truth of Christianity, that unlike all other religions, we believe that the world is rational and perfect, not subject to whim, and that evil is only possible because we have the free will to be irrational. When I read “worship Jesus” it felt as if one should blindly and unquestioningly follow the word of God. I do not mean to commit the fallacy of “poisoning the well”, I am truly wondering whether my conclusions are false. I am greatly troubled that my beliefs are heretical and, as such dilemmas are want to do, have been kept up most of the night trying to puzzle this out. Am I overreacting? Do I have a mistaken impression of our relationship to God? ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2005, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-worship-god/332665/2 "2005-11-25T14:09:13Z")
Who are you asking? Us? Doesn’t your own faith tell you that God can and will answer your question? I see no debate here but rather an invitation for commentary. You say > [@](#): > > When I read “worship Jesus” it felt as if one should blindly and unquestioningly follow the word of God. My question has been, the word of God according to who? In a world full of people eager to tell you their version of what God thinks, likes and dislikes, commands, and wants for me, who do I go to to find out which word of God is actually the word of God and what it means? It’s easy to observe people blindly following religious leaders, doctrine, and tradition. That seems to be what Jesus said we shouldn’t do. How do we sort popular doctrine and tradition from the truth of what Jesus taught? My answer has been to choose for myself and allow others to do the same. I agree with your take on us being equal to God and Jesus rather than unworthy distant servants. Good parents want their children to grow up to be adults and peers. Even though I revere Jesus and his teaching I no longer call myself Christian because I reject most of Christianity’s popular teachings and theology. I believe what Jesus taught was that we all have equal access to the truth through the Holy Spirit {for lack of a better term} The word of God is that living spirit that will guide and teach and reveal our path as we make our choices. We were told it will guide us into all truth and the truth will make us free. It works internally under many names and guises in many different religions and in people of no religion. There is no ego equated with it, such as, you must do X, Y, or Z, in order to earn some reward. It is a matter of faith and surrender as we learn to listen and act courageously when the opportunity arises. It requires being true to yourself and allowing others to do the same. Respecting their individual journey while claiming your right to yours. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-worship-god/332665/3 "2005-11-26T21:54:12Z")
This is the response the friar sent me. > [@Franciscan Jim](#): > > Hello, Ryan, Yes, I do think you are overreacting but I can understand your reaction. It does happen as we explore rather deep issues in our live that we hit a brick wall so to speak. Let tell you one of the most common dilemmas people have even though they have believers for all their lives. Often it happens when some terrible tragedy happens to them. Imagine a family losing their only child to a drunken driver? Imagine a family whose little girl is kidnapped, raped, and murdered. And for the first time in their lives, they are angry beyond words at God. “How could God allow such a thing to happen to such an innocent person.” They would tell God, if you are going to all this to happen, then you can’t be good. I would wish you would take MY life and not the life of my little girl. You see what happens. The equation of a person’s relationship with God has been changed by this terrible and tragic new experience. The good God they always believed in and one they thanks when their little girl was born has changed in their minds (and understandably so). If God is God, almighty and all that he could have prevented this. He did not. Therefore, this God is a monster without feeling and without love. Perhaps you can see how this would happen. What they have done is “blame” God for the terrible deeds of free human beings. God created humans free that they might love; but in so doing so, humans must also have the power to hate. It is the human’s choice. God will never do violence, will never take life. He is life giver which is the story of the Gospel all the way through. But in the terrible tragedy that has happened it is natural for a parent to feel God has changed. He has not. It isjust this family has been involved in a most terrible experience of suffering to someone they would die for. So, when you say “worshipping God” may not make sense, it is because of perhaps two things. You misunderstand “worship” and you misunderstand “God.” First of all, God is creator, all good and giver of all life. God is love itself. God alone is worthy of love and worship by all his creatures. You never have to fear that “God will act like any other sinful human being.” God can’t sin; it’s not his nature to sin; it’s his nature only to love. And that is why God along is worthy of love. God DOESN’T MAKE MISTAKES. Humans do. So, God as God is worthy of your worship. You are creature, created by God out of love, but the distance between you and God is infinite. What makes us stand back in awe is that this God, all good and loving, was willing to send Jesus his son, into the world to give his life for the salvation of humanity. That’s how much God loves us and why he is worthy of worship. It is true that God cannot make a square circle since a square circle is a contradiction. But God can create a tiny infinite and he does it all the time through the love of its mother and father. You said that you fear following the word of God blindly. God does not require “blind” obedience. He requires faith, to be sure, but that faith and obedience is based on what we know of God. Remember? God is good and cannot do evil. No you are not a heretic; you are a thinker who has face just one question that people have faced all through history. God is not at all upset with you since he gave you your mind and intellect and that is what we humans do: we think, we ponder, we consider. It’s natural. But we have to think things through with more reading and quiet contemplation. So, don’t panic. Hope this helps. Fr. Jim > > Thank you for writing. Peace and all good! ---
**Author:** ![VegaBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ee7513/32.png) [@VegaBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VegaBean)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-worship-god/332665/4 "2005-11-26T22:06:12Z")
“Worshiping God” means ignoring the reality of the world you can see and hear and touch. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-worship-god/332665/5 "2005-11-26T22:09:33Z")
> [@VegaBean](#): > > “Worshiping God” means ignoring the reality of the world you can see and hear and touch. I know a great many Theists and none of them are walking in front of buses or over cliffs. ---
**Author:** ![VegaBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ee7513/32.png) [@VegaBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VegaBean)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2005, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-worship-god/332665/6 "2005-11-26T22:10:51Z")
We know different theist, then 😉 ---
**Author:** ![manwithear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@manwithear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manwithear)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2005, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-worship-god/332665/7 "2005-11-27T00:11:42Z")
To “Worship God” is to do stuff that you believe would please a supernatural being which would then in return act in your interests ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2005, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-worship-god/332665/8 "2005-11-27T00:18:21Z")
> [@VegaBean](#): > > “Worshiping God” means ignoring the reality of the world you can see and hear and touch. Care to go into depth on that? It’s different for everybody, IMHO, and I suspect part of it is what **manwithear** says 🙂 I don’t think you’ll get a universal or definite answer–just a subjective one, from each person’s point of view. Faith is a unique and individual thing. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2005, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-worship-god/332665/9 "2005-11-27T01:48:12Z")
While I find nothing wrong with the response as a metaphor I do object in that it perpetuates the concpet of God as some distant being, and we his unworthy creation. Is a person unworthy of living to his or her full potential and awakening to everthing they are and can be? To me worshiping God is a deep reverence, awe and passion for truth, love mercy, forgiveness and the discovery of our full potential in these attributes. It’s not a matter of pleasing a distant God in oreder to recieve a favorable respomse in the form of some blessing. It’s not even about fulfilling certain requirements in order to obtain salvation or eternal life. It’s about the discovery of who and what we truly are , beyond what this life teaches us. This path or journey of discovery and revelation is truly worthy of worship. Not in the I grovel before you in the understanding of my worthlessness sense, but in the dedication sense. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2005, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-worship-god/332665/10 "2005-11-27T02:29:40Z")
When I pray, I feel I am held in the loving embrace of the Goddess. There was a time when worship of a deity meant principally blood sacrifice (in the case of public and state cults) and sacred sexual intercourse. Interiorized contemplation of the presence of the deity, as I described about myself above, is the gift of the mystics, who have not always been understood by exoteric religionists. When sacrifice at the Temple in Jerusalem became impossible because the Romans had wrecked it and kicked the Jews out, Hillel rebooted the religion in terms of ethics and Torah. In all religions nowadays, the contemplative or mystical type of prayer can be found, and in many cases has advanced to being the most popular way of understanding prayer in modern religions, even if it’s only chanting mantras, e.g. Gaudiya Vaishnava or Nichiren Shoshu. Islam is different in the way a formal pattern of prayer was fixed at the beginning as the main focus of worship. The contemplative side was added to it by Sufism, but generally did not replace it.