Kinda a funny question to ask a Pagan. I suppose the question makes more sense if one's theology doesn't regard gods and reality/nature as synonymous to begin with. 
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What are People Really Worshipping?
- Thread starter Sunstone
- Start date
Vaderecta
Active Member
Ideas. They are terribly and equally both viral and powerful.
The Holy Bottom Burp
Active Member
Some theists surely believe they are worshipping an independent entity based on the personality ascribed to it by their holy book. Of course they view that entity through their own personal experiences, and will be influenced by other theists in their culture, but essentially they are believing in a fictional character who they mistakenly think exists for real, like Sherlock Holmes or Robin Hood. When I was a Christian I believed Jesus existed as something real and independent of me, and my desire was to get to know the deity. Unfortunately the bible often asks more questions than it answers about Jesus, hence the myriad opinions about what the deity is and what it wants from believers. You cant get to "know" the deity if it doesn't exist. Anyhoo, that was my answer to the question.
arthra
Baha'i
I don't presume to know what people worship...but I've had enough contact with a variety of churches, temples and synagogues to sense that we .. at least the ones I associate with are worshiping the same God. It may be from my association with an Inter-faith Council for several years that I've found this to be the case.
After studying religion to PhD level,
i tend to the perspective that all religions
are essentially the same when we get to the core teachings/beliefs. after we strip away the keepers of the word and its structure of priests ... as Richard Bach describes in his Novel ..
They all teach society to live together supporting each other with care
i tend to the perspective that all religions
are essentially the same when we get to the core teachings/beliefs. after we strip away the keepers of the word and its structure of priests ... as Richard Bach describes in his Novel ..
They all teach society to live together supporting each other with care
MJFlores
Well-Known Member
Assuming there is no God, there will be no nature, the universe. There will be no you, me and everybody. There will be no personality.
Assuming there is no God, nature, the universe are just mere accidents. Life is an accident, you are an accident, I am an accident and everybody is an accident and personality is just an accident.
But even believing that something came about started from a series of accidents from one beginning is faith by itself, isn't it? People didn't see the big bang but yet they have faith and confidence and hope it really did happen.
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
The Kilted Heathen
Crow FreyjasmaðR
Someone's really bad at hypotheticals and self-analysis.
It seems to me that even if there is a deity, many people are in fact worshipping their own attachment to certain aspects of their own mindsets, particularly fear, pride, stubborness, arrogance, cruelty and egotism.
Calling them "divine" works as enough justification for even the most abhorrent aspects of oneself in certain circles.
Calling them "divine" works as enough justification for even the most abhorrent aspects of oneself in certain circles.
Sunstone,
I have studied God's word, The Bible for well over 50 years, and I can say for a certainty that there is a God, as the Creation proves, Romans 1:18-25.
Many people believe that a person must have blind faith to believe in God, The Supreme Being. The fact is; not believing in God, after seeing His Creation, in which everything is really a miracle to mankind, is what takes blind faith. It takes much more faith to believe in evolution than God, because there is absolutely no evidence of evolution, but there are myriads of proofs of a Superior mind that created all the things we see and the things we cannot see.
The Bible alone, is a miracle, which no man could have written. About 40 writers over a period of almost 1,600 years. Then protecting His word from every generation that had people who would have loved to destroy God's words, or even be able to corrupt them, Psalms 12:6,7, Isaiah 40:8, 1Peter 1:25. Only the Bible tells us how we originated, and why we are in the terrible condition we find ourselves in, and what God will do in the very near future to bring His creation to the paradisaic condition of His original purpose.
No other so-called god even has the gall to claim what Jehovah, the only true God has done!!!
SabahTheLoner
Master of the Art of Couch Potato Cuddles
Me.
SabahTheLoner
Master of the Art of Couch Potato Cuddles
Hence one reason why I don't use the word divine. It implies some absolute perfection.
It would be more impressive if you had a more rounded and extensive education than merely having studied the bible.
One reason I am an atheist is that I realized that all prayers are simply questions to yourself. The only answers come from within and are a reflection of the person praying and not anything universal.
Kilgore Trout
Misanthropic Humanist
I expect it's a varied combination. For many people, they are worshiping a vague concept or idea. For others, they are worshiping their own projected psyche onto the unknown, and giving it a label. For many, I doubt the idea of "worship" is really substantive at all, and their worship amounts to nothing more than lip service and going through the motions.
ThePainefulTruth
Romantic-Cynic
Your question, like most atheist's questions, assumes there's only one alternative to atheism, an interactive personal God--and thus, except for a small minority, they (you?) refuse to allow for the possibility of a deist God and are as intransigent as any fundamentalist theist. I don't worship nature except as it reflects the intricate possibility of being created by a God.
What I do worship, or hold to be "holy" if you will, is Truth, and the hope that what the Truth suggests, might exist.
And, BTW, my worship of the Truth disallows a subjective morality that conforms to my personal desires. How? Most people don't realize how limited and simple in scope a reasonably deduced moral code really is. That becomes obvious once we look beyond the gods of revealed religions.
Ponder This
Well-Known Member
A false god: a deity or object of worship that is regarded as either illegitimate or non-functioning in it's authority or capability.
An idol: an image or representation of a god used as an object of worship.
Sha'irullah
رسول الآلهة
I presume in most cases it is an anthropomorphic form of ideals or nature. Notice the two primary ranges for deities which either explain nature or authorize a society's existence through politics, ethics and community. Essentially deities are ancient forms of what we call fandom. The same way we make knowledge of Batman and Spiderman worldwide to promote concepts of heroism and adventure we did the same with gods. The only difference is that there is no distinction between reality and myth in ancient worlds.
Linguists like Daniel Everett have noted that tribes like the Hi'aiti'ihi have no noticeable distinction between fiction portrayed on a television set opposes to the reality that occurs before them. Despite such a tribes pragmaticism and skeptical attitude toward life they still believe in spirits as a potential case for evil or nature. A strong sense of anthropomorphic archetypes are used in understanding their environment's fluctuations.
Us apes in the modern era understand this difference and now equate gods as real and distinct from myth and fable but this is a gross misstatement of the archaic origins of deities and religions. Skepticism toward the gods was founded during this period when gods became ever more real to man.
Linguists like Daniel Everett have noted that tribes like the Hi'aiti'ihi have no noticeable distinction between fiction portrayed on a television set opposes to the reality that occurs before them. Despite such a tribes pragmaticism and skeptical attitude toward life they still believe in spirits as a potential case for evil or nature. A strong sense of anthropomorphic archetypes are used in understanding their environment's fluctuations.
Us apes in the modern era understand this difference and now equate gods as real and distinct from myth and fable but this is a gross misstatement of the archaic origins of deities and religions. Skepticism toward the gods was founded during this period when gods became ever more real to man.
I don't think God is a projection, it's more an unattainable ideal to live by.
I think that's pretty negative, actually. For the most part, I think that "worship" is highly akin to "hope." Life is often a mystery, and often frightening -- and we are (I suspect) the only species that knows its own mortality. That seems like plenty of reason for hope, and if that hope can only be in a deity, then I can understand why people might worship.
Perhaps it's my own loss that I can't also have that hope -- but then, for reasons I also can't explain, I'm not that frightened by the notion of my own eventual non-existence.
I think it's kinda hard to generalise. The nature of gods being what they are, it seems extremely variable.
It's an interesting question though.