Why Do Gods Need To Be Worshipped

[The Neo Nerd]

Why do gods need to be worshipped? (I apologise if this topic has already been discussed i did search for one)

And im talking about all gods, not just yours in particular so please don't get uppity?

I mean most gods are considered 'omnipotent' all powerful. That means they shouldn't need us in any way shape or form. But yet they still require worship from their followers.

So i've been pondering this and i've come up with some theories:

A. The gods are not all powerful but get their power from our worship.
B. The gods are narcissistic egotistical beings who require the ego strokes they get from worship.

Any other possibilities?

-Q

 

[rusra02]

Satan wanted worship. He offered Jesus "all the kingdoms of the world and their glory" for a single act of worship. Jesus refused, saying "It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service". (Matthew 4:8-10)
Many men want to be worshipped, having the same arrogant pride as Satan. Thus, the false gods worshipped, whether men or idols, are reflections of the one who sponsors them, Satan. Satan is called in the Bible the 'god of this system of things" (2 Corinthians 4:4) That is why false gods want worship, whether demons or men, arrogant pride.

In contrast to false gods, Jehovah deserves to be worshipped. True worship involves serving. One of the Hebrew words conveying the idea of worship (‛a·vadh′) basically means “serve.” (Ge 14:4; 15:13; 29:15) Serving or worshiping Jehovah requires obedience to all of his commands, doing his will as a person exclusively devoted to him. (Ex 19:5; De 30:15-20; Jos 24:14, 15) This is only right, since Jehovah created us and gave us life. (Revelation 4:11) Prayer is a part of true worship, reverent approach to the Creator. "God is Love" and wants us to love him in return. He is spoken of as humble in the Bible. King David prayed to him: “You will give me your shield of salvation, and it is your humility that makes me great.” (2 Samuel 22:36)

However, for the peace and order of the universe, Jehovah knows his intelligent creatures need to accept his Sovereignty, recognize his authority, and submit to his will. All this is a part of true worship. So the true God's motivation to be worshipped is love. Without a relationship with God, man can never fulfill his purpose in living.

 

[AlsoAnima]

-deleted-

It's the inverse. Humans need to worship Deity, it is necessary to the spiritual health of a person.

 

[The Neo Nerd]

However, for the peace and order of the universe, Jehovah knows his intelligent creatures need to accept his Sovereignty, recognize his authority, and submit to his will. All this is a part of true worship. So the true God's motivation to be worshipped is love. Without a relationship with God, man can never fulfill his purpose in living.

What purpose does this worship serve.

-Q

 

[The Neo Nerd]

It's the inverse. Humans need to worship Deity, it is necessary to the spiritual health of a person.

Opiate of the masses?

-Q

 

[T-Dawg]

It depends on what god you mean... I will share with you what I know (or think I know XD)...

My God, the Christian God, does not REQUIRE worship to survive or have power, or at least, that's what I have been told. Admittedly, I have not seen God when absolutely no one was worshipping (no matter how beaten up Christianity and Judaism got, there were still a few...). I suppose, though, that since he had the power to create the world before there was anything to worship him, he does not NEED worship. (Or was there things to worship him? Did God create other solar systems, galaxies, universes, and dimensions before creating our own? Hmm, maybe God started out with single celled creatures, and he got more power from their worship, and then he progressed to more advanced single celled creatures, and eventually to small multicellular creatures, gradually getting more advanced, eventually getting to the dinosaurs and such... after soaking up enough power from their worship, he decided he was ready to go further. However, first he had to get rid of the dinosours. Fortunately, being omniscient, he planned this out in advance - the sun was scheduled to undergo a major change in size, I think from white dwarf to yellow thingy [don't remember all the names and such XD], killing off most of his previous work. Then he proceeded to create the world as we know it in quick time, giving rise to our 7 day creation story =D. Also, since he knew he would be working with sentient beings, he made it so that inanimate objects like the rocks could worship him in case the humans ever stopped, effectively giving him unlimited power, and thus he was telling the truth when he said he was omnipotent [er, now that I think about it, did he ever say that he was omnipotent?]. Sound good? No, no, wait, that would never work, the first sentence [or was it second?] in the Bible states that the earth was a formless mass... maybe the sun melted the earth before God started working with it again?)

However, if you are refering to the pagan gods, Vishnu, Zeus, Ra, Thor, and the like, yeh, I think they need worship to have power. I personally believe that they come about entirely from human imagination - not saying that they aren't real by a long shot, I'm saying that the process of being thought up, visualized and worships brings the entity into this reality. So yes, "false gods" are real (I'm probably the only Christian who will tell you that XD). I think that's why God said only to worship him - I mean think about it, if you were God, would you want to have to deal with a bunch of other gods that are gaining power from what YOU created?
Of course, the whole idea of false gods being demons or men sponsored by Satan works too... XD

 

[Storm]

A. The gods are not all powerful but get their power from our worship.
B. The gods are narcissistic egotistical beings who require the ego strokes they get from worship.

I believe there are beings in the world who have been called Gods, and feed off of belief. So, A in many cases (though it does often seem to combine with B).

OTOH, the true God doesn't care about worship. My concept doesn't, nor do deistic or pantheistic models.

It should go without saying, but the above is, obviously according to my beliefs. I simply cannot accept that God is that petty and vain.

OTOH, some theists would argue that worship is more for our benefit, perhaps as an expression of gratitude. I don't really get that, myself.

 

[Dunemeister]

Opiate of the masses?

-Q

Dignifier of the masses.

 

[blackout]

I imagine one chooses Gods who are the ideal of what the Self would like to embody.

So it is only natural to take/express the posture or "shape" (werShape) of that god for yourSelf.
People do this in a myriad of ways including rites, expressions of the spirit, magicks/rituals,
physical postures... etc etc etc.

People who feel they are lower than their god/s will take "lower postures" (lying prostrate)
and stick things on their head, and all that naturally.
They are expressing that they are less and god is more in their very form.
Those who feel they need to ask their god for everything take the posture of a beggar. (kneeling)

These postures are taken for the sake of the Self though.
They are an embodiment of what YOU THINK your "relationship" with gOd is... or isn't.
(or what you would "like" it to be. :flirt
The Lady Nyx is MY patroness.
And Ultra is the Goddess in me. Gawd she is hawt.
Hers is the "shape" I seek to embody both inside and out.

 

[EtuMalku]

Satan wanted worship. He offered Jesus "all the kingdoms of the world and their glory" for a single act of worship. Jesus refused, saying "It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service". (Matthew 4:8-10)
Many men want to be worshipped, having the same arrogant pride as Satan. Thus, the false gods worshipped, whether men or idols, are reflections of the one who sponsors them, Satan. Satan is called in the Bible the 'god of this system of things" (2 Corinthians 4:4) That is why false gods want worship, whether demons or men, arrogant pride.

In contrast to false gods, Jehovah deserves to be worshipped. True worship involves serving. One of the Hebrew words conveying the idea of worship (‛a·vadh′) basically means “serve.” (Ge 14:4; 15:13; 29:15) Serving or worshiping Jehovah requires obedience to all of his commands, doing his will as a person exclusively devoted to him. (Ex 19:5; De 30:15-20; Jos 24:14, 15) This is only right, since Jehovah created us and gave us life. (Revelation 4:11) Prayer is a part of true worship, reverent approach to the Creator. "God is Love" and wants us to love him in return. He is spoken of as humble in the Bible. King David prayed to him: “You will give me your shield of salvation, and it is your humility that makes me great.” (2 Samuel 22:36)

However, for the peace and order of the universe, Jehovah knows his intelligent creatures need to accept his Sovereignty, recognize his authority, and submit to his will. All this is a part of true worship. So the true God's motivation to be worshipped is love. Without a relationship with God, man can never fulfill his purpose in living.

Matthew 4:8-10 (New International Version - UK)

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour.
9 All this I will give you, he said, if you will bow down and worship me.
10 Jesus said to him, Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'


This is the third temptation of Christ.
It appears that the Abrahamic God is in need of worship as much as Satan (who is not a God but an Angel)?
But IS this Abrahamic God fit for worship?

The Abrahamic Bible lists human sacrifices, rape, murder, slavery, lies, contradictions, flaws in science as well as flaws in mathematics, all in the name of its God.

 

[Bloomdido]

Don't people go to hell for worshiping false gods? Why does god let the devil exist? Is it like the USA letting terrorosts like Bin Laden still be 'on the run' so that they can get more security measures, bigger defense budgets and more countries invaded?

God lets the devil run amok so that he gets more worshipers cos they is scared of the guy downstairs stoking the eternal fires?

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

Gods do not require worship...
Man in his simplicity seeems to have the need to worship the unknown.
The God (or gods if there could be more than one) seems to not object, as being God he understand our weakness and need for reassurance..

 

[Bloomdido]

Gods do not require worship...
Man in his simplicity seeems to have the need to worship the unknown.
The God (or gods if there could be more than one) seems to not object, as being God he understand our weakness and need for reassurance..

What reassurance has he provided lately?

 

[The Neo Nerd]

The 'We need to worship gods, not the other way around' makes the most sense to me.

However if the 'gods get their power from our worship' theory is correct then would it not make sense that the gods showing themselves would increase the amount of worship. This would go for the 'egotistical god' theory as well.

-Q

 

[Azakel]

^ Maybe it's more of a Symbiotic relationship. We need each other in the long run.

 

[Storm]

Don't people go to hell for worshiping false gods? Why does god let the devil exist? Is it like the USA letting terrorosts like Bin Laden still be 'on the run' so that they can get more security measures, bigger defense budgets and more countries invaded?

God lets the devil run amok so that he gets more worshipers cos they is scared of the guy downstairs stoking the eternal fires?

Was this addressed to me?

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

What reassurance has he provided lately?

The reassureance we can expect.... and get ... is through the comfort of the holy spirit.

 

[EtuMalku]

The reassureance we can expect.... and get ... is through the comfort of the holy spirit.

The Resurrection came and went! There is no explanation for this expectancy other than 'Blind Faith' and 'Hope'.
Of which 'Hope' I can understand

 

[ManTimeForgot]

God... doesn't need to be worshipped.


And as far as "Big brother in the sky" is concerned... I like to think of "worship" in that context as more like begging your big brother to have him share his "cool toys" with you when you were a child. "OMG he's got a rocketman racer (warp drive space ship, secret to world peace, whatever); What will I have to do to get you to share your rocketman racer with me?"


Some big brothers are jackasses and demand really crazy stuff before they will share their cool toys. Some big brothers are rational and try to look out for what they perceive to be their little brother's best interest. Some big brothers are really cool and hang out with you just cuz. Worship is the same way.

MTF

 

[The Neo Nerd]

Some big brothers are jackasses and demand really crazy stuff before they will share their cool toys. Some big brothers are rational and try to look out for what they perceive to be their little brother's best interest. Some big brothers are really cool and hang out with you just cuz. Worship is the same way.

MTF

Love the analogy.

It seems you are right some gods require worship and some don't. Hmmmm i wonder if there is a corrolary between a religions need for power and the amount of worship required.

-Q