Worship implies slavery, I love my parents, but I do not worship him. Worship and love are mutually exclusive in my mind.
I thought these statements you made in the beginning to be very interesting, so pardon me if I go a bit off the general direction of the topic, to address them.
Here are some definitions of worship, from the Webster dictionary:
1 chiefly British : a person of importance -- used as a title for various officials (as magistrates and some mayors)
2 : reverence offered a divine being or supernatural power; also : an act of expressing such reverence
3 : a form of religious practice with its creed and ritual
4 : extravagant respect or admiration for or devotion to an object of esteem <worship of the dollar>
While slavery is not mentioned in any of these definitions, I actually agree with you that worship
can imply slavery. However, where I think you are misguided, is in thinking that you do not worship anyone or anything, because worship and love are "mutually exclusive" (this is the impression I get, reading between the lines----please inform me if I am misunderstanding you). In actuality, we all worship something (or someone). Whether we realize it or not. Humans are the only "animals" truly capable of worship. The only question is, what, or whom, do we worship? Whatever you praise or esteem greatly or devote most of your time to is what you worship. Which is why, as the example given by the dictionary states, we say some people "worship the dollar." Does this mean they are singing songs to it, or offering incense to it? Of course not. However, by making money the most important, and the most esteemed, thing in their life, they are, in effect, making an idol out of it, and worshipping it. They have become "slaves" to the dollar. I think this is pretty self-explanatory. People can worship many different things: their material possessions, their husbands/wives, their sports teams, celebrities....themselves. I do not know what you worship, but I can guarantee you, whatever you put up on a pedestal----and everyone has something----is what you worship. It's what you are a "slave" to, even if you may not think you are.
So, I disagree that worship and love are mutually exclusive. They actually go hand in hand. Whatever you
love and value and esteem greatly, you will worship. It's a natural human response. God, therefore, wants our worship to come, not out of a sense of duty----then it wouldn't even be true worship---but out of love and appreciation for Who He is. I like some quotes by C.S. Lewis that explain what true worship of God is:
"The Psalmists in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about."
"I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation."
"It is in the process of being worshipped that God communicates His presence to men."
If one truly knows God, one recognizes how worthy of worship He is, and will worship Him
voluntarily.
On a more serious note, it is rather like the way some bisexual people are treated by both heterosexuals and homosexuals. (Not all of any group, I should note.)
