• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Why would someone acknowledge the existence of God but refuse to worship Him?

ajarntham

Member
Yep, there are other possibilities... the manufactured human product has a "on" position for following teachings and laws of God and an "off" position for failure to do so.

God gave us free will to choose between good and evil, between obeying or disobeying Him, etc.

Is it impossible to make humans with only the "on" position? Or to make them with an "off" position which they never use?

God wants us to succeed and that is why God sends Messengers to guide us on the straight path, but since not everyone follows the teachings and laws of the Messengers, some people fail. Some people might not be aware of those teachings and laws and some people might be aware of them and fail to follow them for various reasons.

I've been told many times by Christians that all people fail.
 

The Hammer

Skald
Premium Member
I like your deity better than my deity. :) Can I come to Tacoma and look him up, it is only a short drive.

My deity goes out of its way to hide from me.
In too would worship a deity if I saw he was doing something. o_O

To be fair to my deity, he is called "the most manifest of the manifest and the most hidden of the hidden" because He manifests His attributes in His Messengers, and reveals His message to His Messengers, but He hides his Essence.

No need to come up to my neck of the woods to look up the All-Father, he is the father of all afterall. And he is seen through that spark and flash of Inspiration.
 

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
I see the gods everywhere I look. The plants, the trees, the animals around me, the sky, clouds and heavens, even in my spouse. These are the signs of gods you're looking for. Life is a sign of the gods, creation is a sign of the gods.
Okay, that kind of works because I love animals and birds and all creatures, and if you saw my place you'd know how much I also like trees. :eek:

Two tiny baby raccoons just showed up on our deck with their mother, they are so cute.

Just one question; why did there need to be more than one God to create the Creation?
 

The Hammer

Skald
Premium Member
Okay, that kind of works because I love animals and birds and all creatures, and if you saw my place you'd know how much I also like trees. :eek:

Two tiny baby raccoons just showed up on our deck with their mother, they are so cute.

Just one question; why did there need to be more than one God to create the Creation?

There doesn't "need" to be more than one, anymore so then their "needs" to be One at all.
 

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
No need to come up to my neck of the woods to look up the All-Father, he is the father of all afterall. And he is seen through that spark and flash of Inspiration.
Well, I am glad to hear you see Him.... I see Him sometimes but then He goes back unto hiding.
God is kind of like the mailman who comes and goes.

Where I see God reflected most is in people, kind people like you. :)
 

TransmutingSoul

One Planet, One People, Please!
Premium Member
I understand what you are saying Tony but I do not understand why. :confused:
Obedience I understand, Love I don't.

Remember that thread I started on Baha'i Forums?
Clearly, God wants us to worship Him, but why should we?

Yet I STILL don't understand. :(

No worries, my wife knows what you are feeling towards God. :):blush:

What we can not see in this world is how suffering can be given in Love, we can only have Faith as we have been told nothing happens to us, that does not help us to develop our spiritual limbs.

No wrong or unjust deed goes unpunished in this world, so if that has been what we have faced, then we know that they will face reproccussions. Then our Love kicks in, and we ask for their forgiveness.

A big subject of course.

Regards Tony:hugehug:
 

stvdv

Veteran Member
He has sent many messengers and created a world filled with signs for people to reflect. Why would someone acknowledge His existence, but refuse to worship Him and to obey the commands He has told people to obey (or, the commands people think he has made known)?
Why would someone acknowledge the existence of God but refuse to worship Him?

That is simple question for me:
God told me, that it's crazy to worship Him, and I should not do it

Note: this was only meant for me, God might tell different things to others:D
 

night912

Well-Known Member
He has sent many messengers and created a world filled with signs for people to reflect. Why would someone acknowledge His existence, but refuse to worship Him and to obey the commands He has told people to obey (or, the commands people think he has made known)?
If you suddenly know that a different god exist, would you worship Allah and the new god?
 

blü 2

Veteran Member
Premium Member
He has sent many messengers and created a world filled with signs for people to reflect.
Perhaps [he]'s sent too many messengers? The great religions of the world include the Abrahamics, with three distinct concepts of God, the Christian Trinity being the most distinct. Hindus worship a great variety of divinities, Ganesha being the one I'd choose were I choosing. Buddhism has branches that include divinities (eg Tibetan) and branches that don't (eg the atheist varieties popular in the West). Shinto considers gods and spirits are present in all things. And so on round the world, and so on back through history.

What test can the impartial enquirer use to determine which, if any, of these is the true religion?
Why would someone acknowledge His existence, but refuse to worship Him and to obey the commands He has told people to obey (or, the commands people think he has made known)?
Well, in the bible we find acknowledgement of the god of another tribe, Chemosh (Judges 11:24), and it's accepted that each tribe will naturally worship its own god. (That changes later, after the Babylonian captivity, when Yahweh is promoted to Sole God.)

And what if the only god were Satan?
 

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
Is it impossible to make humans with only the "on" position? Or to make them with an "off" position which they never use?
If humans did not have an off-on switch, but rather only an "on" position, then they would not be free to choose between good and bad actions. In that case they would simply be God's puppets on a string. Is that what you want, to be controlled by God?
I've been told many times by Christians that all people fail.
That is because Christians believe in original sin, that we were born in sin, which is why they believe we needed Jesus to die for our sins. I do not believe any of that. I believe we were all born good, since we were made in the image of God. Then all throughout our lives, by our choosing between good and bad actions, we differentiate ourselves and build our character, which is the purpose of this life.

I believe that humans have two natures and we have to choose to act on one or the other of those natures using our free will to choose. The two natures are kind of like the off-on switch and we can and do go back and forth between them. We should strive to live according to our spiritual nature, the "on" position, although nobody is spiritual all of the time.

“In man there are two natures; his spiritual or higher nature and his material or lower nature. In one he approaches God, in the other he lives for the world alone. Signs of both these natures are to be found in men. In his material aspect he expresses untruth, cruelty and injustice; all these are the outcome of his lower nature. The attributes of his Divine nature are shown forth in love, mercy, kindness, truth and justice, one and all being expressions of his higher nature. Every good habit, every noble quality belongs to man’s spiritual nature, whereas all his imperfections and sinful actions are born of his material nature. If a man’s Divine nature dominates his human nature, we have a saint.” Paris Talks, p. 60

For context the full passage can be read here: THE TWO NATURES IN MAN
 

crossfire

LHP Mercuræn Feminist Heretic Bully ☿
Premium Member
Oh, so you mean the potential harm would be to God.

I do not believe that there is anything an omnipotent God cannot handle, and if He did not want to hear all of us praying all at once, He could turn off his cell or put some of us on hold and get back to us later. :D
I'm big on the Golden Rule--"don't do onto others what you wouldn't want others to do onto you," or "don't practice what you hate." Subjecting any being to worship would violate that golden rule for me.

As you can see, this hot weather is starting to get to me. I am a Washingtonian, so I don't like hot weather, can you ask God to turn down the temp?
I like hot weather. :D
 
Top