Worship

[Meow Mix]

If you believe in a god or gods, do you worship them?

If you worship them do you do so because they demand it or because they deserve it, or both?

I have a hard time understanding why any being would want worship. If I were a genius roboticist and created a race of sentient robots I wouldn't ask for their worship but rather hold them as my equals. I can't put myself in a god's shoes that asks for worship and get it to make sense to me... any insights?

Edit: I guess a helpful definitional question should also be included: what is worship? Is there a difference between worship and great respect? What's the deal with some religions and the bowing of knees and the feudal-esque lordship of God?

 

[xkatz]

TBH, I am kind of in the middle of figuring out worship for myself. I like the idea behind worship (being thankful for all you have and to relax the mind IMO). However, I sometimes feel it just can be a burden, but maybe that's b/c I am not taking a good approach towards it.

 

[Riverwolf]

If you believe in a god or gods, do you worship them?

Yes, but not regularly.

If you worship them do you do so because they demand it or because they deserve it, or both?

Neither. I worship God because I want to love God.

 

[Meow Mix]

I guess I just don't understand because if I could create life I would do it freely and ask for naught in return aside from them to be good to each other.

 

[ninerbuff]

Being a former catholic, many catholics worship mary and other saints as well.

 

[Riverwolf]

I guess I just don't understand because if I could create life I would do it freely and ask for naught in return aside from them to be good to each other.

Oh, I agree.

Thing is, I believe that love of God is a way to achieve God-realization/enlightenment; in fact, according to many of the Sages, it's the easiest way. One method to achieve love of God is worship.

 

[ChristineES]

You'd have to define what you think worship is. I see worship in something as simple as a quick prayer. And I don't worship God just because I have to, I want to do it. No one could make me do something I did not want to do. Even in a Church service, if I didn't really want to worship God, I would just go through the motions.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I have a hard time understanding why any being would want worship. If I were a genius roboticist and created a race of sentient robots I wouldn't ask for their worship but rather hold them as my equals. I can't put myself in a god's shoes that asks for worship and get it to make sense to me... any insights?

Maybe to understand God's point of view, you'd need to be infinitely super-awesome. Then you might see the merits of having everyone everywhere literally singing your praises.

 

[Levite]

If you believe in a god or gods, do you worship them?

Yes.

If you worship them do you do so because they demand it or because they deserve it, or both?

Both.

I have a hard time understanding why any being would want worship. If I were a genius roboticist and created a race of sentient robots I wouldn't ask for their worship but rather hold them as my equals. I can't put myself in a god's shoes that asks for worship and get it to make sense to me... any insights?

Well, a human being created a race of sentient robots isn't quite the same thing. God is worthy of worship not only because He created human beings, but because He created the entire universe, and everything within it, from nothing, and powers it with the energy of his own being. Because God is Infinite, eternal, trasncendant, immanent, omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, and utterly and essentially majestic, awesome, glorious, and sublime.

Edit: I guess a helpful definitional question should also be included: what is worship? Is there a difference between worship and great respect? What's the deal with some religions and the bowing of knees and the feudal-esque lordship of God?

It is important to note that worship (at least in Jewish thought) does not equal self-abasement, groveling, or mere begging.

Jewish Worship involves three aspects: Praise, Request, and Thanks. Praise is celebration of God's good deeds, his miraculous creation of Heaven and Earth, His kndness in freeing us from slavery in Egypt, His faithfulness in keeping promises He made to our ancestors, and His boundless generosity in establishig with us an eternal covenant. Request involves not only personal petitions, but our communal beseeching of God to help us be better people, to aid those in need of help, to help us achieve a repair and healing of the world, and that, just as He was faithful to the promises made to our furtherst ancestors, He be faithful to the promise of one day sending us the messiah. And Thanks involve not only thanks for our lives, our world, our boundless opportunities, our families and friends, and other good things we have, but for the things God does that we may not know about, that God will do for us in the future, and that God has done for our ancestors through the years.

At least for us, while worship can certainly be solemn, it is mostly joyful, a way we are glad to communicate with God, a way that gives us an opportunity to come together as a community to connect with our ancestors and descendants in a neverending cycle of gratitude for our existence, joy in our Covenant, and faithfulness to the One who has been faithful to us.

Things like bowing, or even occasional prostration, are not expressions of abjectness, they are gestures acknowledging the majesty and the grandeur of the Creator of the Universe. Images of God as king, queen, lord, father, mother, etc. are anthropomorphic metaphors, giving us concepts to which we can relate that are have a grain of similarity, in minature, to ourselves as created beings, and our relationship to the creator, protector, and reshaper of all things.

 

[blackout]

Wor'ship, WerShape... "To Shape Worth"

Gods, Goddesses, Neters, Totems, Icons,
can Stand as/Stand for things of worth
(Ideas and Ideals)
to an individual.
When we shape Our Own Self to embody
some treasured aspect/s of our favored "gods/neters/I'dolls",
we are literally "Shaping Worth" or "WerShape'ing".

What can we Shape with more precision and intent, than the Self?
...and the creations of the Self, as an extention of the Self.

"Gods" are not necessary to worship.

Only that we Shape/Cast/Form/Mold/Become
that which we hold dear/treasured/of value and worth.

I would venture to say that everyone worships.

 

[blackout]

Love the Hair!



Is that just the Cast of the lighting?...

or do you WerShape Purple too.

 

[Breathe]

Neither. I worship God because I want to love God.

As Riverwolf said. :yes:




I don't think I'd want to worship a deity who expected or demanded worship from me. Too needy.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

Worship can be in various forms.
I would suggest the least important is the bowing down in worship kind.
God does not need reminding of his own worth, what we as individuals think of God is immaterial.

The communal worship as displayed in a Church service, is more to do about the effect it has on the worshippers than any effect it might have on God. such worship draws people together and strengthens their faith and sense of community. It can be Joyful, prayerful, supportive and engender a sense of togetherness with God. This I would suggest is the main benefit of worship.

 

[Thief]

As it is written....
with every breath I breath, and every drink I drink....

 

[islam means peace]

If you believe in a god or gods, do you worship them?

Quran says in Surah Ikhlas (Holy Qur'an 112:1-4) is:
Say: He is Allah, the One and Only! Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not nor is He begotten. And there is none like unto Him.

There is only and only one GOD , we belive on him and worship him.

If you worship them do you do so because they demand it or because they deserve it, or both?

I think its both but remeber worship Allah does not give any benefit to Allah nor non worshipping give any harm , worshiping give benefits to us and non worshipping give harm to us

I have a hard time understanding why any being would want worship. If I were a genius roboticist and created a race of sentient robots I wouldn't ask for their worship but rather hold them as my equals. I can't put myself in a god's shoes that asks for worship and get it to make sense to me... any insights?

First of all No body can compare themself to Allah(GOD) , He (GOD) is a creater we humans are not? No human can create a single atom or even thing smaller then that, man has not created a single thing , he only discover it. Allah (GOD) has given power to circuits of robot and other phenomina , you only made some connections and so on , you have not created a rebod , you just discover some thing in nature and implement it

Edit: I guess a helpful definitional question should also be included: what is worship? Is there a difference between worship and great respect? What's the deal with some religions and the bowing of knees and the feudal-esque lordship of God?

[/QUOTE]

I think worship does no only mean pray and ask for help its a complete obidence , if you follow the any commandment even marrige or have childrent or a smile so someone get happy with you is worship of Allah. Its comple obidience

 

[Wotan]

"If I were a genius roboticist and created a race of sentient robots I wouldn't ask for their worship but rather hold them as my equals. I can't put myself in a god's shoes that asks for worship and get it to make sense to me... any insights?"

Are you a fan of BattleStar Galatica? Raises just this question. If we create AI and it WORKS, is just as smart and just as driven as we are - does it have a soul? Would it worship US?
Or resent us?

 

[tumbleweed41]

If you believe in a god or gods, do you worship them?

While I believe in a "God" or "Prime Mover", I do not worship it in any sense of the word.
I appreciate God, just as I appreciate my parents.
I do believe God expects or desires worship from anyone or anything.

 

[Eliot Wild]

First of all No body can compare themself to Allah(GOD) , He (GOD) is a creater we humans are not? No human can create a single atom or even thing smaller then that, man has not created a single thing , he only discover it.

I can compare myself to Allah. I believe I am better than Allah. Allah allows people to kill in his name. I am better than that. If someone were to take another's life in my name, Eliot Wild, I would denounce them. I have heard no denouncements or condemnations from Allah over the lives that have been taken in his name. As a matter of fact, Allah has been strangely silent on this and pretty much all other matters.

Plus, I can do things allah can't do. I am right now writing a response to your claims and I challenge allah to do the same or to stop me from doing so . . . will he stop me if I say he can't . . . don't let me write another word, allah . . . . nope, he can't stop me. He isn't much of a god. No offense to you personally or to your religion, I just think it is a bunch of bunk that you would claim allah is better than us when he can't even stop me from typing on my computer . . . I am typing and allah can't stop me, I am typing again and allah can't doing anything about it . . . la la la, la la laaaaaa . . . I am typing and I am singing and allah can't stop me, la la la la!!!

Finally, you are completely wrong when you say humans didn't create anything. That is a bold-faced lie. Humans have created poetry and prose, art of wondrous invention. Humans have created music and dance and so much more. Here is a work of my own creation that I have CREATED especially for allah:

Many say allah is an all-powerful dude,
but I say he isn't without trying to be rude.
I only believe that if allah's so great,
he'd show himself to us and stop all the hate.
So worship him if you'd like, as an adoring child,
but know that he can't stop the verse of Eliot Wild.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Only a narcissistic sociopath would get anything out of the "worship" of legions of vapid groupies. Then again, this seems to accurately describe many gods that people worship.

 

[Helio]

If you believe in a god or gods, do you worship them?

If you worship them do you do so because they demand it or because they deserve it, or both?

I have a hard time understanding why any being would want worship. If I were a genius roboticist and created a race of sentient robots I wouldn't ask for their worship but rather hold them as my equals. I can't put myself in a god's shoes that asks for worship and get it to make sense to me... any insights?

Edit: I guess a helpful definitional question should also be included: what is worship? Is there a difference between worship and great respect? What's the deal with some religions and the bowing of knees and the feudal-esque lordship of God?

I actually have questions of my own, for instances ...if Jesus sayd to people
''ye are Gods'' , shouldnt people be ''worshiping'' themselves??
if the bible refers to God being a spirit, how come people have such a hard time believing in God or spirits?? couldt it be that Jesus asked to be ''worshiped'' before he died??...i guess well never know untill he comes back to tell us.