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Does God need to be worshipped?

Discussion in 'Free-For-All Archives' started by chekmate, Mar 1, 2002.

  1. chekmate

    chekmate Guest

    Let's assume for a moment that God does exist.

    Does God need to be worshiped? If the answer is yes, what does this say about God? If not, why do people feel the need to worship God?

    I am of the opinion that a God that needs to be worshiped has an ego problem. That scares the heck out of me, as I would not want my fate in the hands of an omnipotent egomaniac.

    So what are your beliefs? Does God need to be worshiped? If so, why? Please add anything to this discussion that you feel will bring this concept into greater clarity for all of us.

    Chekmate

    PS - I mean no disrespect to anyone - I am only trying to share my current mindset with you in the hopes of gaining a better understanding of the topic. If I offend, by all means let me know and I will make right...
     
  2. Grace

    Grace New Member

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    How's this? WE need to worship God. He is Holy, Just, and Righteous. Is there a good reason NOT to worship the One who loved us enough to give His only "Little Boy" to die before we lived?
     
  3. Don

    Don Well-Known Member
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    Chekmate, just a heads up: This thread will probably be moved pretty quickly. This is the "Baptists Only" section, which means this thread will probably be moved down to the "All Others" section.

    It's not a slam on you or anything, it's just the web master and the moderators trying to keep a certain amount of order and "file organization" on the message board.

    Now, in answer to your question: Do you need to be loved? Whether you believe it or not, the answer is "yes." Now apply that to your question.
     
  4. chekmate

    chekmate Guest

    Sorry... I missed where it said Baptists only. Hope it gets moved.
     
  5. KeeperOfMyHome

    KeeperOfMyHome New Member

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    Don makes a good point. We all need to be loved and appreciated! Now, as for God "needing" to be worshipped . . .

    I prefer to look at it from the point of view of God wanting to be worshipped. Our worship of Him is simply appreciation and showing our thanksgiving for being given life and for His wonderful creation.

    When you do some kindness for someone, do you not appreciate a thankful attitude and a few nice words from the heart?

    Julia
     
  6. KeeperOfMyHome

    KeeperOfMyHome New Member

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    BTW, worship is sort of like respect. You don't demand it . . . you command it. ;)

    Julia
     
  7. chekmate

    chekmate Guest

    When you say though that god doesn't so much need D to be worshipped, and he wants it, you are implying that he is unfullfilled. For something to become fullfilled it needs something. In this case, your love and worship.

    And as I say, "a god in need is no god indeed"
     
  8. Barnabas H.

    Barnabas H. <b>Oldtimer</b>

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    Checkmate, your thread was transferred here to the Free For All forums since by your own admission your are an atheist (among other things). :(

    I found your displayed name a bit unusual for I play chess myself and to my knowledge your fist move can never be checkmate - unless you implying that your questions will checkmate the audience? But that would be a lot of assumption on your part. ;)

    BTW, your question is non-sequitur. Since you deny God, you cannot know anything about Him, so why would you even hypothesize the possibility of worship? Unless you are trying to play word games and psychoanalyze each sentence people will respond to your thread. Your question appears to me a baited one. We had been warned by one of our Moderator's to look out for something like this, so I'd like to ask you to keep your reactions to the subsequent posts honorable. Thank you. [​IMG]
     
  9. chekmate

    chekmate Guest

    I don't mean to bait anyone here. It's just that I was once a Christian, and I am just posing some of the questions that helped me to decide what was for me. If somebody here can come up with better answers then I did, perhaps you could make me reconsider my decision to become an atheist.
     
  10. poikilotherm

    poikilotherm New Member

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    This would be an interesting idea, if G-d were human. G-d isn't human, therefore, in the last analysis, the argument is irrelevant.

    I think the problem is that, while anthropomorphisation sometimes gives insight, it can't be followed too far, and always must be acknowleged as anthropomorphisation, and nothing more. Its fun, but not substantial.
     
  11. poikilotherm

    poikilotherm New Member

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    Let me get this straight:

    You once believed in an eternal omnipotent G-d. Then you analysed His psychology as though He was human. You then decided that it was reasonable for an eternal omnipotent being to have a human psychology. Based in part on that decision, you decided further that such a being did not exist.

    I confess I have rarely seen a more addled line of reasoning.

    [ March 01, 2002, 01:54 PM: Message edited by: poikilotherm ]
     
  12. jasonW*

    jasonW* New Member

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    Judging from the questions you have posted on other sections of the board, you are trying to bait people. AND, if you truly were a Christian at some point, you did not try too hard to defend your belief or you would have come across many answers to the questions you have posted.

    Regardless, you have not shown a great deal of knowledge or understanding of faith in general.

    If you wish to post some serious questions, wish to truly discuss God and Jesus, please feel free, otherwise, please just go away.

    jason
     
  13. chekmate

    chekmate Guest

    It's not that I was questioning his psychology, it's that I was questoining his existance. I questioned my environment, and my surroundings. My education, and the possibility of there being a "god". The risks vs. rewards. And I didn't have to defend my faith. I was not questioned by another person. I questioned myself. I thought "hey, this isn't right!" I delved into my "soul" and gave it some good hard thought. Then I arrived at my decision. It's unfair of you to accuse me of having a lack of faith. I had faith, and it led me nowhere but in circles.

    And if the answers to these quesitions that I have posted were ever answered with any difinitiveness, to my satisfaction, I would have changed my mind. But as that has yet to happen, I maintain my belief, or lack thereof of any omnipotent being.
     
  14. poikilotherm

    poikilotherm New Member

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    But you are/were doing so by questioning His psychology. It doesn't make sense of the face of it. You got a definitive answer: your question is irrelevant.

    With regards to the rest I think its necessary to question, and go where questioning leads you. But at the same time, drawing conclusions from nonsensical premises is kinda, well, nonsensical.

    I never questioned your faith. I just question your rationale.

    [ March 01, 2002, 02:49 PM: Message edited by: poikilotherm ]
     
  15. chekmate

    chekmate Guest

    wasn't you who questioned my faith, it was JasonW.
     
  16. KeeperOfMyHome

    KeeperOfMyHome New Member

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    Chekmate,

    You do realize, don't you, that God doesn't need any of us, but He did create you and I for fellowship?

    You do realize, don't you, that God didn't create the heavens and the Earth out of need, but He created it for us?

    If God has any need, it is a need to love us. However, I doubt seriously that He has needs in the sense that we think of them.

    Then, again, as Barnabas pointed out, why do you care if you don't even believe in Him?

    Julia
     
  17. post-it

    post-it <img src=/post-it.jpg>

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    You start your argument based on no premises that are found in the Bible. Please show us, in context, where it states that God NEEDS us to worship him. Then we can take your argument to task. As of now, you have made no argument against our beliefs.

    Just as you may worship your wife and children, we choose to worship God first. One worships that which he loves and wants to demonstrate such love.
    I feel God even worships us in that way. Each person worships in different ways, and at different times, people worship God in different ways at different times.

    You don't worship your wife and children for what the act of worship will reward you with, you worship them because the act bonds you to them, it feels good, it builds the relationship, they deserve the worship. These are some of the reason we choose to worship God.

    [ March 03, 2002, 11:52 PM: Message edited by: post-it ]
     
  18. post-it

    post-it <img src=/post-it.jpg>

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    We are also "instructed" to worship God and Jesus. And since we believe in the Bible, we accept the instruction from the Bible.

    Now let me turn the argument around.
    As just explained, we do what the Bible instructs us to do because we believe the Bible. If the Bible had been written by man without God's inspiration, it should have given us some sort of bad advice.

    Even your Scientist and Doctors you hold so dear and so high on a pedestal have given us horrible advice. Advice that has killed many, drugs that have caused great harm, pills that addict, cigarettes that poison. Yet you will find no such bad advice in God's word. And please don't use the trite example of drinking poison in Mark, that was an example of the power of belief not of daily intake for nourishment.

    Medical Advice seems to changes every 5 years 180 degrees, yet God's word doesn't, because it doesn't have to, it's perfect.
     
  19. chekmate

    chekmate Guest

    :rolleyes: Apparently Human Sacrifice is OK:

    Gen.22:2
    And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

    Ex.22:29
    Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me.

    Lev.27: 28-29
    No devoted thing, that a man shall devote unto the LORD of all that he hath, both of man and beast ... shall be sold or redeemed: every devoted thing is most holy unto the LORD. None devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be redeemed; but shall surely be put to death.

    Num.31:25-29
    And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation: And divide the prey into two parts; between them that took the war upon them, who went out to battle, and between all the congregation: And levy a tribute unto the Lord of the men of war which went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep: Take it of their half, and give it unto Eleazar the priest, for an heave offering of the LORD.

    2 Sam.21:1, 8-9, 14
    Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.... The king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul ... And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD....And after that God was intreated for the land.

    Jg.11:29-40
    Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah.... And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering. So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD delivered them into his hands.... And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child.... And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back. And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth.... And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed.

    1 Kg.13:2
    And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee.

    2 Kg.23:20
    And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burned men's bones upon them.

    So, god never gives bad advice? :confused:

    (edited for spacing)

    [ March 04, 2002, 09:00 AM: Message edited by: chekmate ]
     
  20. Mike McK

    Mike McK New Member

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    God doesn't need to be worshiped. He deserves to be worshiped.

    Mike
     
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