Ichthus77

Since worshipping humans, not to mention things existing in nature or carved by humans, or beings of the imagination which don’t even exist, would be a sign of – “off”ness – why worship God? Why isn’t the desire to worship itself a universal sign of “off”ness?

What is worship? Where does the desire/need to worship come from (weakness of character – sheep mentality?)? What inside us motivates us to worship someone/something? Has God ever stopped us from worshipping Him (has He ever said that the desire to worship Him is “off”?), or from worshipping Him in a certain way that He considered “off” (and then showed us an acceptable way?)?

I don’t think there is a conflict of interest (all by itself) in believing “exactly what soothes your existential worries and offers a validating meaning in the meaninglessness” if you take out the part about meaninglessness. I mean — if you automatically rule out as untrue anything that would soothe your existential worries, yadda yadda yadda — if you automatically rule out the possibility of meaning — isn’t that a conflict of interest (in more ways than one)?

Adopted children seek their biological parents to answer the question “How am I supposed to be?” We seek out our spiritual Creator (in whatever way ‘filling the void’ manifests, be it space exploration, Buddhism, or going straight to the source: God) to answer the same question, on a higher level. To say we can give spiritual birth to ourselves (“phoenix rising from the ashes”) is as practical as saying we can give natural birth to ourselves. He is that which completes us, He is the missing piece of the puzzle.

Reverential respect and admiration at it’s highest form is worship. The person or object you show the most respect and admiration is the person or object you worship (think really quick: who is that person in your life?). That person should be the person most worthy of respect and admiration, who has the most influence on you and most challenges you: God. You show respect in the same ways you show someone that you like or love them. How you honor humans by showing them reverential respect and admiration, and how you ask them for help, and all other forms of discourse with them, differs from how you communicate with an invisible God (free from social pretense).

The way we have worshipped has changed over the ages. God set up many ways of worship for the purpose of distinguishing Himself from the false gods and detestable ways of worshipping them. People are humbled and feel a need to worship when faced with the presence of God, and He has given us acceptable ways of doing so. If you are really interested, read the Old Testament. Hebrews and Romans are good New Testament sources for how things have changed since the Old Testament. John 15:15

I think one of the best ways to worship God is to follow His command to love eachother.

For a long time I have wondered “Why is there only one way to heaven?” I lost faith over questions like that. I walked away and became an atheist – I stopped asking “which way” and started asserting “death is just a sleep from which we never wake up”. I thought I would never have faith again, but I was wrong. He found me. The amazing things He did in my life were enough to “tide me over” – and once the old unanswered questions began to wash up on the shore once more – He began to answer them.

You don’t learn the contents of a book by osmosis. You have to read it. You don’t get to know your Mom… your best friend… your dog… by getting to know a tree or a rock or a statue – or a book about somebody else. The best way to get to know a person is by spending some time with them – not some person who, for example, has an intimate knowledge of their media persona. A good start, if you’ve never even met a person and you want to get to know them, is by reading their autobiography, how they have affected the world, what they’ve had to say to the world. That way, when you go to meet them for the first time, you’ll be able to recognize them (and be equipped with good talking points!). You don’t want second-hand rumors, you don’t want best guesses – that is, IF you want the truth, and IF you want to get to know them deeply (as deeply as He wants you to know Him – and that’s ‘deepest’). If you don’t want to know – you are nearly a phantom already, dying from apathy – but God can save you yet.

The way I see it, being that God exists and is revealing Himself to man, then every religion/philosophy except (if any) one is just giving their best guess about the way things are. (Before I was saved, I would have said every last one of them is just making stuff up.) God found me and led me back to where we left off (my bookmark was in James chapter 2, by the way…)… and I’ll never leave His side again.