Does God Suffer From Vanity? All deeply religious people feel compelled to pray to God and to worship Him. The question arises, why? If we are to worship Him, the implication is that He wishes to be worshipped. However, is this really the case? According to many religions, God created man in His own image. And we know that men who wish or demand to be worshipped are vain, conceited and, quite probably, have an inferiority complex. According to the Seven Deadly Sins, vanity is synonymous with pride, and is the one sin from which all others arise: http://www.deadlysins.com/sins/index.htm Why, then, would we infer that God wishes to be praised and worshipped as only our vain and shallow human counterparts are apt to do? Is it because we are held to a different standard? And if that were the case, then why would we hold ourselves to a higher standard than God Himself? If we truly honored Him and looked up to Him then we would not likely feel the need to constantly attend to feeding His assumed need for attention and devotion at every turn as if He were a misbehaved and spoiled child. By constantly praying to God or worshipping him, we are essentially placating him as if He were an unfortunate child with special needs. Depending on how you look at it, it can actually come across as condescending and patronizing. In summary, how is it that we have somehow, implicitly or otherwise, ascribed to God that very attribute which we most deplore in the people around us?
In another thread, I mentioned that I believe our "God" was an alien high school teenager who was spoiled and undisciplined. Our universe was the result of an accident in his high school lab. According to the Old Testament, God not only demanded that He be worshiped. He was strongly jealous, impulsive, and didn't value human lives. It is quite possible that the Old Testament was more a reflection of the human nature at the time when it was written rather than the true God. However, I think that the Bible is quite consistent on the character of God.
Since the bible was written by man it should come as no surprise that man would ascribe human conditions and emotions to God. To then conclude that God would have human emotions is a sign of spiritual adolescence. Using this argument as some type of evidence that God exists, or not, has no merit and simply demonstrates a lack of understanding specific to the real question, does God exist at all?
Fair enough. But the fundamentalists want us to believe that the Bible is the word of God. Are you saying that they're wrong?
I am an atheist. I am just questioning the rationale of worship irrespective of whether or not God exists. Worship makes no sense to me if there is, indeed, a virtuous God. Worship suggests that you are trying to get in good with Him, like an employee who brown noses rather than works. Do worshippers believe that God is susceptible to cronyism or, rather, that he runs a meritocracy? A good boss values employee effort rather than blatant fawning and ego stroking. Why would a virtuous God, real or imagined, be less dignified or less fair than a good boss?
Yes, the fundamentalists are wrong as the word of God is unknowable to us at this stage of our development, perhaps forever. Worship is how "believers" hedge their bets. On one hand they believe in a God that has limitless compassion and forgiveness, and on the other they ascribe human emotions. Best to play it safe and show devotion through worship just in case God has our weakness. Rather silly, but we are a silly species full of contradictions.
In your atheism, you fail to see, or even try to understand. Tell me, if you want to go north, which way do you go? South? God doesn't need our worship, it is the path to reach him, it is actually a gift to be able to worship God and come close to Him in the process. So you don't want to reach him, fine by God. It is not a requirement for living, is it? It is difficult at best for a person of strong intellectual ego to admit that they need an intelligence greater than themselves, so those who have not yet been humbled don't truly understand the nature of their own vanity. Oh, and there is a destination for those who decide to go south...nice and warm, so they say...
But wouldn't an omnipotent and virtuous God find our assumption of a weakness within Him as somewhat demeaning? Not that He would necessarily strike such folks down with a lightning bolt, but I don't see how such an assumption of God's human frailties would put these people in His good graces. Underestimating people (or God) is hardly a virtue.
Did you know that you can go north by going south? The earth is round, FYI. It looks like you need to learn geography too. Never mind. I didn't know that you were a member of the Flat Earth Society.