April 3, 2009
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Perhaps God Doesn’t Want Our Worship?
A common assumption always made about God is that as an omnipotent being who created us, He/She/It would have created us for the purpose of worship. On the surface, the reasoning seems obvious, but in my wandering thoughts recently I have started to wonder if this is really the case. For the sake of this argument, I am going to define “God” as male, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent, the traits that seem to be most commonly ascribed to God (particularly in the religious community).
First of all, why would a being so ultimately powerful want or desire worship from beings so vastly inferior to himself? Yes, he created us and loves us (using the assumptions above), but we are so much below him and our worship would seem to be meaningless. It is like a human being worshiped by an ant colony. It would be nice to have beings who worship you, but would it really do you any good? More importantly, would you even care? Religious people will argue that it is different because God created us. But if that is the case, wouldn’t it do more good to create beings that are more powerful? Wouldn’t their worship seem to be more productive and more meaningful? Perhaps we have the potential to eventually become more powerful, which would make our worship more meaningful. But again, wouldn’t it just make sense to create us like that in the first place? Even if you bring in the free will argument about how God wanted beings to voluntarily choose to worship him, why not create a being whose worship would be more effective, especially when they do it voluntarily? It certainly doesn’t seem to make sense to create us as some sort of “pet” race, bred solely for worship. Does God’s power somehow derive from our worship? That would seem to be quite a limitation, because if the beings do not worship you, you no longer have any power. If God is omniscient, then he would be able to see this potential limitation ahead of time. All of this also begs the question: if God doesn’t need our worship because it really doesn’t do any good, then would a lack of worship really make a difference, either?
It also seems quite selfish for God to expect to be worshiped. Yes, I know, God is the highest power, so he therefore has the right. But just bear with me for a second. Religious people always assume that since God is the highest power he would demand to be worshiped. They often say that we were created by God for the very purpose of worshiping him. Many even go on to say the reason we were given free will was a sort of “experiment,” as God wanting to see if we would still worship him freely rather than as automatons. God gets “more glory” that way, right? As stated in the above paragraph, God really doesn’t need our worship. So why create us to worship him if it doesn’t do him any good? Is God some insecure little kid that constantly needs our reassurance that he is a “good” god? Once again, if God is omniscient then he would know he is omnipotent and omnibenevolent, and wouldn’t need our assurances. When you combine this with the doctrine of Hell found in many religions, it really adds fuel to the fire. God already has billions of people who worship him, but he is jealous that he doesn’t have my worship. So he threatens me with Hell as a means of trying to get it. It seems similar to a scene of some spoiled kid who has all the toys in the world, yet he sees one that someone else has and wants it, and when they don’t give it to him (because it is their only one) he throws a fit and perhaps even gets violent. Does God need to learn the concept of sharing? Does God need to be grateful for what he has? Does God perhaps need some of his “toys” taken away so that he appreciates the ones he has more?
It seems to me that the most logical explanation is that religion (made by selfish people) wanted people to worship them, and they just portrayed it as worshiping a God so that people wouldn’t balk at the idea of worshiping other people. If that really was the goal, then it seems to have been accomplished quite well. You see people doing something you don’t like so you say that God doesn’t like it and they need to stop. They fear God (or you, as the case may be) so much that they stop. You and other people even go to the trouble of writing a huge book full of all these things people can’t do, and say it is the “Word of God” so that people won’t question it. Yet you portray it as a message of “love,” (an ingenious ploy, by the way) saying that God loves people but just wants them to be “pure.” It just seems to be a convenient way to get people to do what you want, and make them feel loved (or scared) so that they don’t want to leave.
Another possible explanation is the fact that a lot of religion came from the archaic idea that sacrifices needed to be made in order to “appease” the gods. You toss someone into a volcano so that it won’t erupt. You toss someone into the ocean or river with a millstone around their neck to prevent floods. You go around doing crazy dances and cutting yourself so that it will rain. Or you sacrifice a person every day just so the sun will rise the next day. One of the major problems with worshiping a god is trying to determine what that “god” wants. Since the “god” usually isn’t that forthcoming, it basically boils down to making a guess and seeing what happens. If more extreme measures seem to “appease” the god, then those extreme measures are continued. This is all based on fear, being scared that a being more powerful than you will hurt you or other people if you do not appease it. Could it be that all the religious ideas of “worshipping” God are simply a derivation of this archaic notion of fearing a perceived, supernatural, superior being? The “loving god” element could have just been another natural progression of determining what that “god” wants, thinking that the “god” may not really want us to make such extreme sacrifices and will take care of us anyway. If that is the case, the idea still has a long ways to go before it takes hold because there are still so many elements of divine retribution still present in religion.
Yes, I know it is probably sacreligious and at least borderline blasphemous for me to say such things. But this has all been on my mind lately, and I thought I’d throw it out there. I welcome feedback, positive or negative.
Comments (3)
That is why I don’t buy into the idea of a personified god (especially one like the Judeo-Christian God). He seems like an insecure prick who constantly needs his ego stroked. If you’re supposed to be omnipotent and omnipresent, why do you need to be worshipped? If it was that big of a need, this god would have created us without free will, so the worship would be guaranteed. If God really did create humans just so we could worship him, but created us with free will so that we might turn against him… well, it sort of reminds me of a Xanga blogger who writes stuff just so that people will get angry and call them names because they enjoy the drama of it all. LOL… Does that make God a masochist?
I find it difficult to discuss stuff like this sometimes because my concept of “god” is pretty different. I don’t necessarily think god has anything to do with egos and worship (which is pretty much what many of our planet’s various gods are about).
Interesting post. And you always have some interesting recommendations, too. Keep it up! It’s getting harder and harder to find good stuff to read on Xanga.
I don’t believe being worshiped is a priority of God. In the oft-quoted passage, what the Lord requires isn’t worship, it is doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with God. There are many accounts of God turning God’s back on the worship of followers because they hadn’t been acting justly and weren’t in right relationship with each other. So I don’t think worship is a demand as much as it is the natural response to coming in contact with God and noticing something about God’s character.
Instead I would argue that we are created for community — with God and with each other. Justice and mercy both describe how we are to treat others — we are to treat each other fairly (justice) and with love and grace (mercy) — both elements of relationship, we tend to be more forgiving and more selfless with those we love. And we are to walk humbly with God — not behind God, but alongside. I believe God invites us to journey together,
And when I recognize that, I feel the need to worship. Not because God needs it or requires it, but because *I* need it. God is certainly not the better for having received my worship. But I understand myself, those around me and God better when I engage in worship.
Oh, and on sacrifice. Borg and Crossan offer an interpretation I really like in their book “The Last Week.” They refer to sacrifice as the act of gift giving and meal sharing — the two things that the culture of the time used to fix relationships. An animal was given to God, part of the meat was returned to be eaten by the giver, while the rest was burned in a burnt offering, so the smell would reach God — a symbolic shared meal with the Creator. So sacrifice wasn’t an act of placing sin upon a creature that had to be killed to satisfy an angry God, instead it was a gift and shared meal to represent the continuance of a relationship. I haven’t done much research to see if this idea is supported by others (I’m guessing it is), but it was the first time sacrifice made any sense to me… for what it’s worth ;0)