A Danger to God Himself - Page 21 of 22 - A blog about living a great life without God—because, really, isn’t that where we all find ourselves? What does it even mean to “have” God in your life?

First off, let me say that worship is real. I’ve experienced it. Back when I went to church, I loved to worship God. In fact, it might have been my favorite part of the service. (The sermons were always pretty boring.) I felt a . . . yearning . . . for God when I would be caught up in worship. Caught up. That’s a good description. Reminds me of body surfing in Hawaii. Sometimes you wouldn’t time it quite right and the wave would grab you and fling you around. For a moment, you weren’t sure in which direction the surface lay and you panicked realizing you weren’t in control of the situation.

Worship’s like that. You’re engulfed. At times, there’s even a sense of panic—a taste of what it means to fear God. It is awful—in that you’re full of awe. Caught up in the wave.

Worship feels so . . . right. So fitting—as if we were made for this very thing and we’re not fully ourselves until we are engaged in it.

So I don’t think people are deluding themselves when they worship God. I think it’s a natural outcome of trying to conceive of the inconceivable. No other response seems right when we try to grasp how high and wide God is.

That said, I don’t think God really cares one way or another if we worship Him/Her/It/Them. If you pushed Him/Her/It/Them, the answer you’d get is that there was probably a better way you could be spending your time.

Saying this, I realize it runs counter to the express instruction of Jesus Christ. He was asked what the greatest commandment was and He said it was to love “the Lord they God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” Coming up a close second was loving your neighbor as yourself.

Putting God at the center of your life—that was the point of life, according to Jesus.

Jesus got it wrong. You can’t blame Him, though. What else was He supposed to say? He was a first-century devout Jew. The people who were questioning about the greatest commandment were just looking for a way to accuse him of blasphemy. He had to give the politically correct answer. He was just telling the truth, to his way of thinking.

He was wrong, though. God doesn’t care about worship.

I’d go further. I think the primary error of religion is the notion that God wants us to focus on Him/Her/It/Them. I think He/She/It/They want us to focus on one another.

I mean, God certainly isn’t vain. A self-centered God isn’t worth worshipping.

Some religious folks may say that the reason we devote ourselves to God—and lose ourselves in worship—is that it gives us perspective. It puts us in our place. We are not on the pedestal. God is. I understand the sentiment. God is awful—terrifying, even, when you think about it, even a God Of Love. The fitting reaction is to fall upon one’s face, as the Bible says.

Problem is, worship actually makes us more self-centered. After all, we have the correct God. All those others—hapless boobs—they worship false Gods. No God but God, the Muslims say, for example, by which they mean Allah. A staunch Baptist will tell you Mormons worship the devil.

Everyone says their God is the God—ergo holy wars.

It’s Jesus’ greatest commandment that causes all the religious friction in the world. I mean, no one will argue with doing good to one’s fellow man/woman. But to insist that we worship God begs the question: Whose God?

God is, well, God and, as such, is due the devotion of every heart, soul and mind on the planet. Those who think otherwise must be . . . corrected.

Why can’t religion not be about God.

Going to church to worship God on Sundays isn’t wrong. It’s understandable, but it’s unnecessary. The value of church is that it’s a community of people who care for each other.

That’s the religion I want.

Photo: Worship by Montecruz Foto https://www.flickr.com/photos/libertinus/ CCBY-SA 2.0

*****

If you liked this blog post, why not subscribe to my blog? It’s free and in return I’ll send you the first two chapters of my novel, A Danger to God Himself, for free. Click here to subscribe. Meanwhile, feel free to use the little share buttons below to share this post with your friends

All religions have scripture, the word of God funneled through specific men. Which, when you think about it, it’s an admission that God doesn’t speak to the mass of us. That is, we yearn and yearn to hear what God wants from us—but He’s silent and invisible. He says nothing. So, desperate, we cast about for someone human to give us revelation—an Oracle.

Consider the early Christians. They had no scripture, as such, just stories passed around the campfire about Jesus, which was fine. Really, there was no need for parsing theological niceties. The world was about to end. Just make sure you’re wearing clean underwear.

But, as it turns out, the world didn’t end. Jesus didn’t return—which was an embarrassment, frankly. Once they explained this all away, the early Christians set about looking for scripture. They needed the silent God to speak.

What they had were letters Paul had written to various churches, letters that are full of contradictions and half-formed theology. So they called them scripture eventually. And then the gospels were written, all influenced by the theology of Paul and each composed by and for a different Jesus community. The most popular of these gospels became scripture. Survival of the Fittest.

Ergo scripture.

But we’re no better off than we were without scripture. It’s not like scripture really solves the whole problem of Knowing God’s Will. The Bible’s often vague and confusing. Want to start a fight? Go to your local bar, expound loudly about your assuredness of What Scripture Says and watch the fur fly.

But what makes us think that the God Who Hides would suddenly open Himself up to the various authors of scripture? If He could do that, why not just reveal revelation to everyone? Why the intermediary of scripture? Just talk to us. But He doesn’t. He hides.

Ergo scripture.

And it’s all about how to please God—not really stuff we need. If God can reveal Himself to men and women, why not reveal the cure for cancer? Lord, just reveal it to one scientist! Doesn’t haven’t to be everyone. Just one guy, like when you told Paul the secrets of the Godhead. Is it really that crucial that we have correct doctrine—that we have a correct understanding of God? Is God even understandable?

Why is that so important?

We just accept the fact that God has given us doctors and scientists to ferret out the mysteries of life and death, but correct doctrine, correct doctrine is so important that He’s going to circumvent all this and speak specifically to select men and women—mostly men—who will write down what they hear and hand it off to the rest of us hapless boobs. But, ironically, scripture doesn’t solve anything, as I’ve already said. People piss and fight over correct doctrine endlessly, each citing verses, often the very same verses.

So what’s my point? Go ahead and read your scripture. But pick and choose what you’ll attend to. Use your brain. Focus more on reason than revelation. All holy books are full of gems. But you’re just as likely to encounter profound truth over a beer with a buddy—or by reading The Brothers Karamazov. Or having really good sex. Or getting high—it will be legal everywhere pretty soon. (I recommend edibles) Truth is everywhere waiting to be discovered.

Photo: Syrian refugees, one of them holding copy of the Koran, shout Islamic slogans against Assad at Boynuyogun refugee camp in Hatay province in Turkey. Syrian border March 16, 2012 by Freedom House CC BY 2.0

*****

Does God require worship?

Does God speak through scripture? Yes and no

Share this:

Share this: