God: Narcissist or low on self esteem?

Morm

I hope I don't offend anyone since this is probably a bit blasphemous.

Here's the situation: The Lord of all creation/God/Jesus (all fictitions aside) demands from his intelligent creations that he modestly made in his own image unwavering worship and praise.

Is his inherant need for your praise a result of him being a narcissist or just kinda low on self esteem? You'd think being perfect would make you modest and creating the whole universe would make you kinda confident in your abilities. So what really is going on here?

I talked to my girlfriend about this. She's actually in training to be a youth pastor and her father is a pastor, so she's well versed in this stuff. She had to juggle the idea around, but eventually gave a rather cop-out answer and didn't really have much she could answer about it. Theologians often avoid this kind of things, I've found from personal experience, and try to dodge around the meat and potatoes of their worship and some of the finer points to it. Here's how the conversation kind of went:

Her: "You cannot God in human terms."
Me: "As a human, how else am I supposed to define him?"

I suppose she had kind of a point, I was anthropomorphizing God a little. However, if we are made in his imagine, wouldn't that impose an anthropomorphization onto him?

So, why would God need your praise, acknowledgement and worship?

Note: Try not to be assholes here guys. I'm trying to have a legit discussion about this, looking for insight to help me define this faith in the only way I can- my own terms. As a person who believes in nothing, I'm struggling to understand my girlfriends faith and what it means to her. Help me out here guys. I don't intend to believe in anything when it's over, just understand why people believe in this.
 
I'm not the most religious of folks, but I head up church once a month, and pray at school since I go to a catholic school.

However, the reason I think that people pray is either that they do not appreciate their current life enough and think that heaven will be their salvation. (granted, this is not the case for most people.)

or

They are happy with the life they have, and they think that God/Jesus is partly to thank for that. Regardless, you always hear something about religion everyday and it's just human nature that you would want to take on some of these beliefs or customs (praying for example) as long as they aren't too blasphemous.
 
Yes but your God will actively punish you for not worshipping him, by way of sending you to hell. So it is a requirement in this life, according to your faith, to heap praise upon your God. So it seems pretty clear to me that it isn't just a matter of thanking God which would be optional; you HAVE to do it.

Also keep in mind we're not talking about praying to God to ask him for things, we're talking about straight up things like saying grace (thanking God for food you payed for with your earned money) or going to church to bask in and observe his 'greatness'. Get it?
 
I'm an atheist, but I was raised as a Christian (Lutheran), so I'll try to answer this question as well as I can (from a Christian standpoint).

I think it's for our own good. He feels that someone worshipping him is less inclined to be evil, and someone that doesn't worship him isn't necessarily evil but might have more of a tendency to do evil things.

But I wondered the same thing when I was younger, and it's one of the reasons I became an atheist in the first place. You might call what I just said a "Devil's Advocate" argument, if you will. =P
 
umbarsc said:
He feels that someone worshipping him is less inclined to be evil, and someone that doesn't worship him isn't necessarily evil but might have more of a tendency to do evil things.
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That strikes me as a pretty immodest and narcissistic viewpoint for a creature of perfection to hold. Why would anyone who thinks God is the bee's knees be less inclined for evil?

You can learn the lessons from the bible without telling God how fantastic he is every day (or sunday or whatever) and be less inclined for evil, right? I honestly don't see the connection between worshipping God and being less inclined for evil on a specific level. Am I missing something here or is this on the level?

Edit: I was exposed to Protestant faith as a child, but I rejected it pretty early on.
 
That kind of stuff is in the old testament, which Jesus really left open for a broader interpretation, though he did specifically say he was the path to salvation, etc. I myself and probably a lot of modern Christians don't believe you have to worship God or go to hell. People set up institutions, not God, which is why these kinds of beliefs exist; the christians who wrote ideas like this were probably higher ups, and people in a position of power or influence tend to glorify themselves, and claiming that all non-God-worshiping people go to hell is a way of glorifying themselves for doing things right. I believe that all humans are flawed and therefore I think it's ok to challenge and question certain things in my faith. You might tell me I'm choosing what I want and I should have to believe everything, but there are no rules to reality, and when you hold beliefs in a certain religion, it's not like joining a club that has rules, it's accepting a greater reality than what we see and perceive with our senses. Life is complex, and even some pastors/priests teach that it's good to question and challenge your faith because we can't possibly know everything. Feel free to comment on this, it's a bit jumbled I know.
EDIT: headpunch sums up the broader interpretation i think we're entitled to
 
The answer to your question is neither. As a Christian, I can safely say that praise should not be treated as something that you "have to do". Rather, it should be something that you want and enjoy doing; any feelings otherwise could mean that your heart isn't quite in the right place. God doesn't "inherently need our praise". He asks for it because it actually brings him joy, not because he is egotistical. Is it too much to ask for reverence from the beings you created?
 
Headpunch said:
The answer to your question is neither. As a Christian, I can safely say that praise should not be treated as something that you "have to do". Rather, it should be something that you want and enjoy doing; any feelings otherwise could mean that your heart isn't quite in the right place. God doesn't "inherently need our praise". He asks for it because it actually brings him joy, not because he is egotistical. Is it too much to ask for reverence from the beings you created?
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But under that religious format, wouldn't you have to praise God anyways even if you don't enjoy doing it or you would go to hell?

As for me, I'm a bit of an Atheist. I really don't take it that seriously, but that's why I have to ask these questions.
 
I was never taught that non-Christians go to hell. If I was, I'd have become an atheist even sooner than I did.
 
I think it's because God kinda made everything, and he feels we should be thankful about it, so he appreciates a "hey God!" *thumbs up* every once in a while. I dunno, it's like dads... do they NEED to hear "I love you" from their little kids? No, but they like to hear it from them anyways.
 
Headpunch said:
The answer to your question is neither. As a Christian, I can safely say that praise should not be treated as something that you "have to do". Rather, it should be something that you want and enjoy doing; any feelings otherwise could mean that your heart isn't quite in the right place. God doesn't "inherently need our praise". He asks for it because it actually brings him joy, not because he is egotistical. Is it too much to ask for reverence from the beings you created?
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When it is either pray or potentially go to Hell, it essentially becomes a requirement. And while not everyone may think that way, there are several who do.

Maybe its not 'God' who is egotistical, but those he created want to impose his 'power' onto every facet of life. However, I still think there are issues with praise and other points in religion.

In response to the last part...

I don't pray to my parents at night, and I don't try to 'live in their image' either, not to a religious extent at least.
 
umbarsc said:
I was never taught that non-Christians go to hell. If I was, I'd have become an atheist even sooner than I did.
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Of course, that's how they sucker people into it. They're not always so direct about it, and sometimes they are.That's why they describe Hell as being the worst possible place imaginable and how they get people to throw money in a wicker basket every Sunday. Fear based.

I'm sorry, I'm really not trying to bring anybody down, but... c'mon.
 
What fucking century are you living in? Honestly no church teaches that anymore, no church is fear based, and 99% of churches do a lot of good things for the community, so keep arrogant asshole comments like that out of here please
 
it seems whenever people think "church" they think of those so called "christians" who believed in purgatory, and started the 17th century crusades, along with witch burnings and little boy rapings.

How can people say such terrible things about members of their own community :/

@ Trax: that's cold
 
Mr_Goodbar said:
What fucking century are you living in? Honestly no church teaches that anymore, no church is fear based, and 99% of churches do a lot of good things for the community, so keep arrogant asshole comments like that out of here please
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Staying just for you. :3

You mean you didn't expect anybody to be an asshole about such a controversial topic? What really keeps people coming back every Sunday then? >:3
 
The fact that you disagree with it does not make it uninsightful or unintelligent. The Old Testament in particular was very distasteful, remember the plagues he set upon Egypt? He was essentially using terrorist tactics to force the pharao to fulfill his demands, even killing innocent bystanders (the final plague).

Also, there was a huge obsession with sacrifices which is also very distasteful. Cain (IIRC) was frowned upon because he only gave God vegetables as an offering, but Abel was rewarded because he slaughtered a lamb as a sacrifice.
 
Something you'll never understand, unfortunately this topic is bound to get locked because these kinds of topics erupt into a flame war =/

EDIT: It is unintelligent when you don't back it up with anything, unlike your post
I guess my answer to that would be while it was rather cold and drastic to kill all the first borns, no one was killed by the previous plagues as far as I know, I guess I'd say he felt it was the only way to free the Israelites... I guess I'm not sure why he couldn't solely go after the Pharaoh, maybe it couldn't be done without direct intervention, I watched on National Geographic how the plagues actually could have happened scientifically. As for the latter, I'd call sacrifice a human ritual, not much to actually do with God, and it wasn't people, just animals.
 
B-rock said:
Staying just for you. :3

You mean you didn't expect anybody to be an asshole about such a controversial topic? What really keeps people coming back every Sunday then? >:3
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Because they are happy with their lives and feel a need to thank God?

Surely you aren't as ignorant to claim to know the intentions of every church-goer?
 
Mr_Goodbar said:
Something you'll never understand, unfortunately this topic is bound to get locked because these kinds of topics erupt into a flame war =/

EDIT: It is unintelligent when you don't back it up with anything, unlike your post
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Why bother backing it up with anything when there's no real evidence to back up the idea that God exists?

This was fun. Lets do it again sometime.
 
There is evidence that God exists, certainly not proof but evidence plenty...it takes faith to believe in God ultimately, but it's not an idea from the blue
 
Arael, the "Christians" around you cannot truly be Christians. What you are implying they do is absolutely contradictory to Scripture. I really regret how such people give us, as a whole, a bad name.
 
Headpunch said:
Arael, the "Christians" around you cannot truly be Christians. What you are implying they do is absolutely contradictory to Scripture. I really regret how such people give us, as a whole, a bad name.
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Yeah I know, those people aren't "real christians". But it doesn't change the fact that those corporations disguised as churches are considered churches by the government, so they don't pay any taxes, and do everything I've quoted in Goodbar's post. Sad, but true.
 
Mr_Goodbar said:
There is evidence that God exists, certainly not proof but evidence plenty...it takes faith to believe in God ultimately, but it's not an idea from the blue
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Instead of saying that such evidence exists how about you actually show some of it?
 
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