Even if there is a God why do we
Worship? A personal answer.
By Odell Sneeden Hathaway, III.
Even if there is a God why do we Worship? A personal answer.Copywrite ©2008 by Odell Sneeden Hathaway, III A friend told me of the questions there child had asked of them this questions and I was so moved that I wrote the following answer Your mother told me of a question you asked her recently and it has made me think and want to get you an answer. She told me the question was that even if there is a God why should we worship him? That is a truly great question and I have been thinking about it a lot. The 1st thing that comes to mind is what is meant by worship. I know that church worship is normally what is thought of and for many people it is what is important but for many others it is much to limiting and has a tendency to try and trap God rather then worship him. Like saying to God we will do all this for you but you must be the way we say. I am not saying that there is nothing to be gained in church worship but one has to be careful and keep connected to something more important. To me worship has a very simple meaning. That is Love. The two words are interchangeable I worship my wife. I love my wife. Some might say that worship implies some thing more then love. But I do not believe in anything more then love. I know someone with a very a very deep belief in God. He has told me so on many occasions and I truly believe him when he tells me that Chuck Mangione is God. This person thinks of himself as an atheist. But he can see in one place the presents of God and is smart enough to know it and worship it. He may be joking but to me there is something very mystical in this. I think the question that you are really asking is why should I love God? In any form? That is a much harder question to answer. Especially for someone like you who God has been so cruel too. I understand that cruelness. God has been very cruel to me too and yet I still love him. Why do I love God? I can not really tell you as I am certain you can not tell me why you love your parents. If you give me a reason for loving your parents, ask your self if you’d stop loving them if that reason stopped? If the answer is yes then you never loved them in the 1st place. Love is not something that comes from the mind it is from the hart. We love simply because we love and that is all there is to it. But there are some practical reasons for loving God. 1st and most importantly is simply that it makes things easier. I know that sound strange but it truly does. My childhood was nothing like yours but it was pretty bad and there were only 2 things that got me though it (with out killing someone or my self) 1st was God and believing that there was 1 person who could when he wanted make things better. Even if he did not at least I knew he could. The 2nd thing that helped me get through my childhood was Star Trek and wanting to be like Mr. Spock. It is strange but more then Church Mr. Spock taught me to worship God. Because Spock taught me that I could take control of my own mind and emotions. That despite my problems I could learn to meditate and control my mind. From this I learned that I was something more then my mind or emotions. I started meditating when I was 13 and I have done it almost every day of my life since. There are many who will tell you that meditation is a form of worship and they are right, but it is also something else even if you do not believe in god (or love him) meditation can give you something very important. Attention, Focus, control of your self. Meditation is for the mind what lifting weights is for the body. I suggest looking for the works of Eknath Easwaran. Thank you for asking this question. I hope you will find something in my answers that is helpful. As I say it is an interesting question to me mainly because the Idea of not worshiping has never occurred to me. Even when I have been angry with God (and yes we all get angry with the ones we love it is part of how we know we love them). My Friend and Teacher Weaver taught me a long time ago that Love means all ways having to say your sorry. That it is only when we care about someone that we have to say were sorry for hurting them and it is only those we care about who can really hurt us. One of my favorite musicals is Les Misserables in it there is a wonderful line. “Too love another person is to see the face of God!” Love is the most wonderful thing there is and it is God in everything we love that is why we love it. So loving God her self simply cuts out the middle man. |
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