NOM

1smartdodog's post about pleading got me thinking. That post ties into a pet peeve of mine, worship. I have issues with any being that requires worship, human or god. The types people who require worship and adulation I would consider mentally off. Respect and understanding is one thing, but demanding worship is unhealthy and belies a twisted worldview. If one believes they should be worshiped that implies they think they are so amazing that they deserve worship, which makes them better than others and can lead to them thinking they have different rules than others.

And those who do the worshiping are placing themselves below those they worship, which I think is wrong as well. Again, understanding your strengths and weaknesses is fine and seeing someone who is better at something than you, but to broadly say one being is better than another just feels incorrect.

Further evidence that the Gods of this world were created by men.

I've got no strings on me!

What if the overall message was not "come worship me", but "live in peace and harmony and make life joyous"?

The earliest religions were all about begging the gods not to kill you and elevating certain individuals to positions of wealth and power to act as intermediaries. It wasn't until the Axial Age, starting about 2500 years ago, that people started getting the notion that there might be other ways for individuals to interact with the divine. Unfortunately, modern religion still has a lot of the vengeful God/big man model in it because it's still based on texts that are all about kowtowing to God so he doesn't torture or kill you. Maybe in another 2500 years we'll finally be rid of that concept.

Mormonism is unique in that it teaches that god is not actually all powerful. He is bounded by eternal laws that theoretically lead to the statement in the BOM that "God would cease to be God" if certain conditions are not met. I used to justfy issues like this by reasoning that God would do it differently if he could, but he is bound by these laws, so this way must be the best option.

Maybe it was Cleon Skousen that got me going on this line of thinking. Anyway, it's all fiction to me now so this argument holds no water.

I do not think it is God demanding that we worship him. After all, look at Jesus' reaction when people tried to worship him. He called himself the son of man, not the son of God, and said not to call him good.

No, I think that the worship has just grown out of the begging. Call it a form of Stolkholm syndrome, but when people beg for their lives, they begin to put the powerful people who have control of their lives up on a pedestal and begin to convince themselves that the one who has control over their life is some kind of wonderful, beloved, powerful, godlike being, instead of a monster to be feared.

didyoumythme wrote: ↑Fri Sep 29, 2017 11:09 am Mormonism is unique in that it teaches that god is not actually all powerful. He is bounded by eternal laws that theoretically lead to the statement in the BOM that "God would cease to be God" if certain conditions are not met. I used to justfy issues like this by reasoning that God would do it differently if he could, but he is bound by these laws, so this way must be the best option.

Maybe it was Cleon Skousen that got me going on this line of thinking. Anyway, it's all fiction to me now so this argument holds no water.

But then Joseph started talking to Nancy Rigdon out of the other side of his mouth about "Whatever God commands (through me, Joseph ) is right.


But, after more pondering........ I can conceive and believe in an honest God, and be thankful more than worshipful. And if an honest God doesn't exist, I'm still thankful for all the events that led to me, and a life among other loving people.