God is only one

[F1fan]

Can you list this 3,600 Gods and what you know about them and why you would consider all of them as equal?

One of my favorites is the creator god of the Hawaiian Islands. It created other gods and they together made the islands.

 

[A Vestigial Mote]

God is only one. God wants us to only worship him because it was God who created us. This i believe.

Do you agree or disagree?

Disagree. My best guess is that God is only zero. I admit that it is just a guess (you should try it some time), but based on all the evidence at my disposal, this is where I am necessarily stuck.

 

[F1fan]

I do not think a psychosomatic benefit is really a benefit. In other words, if God does not exist any benefit would just be a placebo effect, and I don't see any benefit in worshiping a nonexistent entity just to feel good.

So you don't think people are motivated by "feeling good"?

PET and fMRI scans reveal that people who think religious thoughts activate their emotional and reward centers of their brains.

 

[F1fan]

Well, that's your own version of worship. So its a knowledge issue. You have a different idea. So you cannot really impose your idea you see?

Whose idea of worship should we defer to? Are you suggesting a right way to worship and other ways are wrong?

 

[F1fan]

1. Worship. Is actually veneration. You only venerate one thing. That is, "THE GOD". Not money, not your own ego, not your children, not your priests. Not humans. Nothing but God. It is a way.

And where does this veneration go if the God being worshipped is only imaginary? Isn't it fair to say that this worship reflects back on the ego of those so confident as to decide a God exists despite there being no rational justification for it?

It's a gamble, much like Pascal's. And a dangerous trap. The greed for truth.

 

[mikkel_the_dane]

Whose idea of worship should we defer to? Are you suggesting a right way to worship and other ways are wrong?

There is no we for all of humans and thus no right or wrong way in that sense.

 

[F1fan]

The Graveyard of Dead Gods
By H. L Mencken
.......
All were omnipotent, omniscient and immortal.

And all are dead!

They should have gotten vaccinated.

 

[F1fan]

Maybe a double blind study. One group is not given access to God, and the other group can pray to God and get no help and no response.

Somehow the two groups react similarly.

There have been studies of prayer.

The most famous is of three groups of hospital patients. Group 1 was prayed for and not told. Group 2 was prayed for and told. Group 3 was not prayed for. Groups 1 and 3 had the normal recovery times with no special benefits noted. Oddly Group 2 recovered less effectively. The analysis was that those prayed for did less to help themselves to aid their reconvey as they relied on God.

 

[F1fan]

There is no we for all of humans and thus no right or wrong way in that sense.

Firedragon seems to think there is. So why are theists confused and disagree about how to do proper worship IF there is only one God?

 

[PureX]

Hmmm, ... why would a God want to be worshipped? I am only a human, and I feel no need or desire to be worshipped. And even less so if I had the creative power of a God. So this need/desire to be worshipped does not make any sense to me.

The whole idea of 'worship' is very weird to me. I just don't see any purpose to it.

 

[mikkel_the_dane]

Firedragon seems to think there is. So why are theists confused and disagree about how to do proper worship IF there is only one God?

Well, the answer is because they taken their own subjectivity for granted, but that is not limited to theists. You can also find that within some worldviews among even the non-religious.
Not all people understand the answer of 42 the same in the end.

 

[metis]

God is only one. God wants us to only worship him because it was God who created us. This i believe.

Do you agree or disagree?

A bit of both.

I have come to think that God [or maybe even Gods] may be so intertwined with "Nature" [Baruch Spinoza's name for God and literally everything everywhere] that what we see all around us is what we get and what we are. Therefore, instead of just saying prayers of petition and praise, which are all fine & dandy as far as they go, most of our time maybe should be using contemplative prayers based on meditating on that which we see all around us and experiencing while focusing in on "do no harm" and realizing that "We are That".

However, this does not in any way deny God but is taking prayer to a higher level that's not based on just what we may want but based on a greater acceptance of reality and the intention of trying to make our little spot in the world at least a bit better than what it was.

Am I sure the above is correct? No.

 

[Nakosis]

If we don't know what God wants, how can we do what God wants us to do?

We must strive to know God (though our intelligence is limited, and it is difficult to understand decisions without seeing future outcomes as God does).

Maybe God has no requirements of us. Why should we assume God does?

 

[Muffled]

God is only one. God wants us to only worship him because it was God who created us. This i believe.

Do you agree or disagree?

I believe I agree; the Trinity is one God.

 

[Muffled]

I believe the abrahamic and zoroastrianist God is the true God (the same God) in my opinion.

What would be the current evidence that it is the same God?

 

[Muffled]

It's more about what not to do, and that would include things such as including intermediaries, traditions such as kissing the black stone, etc.

I believe I see it differently. Jesus said to worship in spirit and in truth.

 

[Nakosis]

Look at this thread. There are those who claim "there is no God" as if they have physical, empirical evidence to show that "there is no God". Why dont you see that as "so much for humility"? Just out of curiosity.

If they claim there is no God, sure. Most see a lack of knowledge as a lack of having a reason to believe.

Why don't I see personal "spiritual" experience as knowledge...
Personally, I have had a lot of "spiritual" experiences but I can't prove they have any actuality outside of an internal mental experience. And, having been through many different beliefs, I found by immersing myself in a belief I would have spiritual experience which support that belief. So it seems that belief is more important than any actual God.

 

[Trailblazer]

So you don't think people are motivated by "feeling good"?

Of course people are motivated by feeling good. People do all kinds of things in order to feel good, not the least of which is drinking alcohol and taking drugs, as well as recreation such as sports. Where would people be without their football games?

PET and fMRI scans reveal that people who think religious thoughts activate their emotional and reward centers of their brains.

That might be true for some people, but not for all people. To say it is true for all people would be the fallacy of hasty generalization. Most times when I think of religion I get angry. I don't feel good and I don't feel like I am being rewarded, it feels like a punishment. What always makes me feel good immediately is my cats. I love them so much but I cannot say the same for God.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

God's love is always there, we just cannot feel it unless open up our heart and let it in.

Mine has been open, but I've found nothing.

 

[firedragon]

If they claim there is no God, sure. Most see a lack of knowledge as a lack of having a reason to believe.

Why don't I see personal "spiritual" experience as knowledge...
Personally, I have had a lot of "spiritual" experiences but I can't prove they have any actuality outside of an internal mental experience. And, having been through many different beliefs, I found by immersing myself in a belief I would have spiritual experience which support that belief. So it seems that belief is more important than any actual God.

That seems like your personal view.