Is God Narcissistic?

M

Mickmeister

Registered Senior Member
I was riding the shuttle a few weeks ago and overheard a woman preaching about God and telling another person to praise him and bring him glory. The thought popped into my head that maybe God is the ultimate narcissist. Narcissist act much the same; wanting all of the praise and attention.
 
I think this asumption and tradition of the church in praising God has been blown out of all proportion and instead of the church using their power for a greater good eg community projects etc they sing psalms each sunday and praise God in the same mundane ways. Do you really think God wants to hear the same stuff over and over again I think not. At best he might demand a certain respect for his works and him.

I do not think God is a narcissist but at the same time we should be able to express our gratitude of the gift of life (and my guess is that it gets much better after we die) in our own special ways. If singing psalms is your way of praising God than I think this is unimaginative and is of sheeplike mentality. I would think God would be much more impressed if you lit a bonfire in your garden and sang your own song about life dedicated to him You get me?
 
If the way all religions are formed around 80% praising the lord and 10% dissing other Gods and 10% charity ..then yes

But mostly I feel people in general are dumb and the moment someone gives them hope in any form they fall in line and are ready to do anything for their personal gains whether in this life or the next promised life/afterlife.

Can you believe the religion which promoted salvery in US was used to bring the same slave race in line ...and so today 98 % of all US african americans are christians... go figure
 
Heh, I think you may be right you know. "love me and me alone" and "make sure you send me a birthday card or else". If god works in mysterious ways then perhaps he needs to rethink his gameplan because it's gone from enigmatic to plain bloomin tragic. Maybe that's why all those African kids die of famine and AIDS, because it's all his magical plan for his beloved children. Can't wait for the punchline. Hope it's not going to be another one of those superfluous knock-knock jokes.
 
Mickmeister said:
The thought popped into my head that maybe God is the ultimate narcissist.
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The Hebrew God yes...which is how most westerners reference the divine.

Ancient peoples thought of religion as a kind of bartering system with the forces of nature they didnt understand.

They wanted good things from heaven...and had only goats and praise to offer in sacrifice.
 
pharaohmoan said:
I do not think God is a narcissist but at the same time we should be able to express our gratitude of the gift of life.
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Life is an extraodinary rarity in God's design.

Without medical intervention the majority of humans die before their first birthday.

Other species have it even worse, with as low as 5% surviving to maturity.
 
God created man in his own imagine and he made them just so they would glorify him. Of course he's a narcissist.
I think he is a abusive parent as well
 
Mickmeister said:
The thought popped into my head that maybe God is the ultimate narcissist.
Click to expand...

Not so, and if you feel that way, then you misunderstand the Christian God of the Bible.

The word "glorify" is used in the Bible a lot (i.e. John 16:14). But what does "glorify" mean? To glorify something or someone is to praise, joy, and delight in them. When something is useful to you you are attracted to it for what it can bring you or do for you. But if it is beautiful, then you enjoy it for simply what it is. Just being in its presences is its own reward. To glorify someone is also to serve or defer to him or her. Instead of sacrificing their interests to make yourself happy, you sacrifice your interests to make them happy. Why? Your ultimate joy is to see them in joy.

But, if the Bible says that God calls on us to glorify, praise and serve him, doesn't that make him "narcissistic"? No, it doesn't - he wants our joy. He has infinite happiness not through self-centeredness, but through self-giving, other-centered love. And the only way we can have this same joy is if we center our entire lives around him instead of ourselves.

God didn't create us to receive cosmic glorification, he created us to share in it.

Guru said:
Can you believe the religion which promoted salvery in US was used to bring the same slave race in line ...and so today 98 % of all US african americans are christians... go figure
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The African slave trade is a deep stain on Christian history no doubt, and the churches must bear responsibility along with their societies for what happened. But, it was the Christians who first came to the conclusion that it was wrong. The abolition of New World slavery was initiated and achieved by Christian activists.

Christianity's self-correcting apparatus, its critique of religiously supported acts of injustice, had asserted itself.
 
ggazoo said:
Not so, and if you feel that way, then you misunderstand the Christian God of the Bible.
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Should we rest our case on this quote. :)

My dear ggazoo - we are exactly talking about lchristian god and its variants like Allah, jehovah, ( Including the human forms - prophets) ..which the followers are more ready to serve by active recruitment by promising glorious days at some invisible god's feet after they die as believers. If they die as non believers then they have had it no matter how good their behavior was during their life time. There have been over 60 Billion people which have lived and died during this earth's life time .. I bet you if we were to believe all the religious books then 80 % of those are condemned to hell since they never heard of present day version of religion.

I would respect religion if it stopped recruitment, stopped discriminating on basis of belief, stopped spending time on prasing invisible and stopped killing and started spending resources in teaching people about environment and conservation of energy for future generations. make shelters for poor and not glorious recruitment centers.
 
the song "you better, you bet" by the who always reminds me of god.
 
Lori_7 said:
the song "you better, you bet" by the who always reminds me of god.
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Which part of the song? :bugeye:

Ohhhh wait you meant this part?
You better love me, all the time now
You better shove me back into line now
You better love me, all the time now
You better shove me back into line now.
 
heart said:
Which part of the song? :bugeye:

Ohhhh wait you meant this part?
You better love me, all the time now
You better shove me back into line now
You better love me, all the time now
You better shove me back into line now.
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yeah, that part, and the chorus...

when i say i love you, you say you better
you better, you better, you bet ;)
 
ahhh, I see. But there is also this part of the song:
"You better bet your life
Or love will cut you, just like a knife" not such a good thing :p
 
cut your heart right out (no pun intended).

"i love to hear you say my name, especially when you say yes"
 
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