Not really. Females have have picked sexual partners that were good at providing food for her and the offspring and males pick partners that will give birth to strong babies. Both beauty and ability are signs of this genetical excess that will create healthy and succesful offspring.
Why worship?
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Not really. Females have have picked sexual partners that were good at providing food for her and the offspring and males pick partners that will give birth to strong babies. Both beauty and ability are signs of this genetical excess that will create healthy and succesful offspring.
So we are back to the original question of this thread.
I started by asking why a god would want, need or care about us worshipping him.
Some people said that he doesn't want, need or care for our worship. This renders worship futile.
You believe that he DOES care about us. And so I ask again, why worship?
Quoted from your link:
and from the very next paragraph
Ostensibly monotheistic religions may still include concepts of a plurality of the divine; for example, the Trinity, in which God is one being in three eternal persons (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit). Additionally, most Christian churches teach Jesus to be two natures (divine and human), each possessing the full attributes of that nature, without mixture or intermingling of those attributes.
and further on to the part I referenced
When Krishna is recognized to be Svayam Bhagavan, it can be understood that this is the belief of Gaudiya Vaishnavism,[13] the Vallabha Sampradaya,[14] and the Nimbarka Sampradaya, where Krishna is accepted to be the source of all other avatars, and the source of Vishnu himself. This belief is drawn primarily "from the famous statement of the Bhagavatam"[15](1.3.28).[16] A different viewpoint differing from this theological concept is the concept of Krishna as an avatar of Narayana or Vishnu. It should be however noted that although it is usual to speak of Vishnu as the source of the avataras, this is only one of the names of the God of Vaishnavism, who is also known as Narayana, Vasudeva and Krishna and behind each of those names there is a divine figure with attributed supremacy in Vaishnavism.[17]
... hence if you think the distinction between mono and polytheism is simply one about numbers, you don't understand the subject
The number of individual agents of worship. If they were just avatars/aspects of the same god, then I would agree it's monotheism.
Simply put:
In polytheism, no single god occupies the highest position, no single god is omnipotent.
In monotheism, there is one omnipotent god (and sometimes several demigods).
Obviously, there can be only one omnipotent god.
The omnipotent god is also the beneficiary of all sacrifices and worship, even those directed at the demigods.
As for worshipping saints, like in Catholicism: It is not that they are considered gods, it is that they are considered patrons, protectors, can give blessings. Certainly one wishes to be in good standing with those whose protection or blessings one seeks.
It is simply good discussion practice to give such examples that are easily recognized.
Yes, this can look like stereotyping. My intention was to give a good illustration of what I was talking about.
As far as definitions go:
Because it is good for us to worship God.
God, being the higher being, has certain functions and in effect obligations to us who are below, as I explained earlier.
It seems to me, though, that the thrust of the OP question implies a particular psychological outlook, one that can be summed up as "Why should I love you if it is possible that you won't love me back?"
This is consistent with what is called Insecure Attachment Style.
In short:
You can imagine how someone with a secure attachment style would not worry about being abandoned, in this case by God; whereas someone with an anxious/ambivalent attachment style will have many doubts about God and worry about being abandoned, and as such try to control the relationship (either by subjecting the other party to oneself, or by breaking up).
I haven't seen a study on this, but based on my casual observations of theists and atheists, I predict there will be a correlation between the attachment style that a person has to other people and the attachment style this person has to God.
I don't have any questions. I know what they mean.
Although worship brings to mind religion, there are other forms of worship. The groupie of a rock band will worship the members of the band, making a shrine to them in their room. In their minds and imagination, they will create an exaggerated, almost mythological image. They will overlay this into the band to make them appear like a god to them. The band member can be a burnt out doper, but when they make a comment on social policy, this has to be genius, due to the overlay making them seem although like a god. When celebrities talk, worshippers hear the voice of their god. There is an unconscious projection factor that makes it appear valid.
This was called idol worship, since an inflated perspective is being unconsciously projected onto a person or object, that is out of touch with the reality of that person or thing. For an atheist, this type of worship is usually OK, since even if the worship is out of touch with objective reality, there is at least a tangible material thing. Darwin is almost like an atheist God, due to the human mythology projection making him worthy of worship. He may have been a regualr guy like everyone else, but now he is an idol who walks taller in the air.
With religious worship, the same human mythological projection factor from the unconscious mind, is detached from material things, since that type of an association is seem as dol worship. The projection factor instead, is associated with an abstraction, that is not material in nature; gods. However, since we live in a material world, religious worship often integrate material objects, such as the cross, to help get the idol effect into motion. It is then transposed into the abstraction.
When the new electronic toy is about to appear at the stores, those who wait in the long lines have the idol worship effect active, with the object of desire, about to have the power to make them happy. Carrying the object in your hand will increase your standing among your peers since it radiates magic prestige.
The free market makes use of the idol effect, with marketing hoping to get the worship going. But free market idols lose their power in a short time as they wear out. The ancients saw this short term idol effect of material things and tried to find a way to allow the idol projection to last at least thousands of years.
Whether one is worshipping the teen idol, the new gadget, the fancy shoes that makes you feel pretty, or God, the same projection effect is effect helping us worship. Some things allow the projection to last longer.
This was called idol worship, since an inflated perspective is being unconsciously projected onto a person or object, that is out of touch with the reality of that person or thing. For an atheist, this type of worship is usually OK, since even if the worship is out of touch with objective reality, there is at least a tangible material thing. Darwin is almost like an atheist God, due to the human mythology projection making him worthy of worship. He may have been a regualr guy like everyone else, but now he is an idol who walks taller in the air.
With religious worship, the same human mythological projection factor from the unconscious mind, is detached from material things, since that type of an association is seem as dol worship. The projection factor instead, is associated with an abstraction, that is not material in nature; gods. However, since we live in a material world, religious worship often integrate material objects, such as the cross, to help get the idol effect into motion. It is then transposed into the abstraction.
When the new electronic toy is about to appear at the stores, those who wait in the long lines have the idol worship effect active, with the object of desire, about to have the power to make them happy. Carrying the object in your hand will increase your standing among your peers since it radiates magic prestige.
The free market makes use of the idol effect, with marketing hoping to get the worship going. But free market idols lose their power in a short time as they wear out. The ancients saw this short term idol effect of material things and tried to find a way to allow the idol projection to last at least thousands of years.
Whether one is worshipping the teen idol, the new gadget, the fancy shoes that makes you feel pretty, or God, the same projection effect is effect helping us worship. Some things allow the projection to last longer.
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then you are hard pressed to explain why or how Hinduism, particularly the vaishnava slant, could be categorized as monotheistic
it cant
it's soft polytheism
it's soft polytheism
Darwin, like Einstein, Newton, Galileo, and more, is admired for his science. He constructed his revolutionary theory of evolution through natural selection over a lifetime of meticulous observation and thought. It is perhaps the must powerful idea in science and still drives the contemporary research agenda. Darwin’s real breakthrough was that evolution became inevitable, since, in organisms whose environment had changed, those who had reproductive success depended on inherited traits. Since then, Darwin’s ideas have connected up with genetics, molecular biology, ecology and embryology. Today, Darwin’s legacy is a larger, more richer, more diverse set of theories than he could have imagined. Some call it the best idea anyone ever had. He, like the rest, was just a person. We stand on their shoulders.
Yet you can't find a mention of it in the polytheistic thread ....
Does that mean we must argue in terms governed by your imagination?
I stand up and support my God but my religion is Buddhist and I meditate and pray alongside with the Buddha himself- to strive to be more perfect like that nearly perfect man was.
In the larger sense, we pray in the hopes out voice is heard in the noise of human thought on Earth. We pray for guidance and advice and we hope we are on the right path. We pray we are not causing more damage than good to the world- that is, those of us who pray in earnest.
What if Moses and Abraham never existed? Who would we have to pray to for courage? What if your entire religion was constructed by men many years ago as a model of faith and not a true faith? What is there left to put faith in?
I put my faith in the truth and nothing is simpler or more truthful than the simple truth: it stands the test of time and endures. Am I deluding myself? I don't think so but I may be wrong... but then again how can so many people be wrong in worshipping an all-powerful, singular deity??
In the larger sense, we pray in the hopes out voice is heard in the noise of human thought on Earth. We pray for guidance and advice and we hope we are on the right path. We pray we are not causing more damage than good to the world- that is, those of us who pray in earnest.
What if Moses and Abraham never existed? Who would we have to pray to for courage? What if your entire religion was constructed by men many years ago as a model of faith and not a true faith? What is there left to put faith in?
I put my faith in the truth and nothing is simpler or more truthful than the simple truth: it stands the test of time and endures. Am I deluding myself? I don't think so but I may be wrong... but then again how can so many people be wrong in worshipping an all-powerful, singular deity??
Start a new polytheism thread please.
I don't mean to pick, but that could be reversed. How can so many people be wrong in being atheist?