Worship That Pleases God - A Contrarian ViewThis chapter allows me to introduce a radical notion that I present as the ultimate contrarian religion. I should also add that someone must have come up with this idea before me - I just don't know who.
In this chapter, Rick tells me that God is pleased when worship is accurate, authentic, thoughtful and practical. However, where I depart from Rick (and I mean 180 degrees) is where he suggests that worshipping God means to worship Him as he is truly revealed in the Bible. While Rick suggests that real worship is rooted in the Word, perhaps God exists and real worship is rooted in rejection of the Word! Perhaps the Bible is an elaborately conceived fraud designed to lead mankind astray from the real truth - in other words, perhaps atheism is the "religion" favored by our Creator. After all, why else would he/she/it have created a world that offers no naturalistic signs of a supernatural beginning?
It all makes perfect sense. If you can conceive of an omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent God, why would they waste time seeking worship from those which it created? Of course, they wouldn't. The Creator would be satisfied to sit back and watch their creations develop into the best they could be. After all, if you truly love something, set it free. The Creator would be most impressed by people choosing to lead good lives without the promise of life after death. Such a Creator would view atheism as the ideal worldview and the best possible way to worship.
This view solves the contradiction posed by those who insist that the universe must have had a supernatural beginning and the puzzling lack of any definitive pointer towards which of the thousands of world religions is the right one. Maybe they are all wrong (as atheists have long suggested) and yet the big Guy/Gal/It exists after all. The only ones going to "heaven" (whatever that turns out to be) will be the ones who relied on the reasoning which their Creator gave them to conclude that he/she/it did not exist. Just imagine ... only atheists going to heaven. Not all atheists, mind you. Just the ones who managed to live an ethically upstanding life without relying on the code of a supposed holy book. Just the good ones. All the theists would go to "hell" (whatever that turns out to be) or, perhaps, they are already there.
Now that is a contrarian viewpoint.
6 comments:
Well isn't this just the perfect little scenario you have painted for yourself, TAM. Create your blog, trash God and religion, and then make it to heaven and eternal life after all!
I wonder - could you continue your atheism in heaven, or would that be a little much with God leaning beside you?
Hope you're enjoying your travel that you mentioned in a post a while back. Might you be headed to Peru to visit da?
what a sad implication that CKDC can only envision humans doing/being good in return for the rewards of heaven -- I suspect he/she/it has missed the point of your blog
@riotthill: I don't believe that I missed the point of the blog (or post). I think, however, that you may have missed the flavour of my missif. It starts with "s" and ends with "m" (not "Sam").
If anyone believes that following Jesus Christ is only for a mere promise of as you call it "life after death" then they have severely missed the point of Jesus Christ dying on the cross. One does not follow Christ for mere fire insurance but out of the love in which he bestowed upon us. Also, as far as speculating that the Bible could be a fraud, I find that funny because if you check your facts, the Bible is the most historically accurate document that we have. If I have come across as a religious fanatic I apologize I am far from it because my belief Christianity is not a religion but a lifestyle. I enjoy reading your blog to see how others formulate what they believe and would enjoy having an open discussion with you about what you believe and why you believe it. I'm always striving for knowledge.
David: your claim that the Bible is the most historically accurate document we have is patently false.
See:
[1] The End of Biblical Studies by Hector Avalos
http://www.amazon.com/End-Biblical-Studies-Hector-Avalos/dp/1591025362
[2] Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible by Bart Ehrman
http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Interrupted-Revealing-Hidden-Contradictions/dp/0061173932/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248018045&sr=1-1
For those of you who don't read books, here is Hector Avalos talking about his book:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPUIAOHscbw
David, I applaud you if leading your Christian lifestyle means doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. However, if you actually believe that Jesus Christ existed, was God on earth, was crucified, died and rose again to save the sins of humanity, I suggest that you give some more careful consideration to the tenets of our "faith". They are beliefs which, if not shared by millions of others, would probably get you institutionalized at a psychiatric facility.
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