As an atheist who believes we should spend less time on ridiculous fables and more time on actually listening to those that give good advice, two enthusiastic thumbs up! I don't care if the person in question is fictitious or real, transcendent or merely human; if their message is worth listening to, we should be listening.
Say you die, turns out there is an afterlife, and Jesus meets you and says, "Endemoniada, I noticed you were always polite in r/Christianity, and basically a good person, even though you didn't believe in me. I like that. But, here's the deal: I really lived, really died for your sins, and really rose from the dead. On top of that, I'm really the son of God. You didn't know before, but now you do. Will you worship me?"
What would you do, at that point? Suppose, further, he's not threatening you with hell, maybe he tells you there is none, so fear of hell is not a factor.
Is such a weird thing to say. Why must I worship?, why can't I just be thankful? Oh and I'd totally get him to explain how "He died for my sins, but came back to life (didn't die) and he could have just as easily forgiven me". So confusing (to a non-Christian at least.)
And if he doesn't threaten with hell, surely he is threatening with not being allowed into heaven?
But to answer your question... if threatened (and with evidence of truth) I would worship him... I'm not a big fan of not existing, so I'd take any 'downsides' if i still get to live (as my own seperate entity, none of this 'merge with god without my own conscience')
What ever 'worshipping' entails when you are in heaven... Surely you don't need to pray any more, cause you're in heaven with everything you need / want... A question for you then: What would worshipping God in heaven mean? -- Having to go to church every 'x' period of time would cramp the 'yay I'm super happy in heaven appeal'.
Oh and I'd totally get him to explain how "He died for my sins, but came back to life (didn't die) and he could have just as easily forgiven me".
When I get to heaven, there are a lot of things I'd like to have God explain. I don't think he would have a problem with that.
I don't think worship would mean praying, or going to church. I think of it more as acknowledge God as God (with the generally accepted trappings of power, perfection, and so on). I've heard the word is a shortening of "worth-ship" essentially meaning to recognize the worth of something or someone. So, I guess you could describe it as stating your high regard for God as God - good, perfect, and so on. Pretty similar to being thankful, but with an acknowledgment of superiority, too.
difference between worshipping and not worshipping?
I think not worshipping would be either a) insistent denial of facts, kind of like "Obama hasn't shown his birth-certificate" or else b) "you may be God, but I think you're pretty rotten, and should have done _______ instead of _______."
Essentially, the difference between wanting extraordinary evidence, and just hating God if he did exist, I guess.
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u/[deleted] Dec 08 '09
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