I suppose it depends on what form the worship takes.
Would I worship Aphrodite, if Her temples were around, even if there's only a 5% chance She exists? Well....uh....let's just say I like the way She gets worshipped.
Would I worship a god that required abstinence from all earthly pleasures but would give me 800 years of heavenly pleasures? Probably not, at least not without having some idea of the bliss that awaits. And if the same god said that I could do what I liked, as long as, in His Name, I torture and kill a random person chosen by Him? Absolutely not.
Originally posted by DoctorScribbles What are the minimum qualities that a God must have in order for you to worship him?
For example, would you worship a God who is not omnipotent but rather can do 75% of all possible things?
Would you worship a God who exercised benevolence about 85% of the time?
Would you worship a God who couldn't grant you eternal life, but could offer you 800 years in paradise?
Would you worship a God who is only 60% likely to actually exist?
I would probably only worship a God who I thought was likely to exist and likely to do something for me in return for my worship. The exact likelihood of existence or reward that I would require depends on the amount of effort or suffering required from me in the worship.
Originally posted by DoctorScribbles What are the minimum qualities that a God must have in order for you to worship him?
For example, would you worship a God who is not omnipotent but rather can do 75% of all possible things?
Would you worship a God who exercised benevolence about 85% of the time?
Would you worship a God who couldn't grant you eternal life, but could offer you 800 years in paradise?
Would you worship a God who is only 60% likely to actually exist?
It strikes me that this sounds much like the creature called The Eagle in Arthur C Clarke's Rama epos, although in the context of that story the probability of The Eagle's existence is of course 100%.
Now, The Eagle is never percieved as a god or an object for worship because it is clearly a representation of an intelligence among many other intelligent life forms, albeit a far greater one. It has a lot of abilities an it knows a lot, but not everything.
It seems to me that to qualify as a god an entity has to be absolutely limitless and the answer to all questions to be worthy of worship. I think that's what Man's psychological makeup calls for at least.
Originally posted by Zipdrive Nightmare It strikes me that this sounds much like the creature called The Eagle in Arthur C Clarke's Rama epos, although in the context of that story the probability of The Eagle's existence is of course 100%.
Now, The Eagle is never percieved as a god or an object for worship because it is clearly a representation of an intelligence among many other in ...[text shortened]... to be worthy of worship. I think that's what Man's psychological makeup calls for at least.
I may be reading too much into your post, but are you saying that anything less could lead to submission but not worship?
Originally posted by DoctorScribbles What are the minimum qualities that a God must have in order for you to worship him?
For example, would you worship a God who is not omnipotent but rather can do 75% of all possible things?
Would you worship a God who exercised benevolence about 85% of the time?
Would you worship a God who couldn't grant you eternal life, but could offer you 800 years in paradise?
Would you worship a God who is only 60% likely to actually exist?
I worship a God who has a 0.0001% chance of existing and is constantly letting me down.
Bacchus.
And I worship him just to be safer than sorry, really.
In fact, my worshipping basically consists of me drinking wine. But that's besides the point.
Originally posted by Palynka I may be reading too much into your post, but are you saying that anything less could lead to submission but not worship?
I wasn't thinking along those lines. I guess my point is that as long as the scope of an intelligence is limited, I think that a human being will compare himself with it and relate to it in another way than (what I read into the word) worship.
Originally posted by Zipdrive Nightmare I wasn't thinking along those lines. I guess my point is that as long as the scope of an intelligence is limited, I think that a human being will compare himself with it and relate to it in another way than (what I read into the word) worship.
Something in your original post rang true to me, but then I started thinking about polytheism and how historically there was worship of "lesser" (and hence imperfect) gods, with temples erected not only to the most powerful among them.
I think that one may argue that they worshipped only the part which was perfect (or nearly so) and not the entity itself (e.g. Diana and hunting), but it would leave the whole argument on somewhat shaky ground.
Why do we have such desire for worshipping?
Worship me, for gods sake, if you want to worship someone.
I bless you if you contribute to my godly bank account. Is that enough?
Originally posted by FabianFnas Why do we have such desire for worshipping?
Worship me, for gods sake, if you want to worship someone.
I bless you if you contribute to my godly bank account. Is that enough?
Originally posted by Palynka Why do you troll these threads? If you don't like the discussion, just go away.
Yes, why do people troll...?
Look at Science Forum and you'll se a lot of christians trolling, for sure. Trolling around with their preaches about non-science creationism.
So you think I'm trolling? Not in comparison I'm not, no way.
Originally posted by FabianFnas Yes, why do people troll...?
Look at Science Forum and you'll se a lot of christians trolling, for sure. Trolling around with their preaches about non-science creationism.
So you think I'm trolling? Not in comparison I'm not, no way.
You're no better than them. Even worse, considering your only goal here is to avenge what they do in the Science Forum.
Sufficient Conditions for Worship
15 Oct '08 00:333 edits
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