Ego is a character flaw

If God wants to be worshiped, doesn't that show He has a character flaw and is on a ego trip? Why would a perfect being want people to grovel?

...and, if you equate god to the concept of the way from the book, Tao Te Ching...well, then, there is no worship involved, nor ego, nor free will of any kind.

Everything is nothing, and nothing is eveything...in other words, it's all the same so to worship one thing would be to worship everything.

Depending on which religion's god your talking about, and how you apply the concept, you get radically different behavior out of people, all based on different interpretation of their own version of truth. Even in the same religion, you get different behavior, depending on the historical period (Christian slavery, for example) or the sect (Catholic vs Protestant vs Baptist).

If God were on an ego trip he would force us to grovel. Fortunatly he gave us free will to worship him. Worship and grovel are two different things in my oppinion. When I worship God it is not a grovel but an appriciation for his love and blessings. If I were to grovel before God it would be like please dont smite me o' Lord. God wants us to love him and to speak to him as though we would speak to our own parents.

for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God
Exodus 20:4-5

''Worship me or go to Hell for all eternity.''

Hmmm... yeah... that's a tad egotistical...

...he gives us a choice...

and ty's reference to Exodus 20:4-5 is in accordance to the thou shalt not have any gods before me. it's saying you can't worship him and worship another.

It's all about choice.

Like the christians said, it's all about choice. Choose to prostate yourself to a being that is apparrently all-powerful yet refuses to provide any evidence he even exists, and avoids doing any miracles that could possibly constitute evidence of his existence.

Or choose to suffer eternal unberable torment in hell.

Yup, the christian god is big on choices. And he's a really nice guy.

In contrast, nasty evil people like kidnappers and terrorists only offer you false choices like pay the ransom or your child dies or meet our demands or we kill you.

One of the manythings that dont make since. Ego is human nature. God is a bully if he was real

for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God
Exodus 20:4-5
Now ask your self why would the most powerful being ever in existance be subseptable to Jealousy?

uhm thank you for getting my point jester...

***...he gives us a choice...***
***It's all about choice.***

Yeah... worship him or go to Hell... forever... like I said...

then what is your problem bout hell, since its YOUR choice to go there or not?? God doesn send you there, you send your self there b/c it was YOUR choice. lets see, God sent his only Son to die for us b/c man screwed up, he took a beaten for us, gave and shed his blood for us and died rose again conquered death hell and the grave, just so we can go reign with him, and youre whinning b/c of worship and calling him a bully?? it isn a thing bout worship itself, its bout growing closer to him, and when you worship, its one of the ways to get closer to him and find out more bout him. first off, jester x you need to get off your high horse, and really realize what God has done, youre calling him a bully after he sent HIS son to redeem us and set us free, youre callin him a bully after, he gave us eternal life and if we accept him, we''l never have to face death, youre calling him a bully, when he is there with us always and he never lets us down. if thats a bully, then we are using the term here on earth wrong.

I call him a bully after he kills and tourchers thousands of people even babies, I call him a bully after what he supposivly did it Job, I call him a bully when he sits up there and says worship me or live in enternal hell fire. yea thats a compassionate God. You think im on a high horse and I think you ignorant.

If the christian god actually existed, he would send a person to hell, regardless of all the good deeds they did, simply becasue he doubted the existence of something as unknowable as a diety.

I will take hell over an eternity with an egotisitcal vengeful SOB.

***then what is your problem bout hell, since its YOUR choice to go there or not?? God doesn send you there, you send your self there***

That's like saying its YOUR fault for getting shot, because you stood in the bullet's path.

The god of the Bible is an absurd caricature of the typical ancient tyrant king.

If there were a real creator, he would probably laugh at the ridiculous things people say about him.

It would be interesting to hear your thinking on the subject, if you were God...what would you expect or ask, from your human subjects ???

In fact, I think Iwill make post with that title

Yeah... worship him or go to Hell... forever... like I said...

actually, it's not that simple or dualistic. I believe there are different degrees of heaven...most of us will go to some sort of a heaven. he is a fair god...he's not so gruff and jealous as you all are making him out to be.

Yes, but you're of a different faith. We're currently talking about the 'regular' Christian God, not the Mormon God-Expansion-Pak...

well then I guess I don't ever count when it comes to christianity?

I don't think so, mister.
since when does any sect of christianity agree with each other on any matter?

***well then I guess I don't ever count when it comes to christianity?***

That depends on who you're talking to. I recall a few threads about LDS, and many of the Christian participants, wouldn't even ACKNOWLEDGE Mormonism as an actual denomination of Christianity; due to some convoluted technicality.

As for the current topic, you're perception of God heaven is supplemented by an WHOLE additional book of information, that NO OTHER Christian denomination recognizes. So yes, you're the odd-man-out in this discussion, though your beliefs opinions matter just like everyone else's.

*thinks*

Ummm... the problem, is that most of them will have NO CLUE what you're talking about.

yes, it's SUPPLEMENTED by another book of scripture, but is mentioned in the bible.

1 Cor 15:39-41

it talks a little about the different degrees of glory in heaven.