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The Godhead

Mole

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Hindus worship the elephant headed God, and christians worship the God with three heads.

But no matter where I look I can't find an image, I can't find a statue showing Ganesh and the Trinity shaking hands.

The christians tell me they worship one God with three Persons and this seems no more exotic than an elephant headed God.

Ah, if only we could find the elephant headed God in a christian church and the God with three heads in a hindu temple.
 

Mole

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They're pretty close anyway.

Whatever we worship, we become. We are becoming animals. We are the only animals that worship. Delightful as they are, cats and dogs don't worship, only us. And as we become what we worship, it behoves us to know what we worship.

It behoves us to know what kind of God we worship.

Do we worship the God of Abraham who ordered Abraham to murder his son in order to test his obedience?

Or do we worship Allah, we enjoins us to jihad and martyrdom?

Or do we worship Ganesh, the elephant headed God, the God of beginnings and the beginner's mind?
 

Mole

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They're pretty close anyway.

There has never been a civilization not based on a religion.

The Indian civilization is based on Hinduism, and the Chinese civilization is based on Confucianism, while the Western civilization is based on Christianity.

Each of these extant civilizations has an entirely unique world view. And these world views are not compatible.

Of course the bien pensant want to believe they are the all the same or pretty close anyway. But they make this claim without being able to speak Hindi or Mandarin.
 

Mole

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Worship is becoming. Worship becomes us. And we become what we worship.

We are already animals. Best not to deny this.

Sure, but what animals we are. We are the only animals that worship.

Worship is an act of becoming. We become what we worship.

What do you worship, Nebbykoo? What are you becoming?
 

Mole

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I worship nothing, but I assure you that I am not becoming nothing.

Well, if you worship nothing, you are a nihilist.

But you protest you are not becoming nothing, but methinks you protest too much.
 

Stanton Moore

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Well, if you worship nothing, you are a nihilist.

But you protest you are not becoming nothing, but methinks you protest too much.

You are quick to label. I find that childish and petty.
You must secretly worship a petty god to be so yourself.
 

Arclight

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Why do the beliefs of others threaten Victor so much??
I find this question much more puzzling than the concept of God.

What is it about one person's beliefs that causes them to feel they have the answer for everyone?
What compels them to spend energy trying to convert others?

Control.

Victor, are you a control freak?
 

Mole

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The act of worship is quite magical. We suspend our disbelief. We fall in love with the worshipful. We love the worshipful unconditionally. The marriage ceremony includes the words, "I thee worship". And it is an act of magic reserved for us and no other animal. Worship is an act of magic that reaches the level of the sacramental.

Worship is more potent than a loaded gun and more important than landing on the Moon. Worship is as important as birth, death and marriage.

Worship shapes whole civilizations.
 

Arclight

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That's why they say faith can move a mountain, Vic. It is the most powerful force in the human universe.
I believe, therefore it's true. I disbelieve, therefore it's not. That's Power!!
 

Thisica

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It all reminds me of Carl Sagan's quote:

In some respects, science has far surpassed religion in delivering awe. How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, "This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant. God must be even greater than we dreamed"? Instead they say, "No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way."
 

Arclight

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Or this one from Robert Heinlein;

Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a God superior to themselves. Most Gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child.
 

Mole

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Perhaps if we look upon worship as a faculty. We have the faculty to worship. We have the ability to worship.

And so what kind of ability is it?

Well, it is a an ability reserved for one animal and one animal only.
It profoundly affects our psyche.
In that we worship unconditionally.
Just as we love our children unconditionally.
And whoever we love unconditionally, we would die for.

Surely we should be starting to ask, what am I worshipping?
 

Fluffywolf

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Perhaps if we look upon worship as a faculty. We have the faculty to worship. We have the ability to worship.

And so what kind of ability is it?

Well, it is a an ability reserved for one animal and one animal only.
It profoundly affects our psyche.
In that we worship unconditionally.
Just as we love our children unconditionally.
And whoever we love unconditionally, we would die for.

Surely we should be starting to ask, what am I worshipping?

You raise some spectacular thoughts that have, albeit in different words, been on my mind as well from time to time.

I, too, worship something. And whilest most religions worship a set of answers, I myself worship the unknown, the faceless God, the questions unanswered. As such, I worship my own curiosity as being the hand of God. And I pray for the hand of God to deliver me a profound destiny.
 
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