Okay. Is that what you personally think of, when you hear the word, or is it more of a dictionary definition that you think might be somewhat right?bahman wrote: ↑Sun May 15, 2022 10:20 pmWorship: The feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity.Immanuel Can wrote: ↑Sun May 15, 2022 10:09 pm Again, let's figure out what you're concerned about. What does "worshipping" entail, in your view?
The reason I ask is that you seem to think it's a bad thing, something you don't want to end up doing...so there must be some bad aspect of it that's not caught up in that definition, I'm guessing.
Can you tell me what that bad thing might be?
Ah. That would be hard to deal with.I had a very high level of depression with the tendency to kill or rape people. My depression is gone but my tendencies are not. I am in a constant fight to don't do something wrong.
Well, can I tell you what the Bible says about that?
It calls it "being a slave to sin."
It's a metaphor, of course. A slave has no options, right? He has to do what the "master" is compelling him to do, because the force in play is too great for him to overcome. And in some ways, we're all that, at least when we start out. There's a compulsion in us to do what we, in our better moments, know we should not do. And we don't seem to have a lot of power personally to overcome that.
And some kinds of "slavery" are worse than others. Addiction, whether to drugs or gambling or alcohol, can be a very tough slavery to deal with. Sex addiction, equally bad. But nobody thinks of the compulsion to anger or violence, or the inclination to lie, which can also be very, very hard things to deal with.
What you're describing must be very hard to endure, and harder to keep under control. I can only imagine.
The thing about being a "slave," though, is that if the force being used against you is too great for you to deal with personally, you're going to need some help, aren't you? I mean, if it's not that bad, if you can master it yourself, maybe not; but you'll still be dealing with those feelings, that depression, and the impulse to hurt others. And even if you conquer that, how hard will it be to spend your whole life fighting, alone? Not great, I'm thinking.
So a "slave" needs help. But where is he going to turn for the kind of help he needs, when the problem is inside? Who can help him change what he is?
That's the description of the problem, as the Bible sees it. And it also proposes a solution. But people sometime prefer the slavery to the solution, because the solution is a thing called "the death of self." That also is a metaphor. But it's a metaphor that also articulates a reality. It's that God Himself, who made man, can reconstruct man, and can remove those desires and impulses. But it's going to cost the man the person he already is, in the sense that he's going to become a new man. And not everybody is willing for that.
That's why the Bible speaks of being "born again." It means a fresh start, with one being reconstituted as a new person.
So the question the Bible puts to us is, do you want that, or not?