During his "Christian" phase Dylan opined that we're "gonna have to serve somebody.", I've always thought he was onto something. Although I think that it's possible, even reasonable, to conclude that serve and worship can be used interchangeably in some instances.
Last night, I was at an event where Jeff Deyo spoke. Before I went I jumped into his recent book about worship. One of the things he said in the book, and amplified last night, was that we are created/wired to worship. He then followed that up with the observation that if we aren't worshiping YHWH, that we will worship something or someone else.
Then I saw a tweet from Tim Keller which said, "You don't get to decide to worship. Everyone worships something. The only choice is what yo worship.".
This led me to conclude that maybe there was something to this idea.
The question, it seems to me, is "Are we going to worship the Creator or His creation?".
5 comments:
I think worship is a conscious thing, not an instinctive thing. While one can say we have a need or instinct toward worship, it still requires thought, rather than rote response. As such, to daily bend the knee in prayer to worship is a conscious thing. To live for money or power is a conscious thing. We can have our urges, but it takes conscious thought and effort to appease any of them, including the urge or instinct to worship.
I think that depends on what you think worship is. I think the point being made by Deyo and Keller is that we will naturally worship (assign worth) to whatever we decide is most important to us as individuals. Some worship money, some politics, some the environment, etc. I think it's similar to Lewis's "God shaped hole". We were created/wired with an innate need to worship, and we have the freedom to decide what or who we worship. I think that worshiping anything or anyone except YHWH, will not provide fulfillment, but that won't stop us from trying. I'd argue that the decision to worship YHWH could be a conscious thing, while the instinct to worship something is created.
I think these definitions from some site called "Wordnik" are accurate:
1. The reverent love and devotion accorded a deity, an idol, or a sacred object.
2. The ceremonies, prayers, or other religious forms by which this love is expressed.
3. Ardent admiration or love; adoration.
All of these suggest the conscious decision about which I mentioned. (I looked up the word "worship" after your response above, and found the first one I saw aligns with what my understanding of the word is.)
Worship literally means "To ascribe worth". Much like your first definition, this would mean anything that one values highly, not necessarily a deity. People frequently accord love, devotion, to all sorts of things (money, job, pop stars, athletes, etc). People frequently hold all sorts of things to be sacred (politics, worldview, morals, etc). Aren't there all sorts of forms where people express their love to non deities? What they wear, how the spend money, how the act, where they go? Finally, it seems reasonable to say that many things (politicians, activism, pop stars, influencers, athletes, etc) all are the objects of ardent, admiration, love, or adoration. Look at how people reacted to The Beatles, Trump, Regan, Clinton, etc.
The point still is that this is hardwired into us and that how we express that innate desire to do those things or where to direct those impulses is a choice. But we're going to worship something, it's either The Creator or the creation, that's the choice.
I don't necessarily disagree. But we live, don't we? While we do, we will give priorities to various things based on what we personally find important. To some, it might seem we've put foremost in our priorities that which actually isn't...that is, "no...God's all that matters, but I still have to eat and I still like to live well." That doesn't mean one worships anything above God. I think the real question is how many of us are put in a position where we must choose between God and something else? We've heard many tales of martyrs being forced to decide between God and a bullet in the head and take the bullet rather than reject God. Is it possible those same people had no ambitions and desires which drove them prior to that sad choice they were forced to make? Who they worshiped was always the same, even if not apparent to others...or themselves.
When I see these types of discussions, I wonder about those making the case. Do they constantly deprive themselves of every creature comfort, every hope and desire just so they can insist they only worship God?
No. I think it's a bullshit angle. It's good to think about where one's priorities lie, but those like the author you mentioned are posturing. How one responds to people and things does not mean one puts any of that above God.
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