[Cro Dreoilin] Up for Discussion: Do the Gods need worship?

[Greyhart]

Just got up (worked until 3am). 

 

When I read the question, my first thought was also, 'what defines worship?'
because worship is a word that means many things to many people. I
personally like the definition you found, Sebastian. Most people in this
country equate worship with giving power over to their Deity, and submitting
themselves to the whims of that Deity. If that is the sort of relationship
that a particular God requires, then they probably do need worship in order
to exist. 

 

This is the sort of relationship I have experienced with Christians. The
classic Trek episode, "Who Mourns For Adonis", which I believe is the
episode Charlotte referenced, (yes, I'm a Trek Geek) was written about the
crew meeting one of the classical Greek Gods, Apollo. It was written from
the Christian point of view, where Gods are all powerful, and require humans
to worship them in order to exist. This is a very telling attitude that
Christians seem to have.

 

I see Deity differently than what I've heard the CR's describe. To me, Deity
is ever present, and what we look at and describe as individual Gods, are
simply facets of the whole. I also believe that we are Divine, based on the
fact that all of creation was formed in a Divine act. Therefore everything
within creation must be Divine. In simpler terms, using the Charge of The
Goddess, if the Goddess gave birth to all that there is, even though I
myself was not part of that original birth, I am Divine by right of
inheritance. I am the current culmination of whatever particles, atoms, or
molecules that the Goddess gave birth to. Looking at it that way, when we
worship the Gods, we are opening the connection between our individual
selves, and that great source we call Deity. 

 

Do the Gods need or require worship? No, we do.

 

Greyhart 

 

From: community-bounces at crodreoilin.org
[mailto:community-bounces at crodreoilin.org] On Behalf Of Sebastian
Sent: Tuesday, November 15, 2011 11:17 AM
To: community at crodreoilin.org
Subject: Re: [Cro Dreoilin] Up for Discussion: Do the Gods need worship?

 

In order to answer this question I admit that I checked the dicitonary for a
specific definition of "worship" to understand the nuances of that term.
There is the obvious connotation of prostrating before the gods which seems
to be why many pagans cringe at the term. However, there is one possible
definition that seems to answer this question of "what do you mean by
worship?" in my own perspective. "formal or ceremonious rendering of [...]
honor and homage". Now, on to the bigger question of need. If we aproach
need as the idea that without our worship of them that they would fall into
disrepair or that they are so proud that they require veneration for
sustenance, I would say no. My answer would come from the perspective of
building a relationship as you would with another person. In order to build
a healthy relationship with another human, there is an amount of give and
take, and this is where the "need" comes in to play. I wish to build a
strong, healthy relationship with the gods and ancestors and my half of the
give and take comes in the form of tanks, offerings, veneration and plain
"good ole fashion'd conversation". So, in short, if you desire not to have a
relationship with the gods, then no, they do not need worship.

 

~Sebastian

On Tue, Nov 15, 2011 at 9:48 AM, Norman <planner1968 at yahoo.com> wrote:

I am on the jump to run my day today but here are a few cent of my thoughts
on it. I do think that every deity needs attention. How does that look and
what is considered worship/ attention? If I ask my deity for something and
that's it, that in my opinion is not attention or worship or however you
call it. It's more about paying more attention about the happenings,signs
and communications in your life and how you engage with them. You thank your
deities, maybe even write a little thank you note for a start. Just as you
do with the people. Get into a dialog. At a later point I will write more
but now on my way into the world conquering my kingdom:-)

Sent from my iPhone


On Nov 15, 2011, at 9:31 AM, Chris and Kelley
<chris.n.kelley at astronomytower.net> wrote:

> In the interest of getting more discussion going on this list, we're going
to start posting some topics for talk.
>
> Our first topic: Do the Gods need worship?
>
> This is not just a yes or no answer; there are lot of questions in this
one question. Consider:  Which Gods are we talking about? What do we mean by
"need"? What do we mean by "worship"?
>
> Have at it.
>
> -- Chris and Kelley.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Community mailing list
> Community at crodreoilin.org
> http://crodreoilin.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/community

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