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

[Kelley Forbes]

The thing I can't quite get over is the idea that it is required for a 
God; that, without worship, he couldn't just say, oh, talk to you or 
whatever. Most of us, I think, have some relationship with our Gods 
outside of any sort "formal or ceremonious rendering of [.,.] honor and 
homage", whether that be through conversation, just feeling a presence 
or what have you.

I think that ritual and devotions are important, and there are reasons 
why it is needed in general (universe maintenance, for instance) but 
necessary for our Gods to be _able_ have a relationship with us? 
Probably not.

-- Kelley.

Sebastian wrote:
> In this context, need would imply a requisite to opening and 
> maintaining a relationship. Also, the "formal or ceremonious rendering 
> of [.,.] honor and homage" can take many forms and needs not be as 
> solemn as I think this definition implies. It may be the act of 
> lighting a candle in a specific place to a specific deity (to take an 
> example from my own life).
>
> On Wed, Nov 16, 2011 at 11:30 AM, Kelley Forbes 
> <forbesk at astronomytower.net <mailto:forbesk at astronomytower.net>> wrote:
>
>     Do you think they need "formal or ceremonious rendering of [...]
>     honor and homage" in order to have relationship with you? What do
>     you mean by "need" here?
>
>     -- Kelley.
>
>     Sebastian wrote:
>
>         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
>         <mailto:planner1968 at yahoo.com> <mailto:planner1968 at yahoo.com
>         <mailto: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
>         <mailto:chris.n.kelley at astronomytower.net>
>            <mailto:chris.n.kelley at astronomytower.net
>         <mailto: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.
>            >
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