Sunday, May 14, 2006

Nietzsche on praising God

I cannot believe in a God who wants to be praised all the time.
- Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher (1844-1900)

Once again I ask that you use common sense to determine if this quote is reasonable. We should not have to believe something on faith if it doesn't make sense.

If God is all powerful and omnicient, as the world's major religions teach (and as seems reasonable to me), then why would he need to have constant verification of his power over all forms of life? Praise is something required of people by those in power, to reaffirm their position as (effectively) dictators over lives.

Requiring constant praise would require God to be narcissistic, a characteristic that no believer would want to attribute to his or her God.

God is neither narcissistic, nor does he dictate our lives. Dictating lives, also known as fatalism, would negate free will, a basic right on which most religions take a strong stand in its favour.

If God has unlimited and unquestionable power, he would not need constant praise, meaning constant worship. Worship means praising or subjecting oneself to another, not simply attending a service or praying.

If God does not control our lives, then we follow him voluntarily (if at all). It does not make sense to give constant praise or worship (the same thing) to someone we follow voluntarily. Voluntarily means that we follow of our own free will. It also means that we can change our minds. We would not constantly praise or worship someone we could change our minds about at any time.

It doesn't make sense. It would be contradictory.

Religions ask us to "have faith" as their answer to why so much of what they teach is clearly contradictory and nonsensical.

You are welcome to have faith in that which doesn't make sense. However, I can't imagine that an all powerful and omnicient God would not make sense. The epitome of perfection would not be either contradictory or nonsensical.

That, in itself, would not make sense. I won't go there.

Bill Allin
'Turning It Around: Causes and Cures for Today's Epidemic Social Problems,' striving to make sense of life through a morass of nonsense.
Learn more at http://billallin.com/cgi/index.pl

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