Why are people so determined

[Elijah John]

Why are so many people so determined to worship Jesus? It is not a Biblical imperative. "Worship Jesus" is not a Commandment. And there is plenty of Biblical evidence that Jesus is not God. (Just talk to any Jehovah's Witness, most seem adept at supporting their beliefs with Scripture)

So why is it that so many people are so determined to worship Jesus? Even in light of evidence (Biblical and otherwise) that Jesus is not God.

Childhood or cultural conditioning? Indoctrination? Or hero worship taken to the extreme?

Is the prevelance of Jesus-worship evidence of a very human tendency to worship our heroes?

[Elijah John]

[Replying to post 107 by onewithhim]

Out of an abundance of caution, Jews stopped pronouncing the name of God. And eventually prohibited it's pronouciation. In effect, they depersonalized God as an unintended consequence, by putting His name off limits. The vacuum that created served conventional Christians quite well. The "Adonai" of the "Old" Testament, is swapped out and made the "Kyrious" of the New. Only the "Lord" of the new does not mean YHVH, it means "Jesus"

[Elijah John]

Why are so many people so determined to worship Jesus? It is not a Biblical imperative. "Worship Jesus" is not a Commandment. And there is plenty of Biblical evidence that Jesus is not God. (Just talk to any Jehovah's Witness, most seem adept at supporting their beliefs with Scripture)

So why is it that so many people are so determined to worship Jesus? Even in light of evidence (Biblical and otherwise) that Jesus is not God.

Childhood or cultural conditioning? Indoctrination? Or hero worship taken to the extreme?

Is the prevelance of Jesus-worship evidence of a very human tendency to worship our heroes?

In fairness, and upon reflection, I should have allowed for the possibility that there is some (plenty of?) Biblical evidence to support the doctrine that Jesus is God. So it would not be entirely, and in every case simply a matter of childhood conditioning. We can read the same Bible and reasonably differ on this. I should have included that in the OP. But the matter is certainly debatable.

But even if Jesus is, in fact, "God the Son, second person of the Trinity" is there any Biblical imperative to worship him as such? Does the Bible ever include the sin of "failing to worship Jesus as God"?

[brianbbs67]

[Replying to Elijah John]


"Not everyone [calling me] 'Lord' will enter into the Kingdom of the heavens, but only the one doing the will of my Father. Many will say to me in that day: 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and expel demons in your name, and perform many powerful works in your name?' And then I will declare to them: 'I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness!'" (Matt.7:21-23)

The last words seem the most cutting to me. Christ never ended the law. We know this but twist words to say it is. This brings a larger question. We, who argue theology, are arguing hearsay. Should we continue in this? IE, no one alive can confirm a thing. The bible is a book about God and what certain people say He said. That's not court worthy. It's all opinion at this point, without a prophet.

[marco]

So why do people get their knickers in a twist when someone even mentions "Jehovah?"

The portrayal of his Father given by Jesus is light years from that of the Old Testament. Jehovah behaves savagely; there is no love or mercy in him. Jesus, on the other hand, offers random acts of kindness completely absent from Jehovah and so people would like the being who is Jesus to be their source of comfort. It is impossible to regard Jehovah as offering anything but bitterness and perhaps lots of mosquitoes and dead children.

[onewithhim]

Jesus considered the Old Testament to be "truth." (John 17:17) He prayed to Jehovah, the Father, because he (Jesus) loved Him and sought to obey Him. Jesus said that he does everything the Father tells him to do, and he says everything that the Father tells him to say.

John 5:19
John 12:49,50


So if this is true, and we're are looking at what the Bible says....Jesus and Jehovah are of the same mind. They are UNITED, they agree on the same things. Both are merciful and loving. Do you think Jesus is really mean because he is going to come and destroy the wicked people at Armageddon? Did you forget that he is going to do that? Both he and Jehovah care about peace and the protection of good people so much that the people who make life miserable will be annihilated. This is bad?


"This is what Jehovah says, your Repurchaser, the Holy One of Israel: 'I, Jehovah am your God, the One teaching you to benefit yourself, the One guiding you in the way you should walk. If only you would pay attention to my commandments! Then your peace would become just like a river and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.'" (Isaiah 48:17,18)



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[marco]

Do you think Jesus is really mean because he is going to come and destroy the wicked people at Armageddon? Did you forget that he is going to do that? Both he and Jehovah care about peace and the protection of good people so much that the people who make life miserable will be annihilated. This is bad?

It would be good were it in evidence. Why the long, long, long wait? Poor children suffered in the Holocaust, pleading for help. Will a future action remove their hurt? I didn't say Jesus was mean - he may well have been - but I said Jehovah was savage. The suggestion of some futuristic cleaning-up, where any bad people still around will be destroyed is the stuff of "and they all lived happily ever after."

"This is what Jehovah says ….. If only you would pay attention to my commandments! Then your peace would become just like a river and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. "

I accept this is nice poetry. Personally I prefer Lucretius: "How well they lived in the age of Saturn, before the Earth was developed into big highways...." or Housman:
"Into my heart an air that kills from that far country blows...What are those blue remembered hills?...." or Tennyson: "The splendour falls on castle walls, and snowy summits old in story...." or Shakespeare: "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day and all our yesterdays have lighted fools...."
or Fitzgerald: "The moving finger writes and having writ, moves on...."

Isaiah has his ancient place, and David too. But life and beauty and love are not the monopoly of Bible writers. People do pay attention to his commandments and nonetheless suffer.


I wish you well and sincerely hope that the amazing faith you have, to which I am blind, sustains and uplifts. Best wishes.

[Menotu]

[Replying to post 1 by Elijah John]

People are fearful. They will do just about anything to prevent fear - especially fear of the unknown. So when something comes along that fits with one's social structure, that the 'understand' that they're told is right and abates their fears, they're all in.
Those likely not one specific thing that you can point to that encompasses all of society to get an answer.

[onewithhim]

Good thought. I think you are right. Most people go along with what they're used to, and Jesus-worship has been around for almost 2,000 years. Jesus himself warned of false teachings, as did his disciples, even back then, so there is firm scriptural evidence that popular doctrines that exist today have their roots in the early apostasy. But people don't realize this mostly because they are content to accept their clergy's teachings, whether or not these teachings originate in the Bible.

The warnings:

Matthew 7:13-23
Acts 20:29,30
2 Peter 2:1-3, 10-19
2 John verse 7
Jude verse 4


So this deception has been festering for 2 millennia, and the majority of religious teaching has been wrong (Jesus said there would be FEW who were on the right road), but people are comfortable with the religious social club they are born into.

[brianbbs67]

[Replying to post 115 by onewithhim]

Most people don't actually research their religion to even see if it fits the bible. I like the fact the JW's study continually as one should. I just wish they would take the next step.

Conversely, are we not making an idol of the bible? We know it has errors. In fact, legally, it would be considered hearsay. I don't advocate this position, but it has occurred to me.

[onewithhim]

[Replying to post 116 by brianbbs67]

You say that you wish JWs "would take the next step." What would that be?