Former Protestants: Do some Protestants worship the Bible as an Idol?

[Grace_Seeker]

We can worship God anywhere; I have been to outdoor Masses. But the people were gathered together, and the priest was with us; not hanging out at a radio station somewhere.

Yeah, I get that it is rather peculiar, but I don’t think that we can judge the value of it unless we were there. And even then I don’t think we could judge its value for anyone other than ourselves.

They never worshipped in the synagogue; they worshipped in the Temple. They went to the synagogue to hear and proclaim the Scriptures.

Remember when they were exiled in Babylon and couldn’t get to the Temple to worship God? How their inability to worship God meant that so many of them were led astray into idols? And how happy they were when they were allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple, so that they could begin to worship God, again?

Very true. I’ll grant you that.

Also on tangent with the above discussion, from the Catholic Encyclopedia:

This article will deal with Christian worship according to the following definition: homage paid to God, to Jesus Christ, to His saints, to the beings or even to the objects which have a special relation to God.

Futher it states:

There are several degrees of this worship:
if it is addressed directly to God, it is superior, absolute, supreme worship, or worship of adoration, or, according to the consecrated theological term, a worship of latria.

As to the nature of that worship, the article speaks of different types of worship:

Interior worship is to be distinguished from exterior worship. the former is not manifested by external acts, but consists in internal adoration; but when this inner sentiment is expressed by words or actions, prostration, genuflexion, the sign of the cross, or any other gesture, it becomes exterior worship. Again worship is private or public; the former, which may be an act of external worship, is performed unseen by men or seen by only a few; the second is official worship rendered by men assembled for a religious end and forming a religious society properly so called.

It would seem that the presence of the Eucharist or any other sacrifice is NOT necessary to call an assmebly of men gathered for a religious end worship. That indeed there are many other gestures that are sufficient to refer to it by that nomenclature.

 

[jmcrae]

It would seem that the presence of the Eucharist or any other sacrifice is NOT necessary to call an assmebly of men gathered for a religious end worship.

I never actually said that it was. There are many things that people can offer in sacrifice, and there is the common priesthood of believers.

My only point was that worship occurs when there is the combination of priest and sacrifice (which could be the baptized believer and his feelings of inadequacy which he offers up to God, just as well as the ordained priest and the bread and wine that he offers up at Mass) - that was my only point - and that other things, though they may contribute to worship, are not, in and of themselves, worship, per se.

 

[Grace_Seeker]

I never actually said that it was. There are many things that people can offer in sacrifice, and there is the common priesthood of believers.

My only point was that worship occurs when there is the combination of priest and sacrifice (which could be the baptized believer and his feelings of inadequacy which he offers up to God, just as well as the ordained priest and the bread and wine that he offers up at Mass) - that was my only point - and that other things, though they may contribute to worship, are not, in and of themselves, worship, per se.

OK. Glad for that clarification.