Is it required to worship God?

[Verisimilitude]

Our church has a program called “Our Catholic Journey”. Each Wednesday night for an hour a differnt topic is discussed. Tonights was Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. The speaker (Masters in Theology) gave a very good talk about each. At one point he said we have three basic requirements to achieve Heaven.
1.) We must be baptised.
2.) We cannot die in Mortal sin
3.) We must worship God

He clarified that these conditions are incumbant upon us, but God is not bound by anything to include the Sacraments. Which leaves the ultimate decision of the un-baptised…to Him. Ultimately we will be judged by what is in our hearts as an individual as well as our actions.

Though I’m paraphrasing an hours discussion I think he did well to make them clear except the last, so I aske him afterward a few questons about it.

I offered that God did not require us to worship Him. The first three Commandments:

I am the Lord your God: You shall not have strange Gods before me.
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day.

do not require worship but rather identify grave offenses to Him. Further, the first blessing in Genesis:

Gen 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

makes no mention of either a demand or desire to be worshiped.

I questioned the speakers use of words as they did not convey what I had come to understand. Because he spoke to a largely adult audience I felt that description was maybe sufficient for children (I rememeber such “edicts” when I was younger), but as a more sophisticated adult I was hoping we could be more exact, and maybe my argument was more symantic than substance, I still wanted to be clear.

I said we are not required to worship God as a condition to enter Heaven, but if we were sincere in ou hearts that we know Him, we would want to worship Him as He is rightfully due. The method in which we show our worship most perfectly is doing His Will.

It’s why this passage makes sense (finally):

Mt 7:
21"Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.

22"Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’

23"And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’

Lip service is not worship, or just showing up for church each Sunday.

He did not disagree when I concluded that sincere worship to God was more of a embodiment of our true devotion than a requirement to fulfill to enter Heaven. Just as I love and honor my earthly father, he does not demand my respect, but I want to and in turn show him respect by being obedient to his instructions. (I’m sure my dad would wish I had learned that 30 years ago).

In the same way our Father in Heaven does not demand our devotion, but if we listen to Him, we will do Him honor and devotion simply because he is our Father, and that will determine if we are with the sheep or the goats.
(Matthew 25:31-34)

Any thoughts? (Other than I make a mountain out of a mole hill)

 

[Contarini]

Heaven is described in the Bible as the unending worship of God.
I think that speaking about “requirements to enter heaven” is often misleading. Worshipping God is how you become the sort of person who can enter heaven. If you don’t enjoy worshipping God (which does not necessarily mean that you have to enjoy Mass!), then how will you enjoy heaven?

It’s not that God sets up arbitrary requirements, but that God is trying to make us the kind of people who will enjoy being in His presence. Christopher Hitchens, for instance, thinks that heaven sounds like a sort of eternal North Korea. Either he is confused about the real nature of heaven (which I charitably hope is the case) or he is not choosing to become the sort of person who can enjoy heaven, which means he will not go there unless he repents (i.e., turns around and starts becoming a different sort of person).

Edwin

 

[Fidelis]

1Ch 16:29 -
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come before him! Worship the LORD in holy array;

Ps 29:2 -
Ascribe to the LORD the glory of his name; worship the LORD in holy array.

Ps 95:6 -
O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!

Ps 96:9 -
Worship the LORD in holy array; tremble before him, all the earth!

Ps 99:5 -
Extol the LORD our God; worship at his footstool! Holy is he!

Ps 99:9 -
Extol the LORD our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the LORD our God is holy!

Mt 4:10 -
Then Jesus said to him, “Begone, Satan! for it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”

Joh 4:23 -
But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him.

Heb 12:28 -
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe;

Re 14:7 -
and he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of water.”

Re 22:9 -
but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brethren the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”

 

[Pug]

Jesus is helpful:

Matthew 4:10 Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”

Prayer is adoration, which is worship.

1 Thessalonians 5:16 Rejoice always; 17 pray without ceasing; 18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

You have a good point about the moral life:

Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

Is the problem that you conceive of worship as groveling or something? It is worship to me to acknowledge God in all my ways. It is a right relationship with God almost. It is being aware that I am his creation and I owe all to him. I suppose that is just how it feels to me. He does not demand/force that we love him, surely. But that will constitute our ultimate happiness.

 

[JMJ_coder]

Hello,

The first commandment implicitly demands worship. By not putting false gods, absolutely anything, before God, you place God in the number one spot - this is called worship.

Also, consider the greatest of all the commandments:

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength. (Dt 6:4-5)

But he said to him: What is written in the law? how readest thou? He answering, said: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind: and thy neighbour as thyself. And he said to him: Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. (Lk 10:26-28)

Master, which is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus said to him: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets. (Mt 22: 36-40)

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Saint Paul certainly thought so -** Romans 1:19-32**

For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them.20 Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made. As a result, they have no excuse;21 for although they knew God they did not accord him glory as God or give him thanks. Instead, they became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened.22 While claiming to be wise, they became fools23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for the likeness of an image of mortal man or of birds or of four-legged animals or of snakes.24 Therefore, God handed them over to impurity through the lusts of their hearts 15 for the mutual degradation of their bodies.25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and revered and worshiped the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.26 Therefore, God handed them over to degrading passions. Their females exchanged natural relations for unnatural,27 and the males likewise gave up natural relations with females and burned with lust for one another. Males did shameful things with males and thus received in their own persons the due penalty for their perversity.28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God handed them over to their undiscerning mind to do what is improper.29 They are filled with every form of wickedness, evil, greed, and malice; full of envy, murder, rivalry, treachery, and spite. They are gossips30 and scandalmongers and they hate God. They are insolent, haughty, boastful, ingenious in their wickedness, and rebellious toward their parents.31 They are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.32 Although they know the just decree of God that all who practice such things deserve death, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

 

[Verisimilitude]

Ok, I see the many good points being made.

I often look at things from the perspective of non-Christians. I do so because of course I am tying to convince them to come to Christ, but I recognize that sometimes the presentation of what God “demands” from us turn many off. I’m not one to just say, “well, that is the way it is, like it or lump it.” That somewhat flys in the face of a loving merciful God.

So I think maybe the presentation is flawed, and of course I do not think the message is flawed. Fire and brimstone speaches are not always very effective, but it is also ineffective if a false perception of some hippie style flower child God is presented.

My point was that if I told others, specifically non-Christians, or even fallen away Christians; to sidestep the accusation that God is a demanding, strict, task master demanding worship, is that worship is not demanded of them, but if they truly came to know Him, they would want to do so in the justified way He deserves- then those many points you all have provided would become more evident as they themselves grew in faith. Much as I have myself.

Does that make any sense?

 

[Pug]

My point was that if I told others…that worship is not demanded of them, but if they truly came to know Him, they would want to do so in the justified way He deserves

I agree that one grows in appreciation with time. Offhand, I think if a person is joining the Church, one ought to tell them about the precepts of the Church. It would be negligent catechesis not to. Discuss it before they are received into the Church. Our RCIA program covers them in Lent, I believe.

I don’t think it would be a good idea to tell a generic inquirer that they must go to mass every Sunday starting now. Maybe that is exactly what you mean.