Why can I give God inifinite offense but not infinite worship?

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SecretaryMonday

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I’m not sure if I would understand the answer, or if this is even the right forum to ask.

I have read (from Catholic sources, not just Jonathan Edwards) that, even though we are limited creatures with limited understanding, our offense against God - and the punishment for it - is infinite because of the nature of the One offended. I have also read that part of the need for God to take on flesh was because only an infinite being could properly worship God, because it would take an infinite being to give infinite worship.

Why does a limited man’s offense become infinite because of the One offended, but a limited man’s worship does NOT become infinite because of the One worshipped?

🤷
 
Worship is something one party (in this case us) offers to another (in this case God). It’s value depends on the characteristics of the one doing the worshipping. If I offer someone a car as a gift, its value depends on how much I spend on that car.

Offence, on the other hand, is something that depends very much on the characteristics of both the one offending AND the one being offended.

If I run two very different people over in my car, the damage done to them will vary even if what I do is exactly the same to both.

If I cause someone to become paraplegic who is young, fit, healthy and (for example) a professional sportsman who was relying on their physical ability to earn a living, and whose life is consequently severely impacted by their paraplegia, then I would do much greater damage (cause greater offense, if you will) than if I caused someone to become paraplegic who was 96 years old, already wheelchair bound and perhaps also suffering from the end stages of a terminal illness that meant they would die soon in any event.

The courts recognise this and accordingly I would have to pay much more compensation to the young fit victim than the elderly frail one.
 
No one is** culpable** of offending God infinitely because no one can fully grasp divine perfection.
 
LilyM said:
Worship is something one party (in this case us) offers to another (in this case God). It’s value depends on the characteristics of the one doing the worshipping. If I offer someone a car as a gift, its value depends on how much I spend on that car.
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Maybe this is just the limitations of the analogy, but doesn’t a gift’s worth also depend on how much the recipient values it, as well as the giver? Price is an arbitrary thing upon which certain people agree. If the recipient of the gift is not party to that agreement, he does not necessarily set the same value on the thing.

If I offer a new car to a tribesman, for example, who can’t drive and has no desire for money, it may mean something to him that it cost me a year’s labor, but if he doesn’t want the car, it is worth much less to him than it is to me, even if it has some worth to him as a token of my esteem or whatever.

Granted, God doesn’t *need *our worship, but in this case, isn’t it the Recipient’s values, not those of the offerers, that determines the worth of the sacrifice?

I’m not sure this undoes your reasoning, just something I noticed about it.
 
SecretaryMonday said:
Why does a limited man’s offense become infinite because of the One offended, but a limited man’s worship does NOT become infinite because of the One worshipped?
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You’re looking for the wrong kind of symmetry. The relationships are reversed, because offense and worship are opposites. If you insult a king and a beggar, the king’s dignity makes the offense worse because he deserves better treatment. If you offer each the same gift (say, an apple), the king’s dignity makes the offering *less * because as king he deserves better gifts.
 
I am really shocked and surprised that you haven’t already received this answer, but:

You can give God infinite worship. Attend one Mass.
 
Love4All said:
I am really shocked and surprised that you haven’t already received this answer, but:

You can give God infinite worship. Attend one Mass.
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Yes, but Christ is the One infinitely worshipping God through the sacrifice of the Mass. I’m just tagging along. 😃

I was thinking more of how it is impossible for creation to offer infinite worship, apart from God becoming Man.

Thanks to all who have responded, and Happy Easter!
 
SecretaryMonday said:
Yes, but Christ is the One infinitely worshipping God through the sacrifice of the Mass. I’m just tagging along. 😃
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When you attend and participate at Mass, you offer the Sacrifice to God along with the priest, sharing in the priesthood of the Church. We are to be a kingdom of priests, says Holy Scripture.
SecretaryMonday said:
I was thinking more of how it is impossible for creation to offer infinite worship, apart from God becoming Man.

Thanks to all who have responded, and Happy Easter!
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Thanks be to God He did become a man! Happy Easter!
 
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