Why does God care if we believe in him?

[Pablopedro]

Thanks for your responses.

I’m still struggling. All of these seem like such small, human feelings and reactions.

I get that he created us. But why does it matter to him who or what gets the credit? Why would god even be concerned about getting credit?

From my perspective, I don’t care if I get the credit for birthing and parenting my children. I just want them to be kind and good. Why would it matter for an infinite being more that a human?

I guess the more that I see of these kinds of answers, the more I feel like maybe God is a human creation rather than the other way around. Why else would he be so petty, just like we are? Jealous, just like we are?

I don’t know. Like I said, I’m on a journey. And the answers I’m getting here, and the discussions I follow have lead me to this place. I’ve been trying so hard to hold on to belief, but I feel him slipping away more and more every day.

I’m not trying to be mean, I promise…but it doesn’t really seem like you really read through the responses you’ve been given.

Let me try and word it another way though.

We cannot be happy, fulfilled, fully “actualized”, truly joyful, whole, healed, etc, without having a relationship with God. We cannot have a relationship with God if we do not believe in him.

God cares if we believe in him not for his sake but for ours.

 

[TiggerS]

…edit…

We cannot be happy, fulfilled, fully “actualized”, truly joyful, whole, healed, etc, without having a relationship with God. We cannot have a relationship with God if we do not believe in him.

God cares if we believe in him not for his sake but for ours.

…

 

[zz912]

Thanks for your responses.

I’m still struggling. All of these seem like such small, human feelings and reactions.

I get that he created us. But why does it matter to him who or what gets the credit? Why would god even be concerned about getting credit?

From my perspective, I don’t care if I get the credit for birthing and parenting my children. I just want them to be kind and good. Why would it matter for an infinite being more that a human?

I guess the more that I see of these kinds of answers, the more I feel like maybe God is a human creation rather than the other way around. Why else would he be so petty, just like we are? Jealous, just like we are?

I don’t know. Like I said, I’m on a journey. And the answers I’m getting here, and the discussions I follow have lead me to this place. I’ve been trying so hard to hold on to belief, but I feel him slipping away more and more every day.

I think you give some answer when talking about your children. You want what is best for them. God is what is best for us, as He created us, and sustains us. We were made to be with Him. And you DO care if your children love you or not. So does God.

And God isn’t “jealous” in the sense you are using it. He is “jealous” in that He wants and will accept no rival for our worship. We cannot attempt to say we love God, and also say that we love another false god who did not make us.

 

[Aloysium]

Thanks for your responses.

I’m still struggling. All of these seem like such small, human feelings and reactions.

I get that he created us. But why does it matter to him who or what gets the credit? Why would god even be concerned about getting credit?

From my perspective, I don’t care if I get the credit for birthing and parenting my children. I just want them to be kind and good. Why would it matter for an infinite being more that a human?

I guess the more that I see of these kinds of answers, the more I feel like maybe God is a human creation rather than the other way around. Why else would he be so petty, just like we are? Jealous, just like we are?

I don’t know. Like I said, I’m on a journey. And the answers I’m getting here, and the discussions I follow have lead me to this place. I’ve been trying so hard to hold on to belief, but I feel him slipping away more and more every day.

:twocents:

The god you are trying to believe in, if I read you correctly, doesn’t actually exist.
What you are imagining is a human creation, the result of misunderstanding revealed truths.
He is not petty nor jealous.
You talk about “getting credit”; I agree with you that it would not matter a hoot to an infinite being.
What does matter to Him is your eternal happiness.
You are on a journey not merely to believe, but to know Him. You will not be satisfied until you do.
Nothing comes easy in this fallen world.
It is important to pray and carry on, with love in your heart.
Don’t despair, He is waiting for you.

 

[MichaelHowling]

God is infinitely perfect in and of Himself and needs NO praise, acclamation or acknowledgement… none!

Think of us as extensions of God…we all come from that source and require Him for existence because He’s the only thing that truly exists. It’s like a fish in the ocean… The ocean gives the proper environment for life, fish comes into existence and the ocean is needed for the fish to thrive…if you take the fish completely out of its habitat…it dies.

Same with us. God, who was the only existence at one point …brought into existence mankind and all life and all things both visible and invisible. Everything is naturally ordered towards Him because He’s the source of all.

There is naturally a unity in creation…and when something is separated from the Source…it dies.

The church teaches that God who is love, made us out of love …to love. God made us for Himself. Love constantly pours out and gives of itself…this is God’s nature. If He needed our praise…He wouldn’t be God…He is perfect in and of Himself. WE need to praise and come close to God because He is our very “ocean”…there simply is no life outside of Him.

THANK GOD He permits us to worship Him…worshiping Him is a gift! We need it for ourselves.

God bless

 

[Evan]

Why does a parent care if our children believe that 1+1=2? Or that the set of positive integers is numerically equal to the set of real numbers? Or that E=MC[sup]2[/sup]. Or that force is equal to mass times acceleration? Or that Oxygen has eight protons?

(OK, I’m a science geek, but one could formulate any list of truths in any discipline of knowledge.)
.

Problem here. The bolded assertion is false. see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinality_of_the_continuum