Is God selfish? How come He demands constant praise and worship while not doing anything for us

Deafheaven

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Satan was cast out because he was trying to actually BE God and overthrow Him.
God Himself doesn't "need" to be obeyed but we should do it to honor who He is. He doesn't "need" to be worshipped but we should do it because we love Him and are thankful for what He has done.

A personal relationship with God/Jesus and knowing who He is on a personal level is what God really wants from us. Scripture was not meant to replace that. It's like if I wanted to get to know you and you gave me a book someone wrote about you to read...that's a good start but to really know you and separate truth from fiction, I would seek a real relationship with you. A personal relationship with you. And that is what God really wants from us. Relationship. Not religion...relationship.

However, once you get to know Him for yourself and realize how big of a deal Jesus' sacrifice was along with eternal pain-free life that He is offering to us, you WANT to praise God all the time. Once you realize someone loved you enough to die for you and never leave you alone, you WANT to be thankful to God. God extends extraordinary love to all. He is extremely merciful on top of that. In fact two of the men closest to Him in the Bible - David and Moses - were murderers. Jesus' own great great great grandmother Rahab was a prostitute. And yet God forgave them and extended love and favor to them. He does the same for each one of us as well. All He really wants is for you to have a relationship with Him. Try Him...what's the worst that could happen if you believe in Him?

No christian has ever answered this question for me so maybe you can.

If God is all knowing, he knew satan would betray him. So why willingly create your eternal nemesis?
 

Cyrus' Wife

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No christian has ever answered this question for me so maybe you can.

If God is all knowing, he knew satan would betray him. So why willingly create your eternal nemesis?

Good question that I've asked too. I think big picture wise that God knew all of this suffering (including Satan's creation and the devastation he would cause as well as knowing God would have to sacrifice His own Son too in the process) would be worth it in the end. I study biblical eschatology/End Times literature and Satan will be cast into the lake of fire forever (Revelation 20:10) as punishment for all the destruction he has caused and so he can no longer have any power. Then God will reign eternally both in heaven and in the new earth.


In the grand scheme of God's timing, everything that happened from Genesis/creation of man up until now and these last days before Jesus returns will be a short blip as compared to eternity. To God, a thousand years is like a day. (2 Peter 3:8)

That's why there are so any Bible verses focused on eternity I think. If someone offered me a trade of taking one day of pain in exchange for a million years pain-free and happy, I'd take it.

That's just my theory though...
 

Deafheaven

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Good question that I've asked too. I think big picture wise that God knew all of this suffering (including Satan's creation and the devastation he would cause as well as knowing God would have to sacrifice His own Son too in the process) would be worth it in the end. I study biblical eschatology/End Times literature and Satan will be cast into the lake of fire forever (Revelation 20:10) as punishment for all the destruction he has caused and so he can no longer have any power. Then God will reign eternally both in heaven and in the new earth.


In the grand scheme of God's timing, everything that happened from Genesis/creation of man up until now and these last days before Jesus returns will be a short blip as compared to eternity.

That's why there are so any Bible verses focused on eternity I think. If someone offered me a trade of taking a day of pain in exchange for a million years pain-free and happy, I'd take it.

That's just my theory though...

No offense breh but thats an absolute silly stance to take...to me at least.

So it really was no good reason for god to create satan other than him to let him have free reign to wreak havoc? And yall fine with this? Im basically agnostic at this point because Im not arrogant ebough to say youre right or wrong about gods existence per se. But the logic yall employ to makw sense of religion is interesting to say the least. Id respect it more if yall could just go its its blind faith, which it is
 

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Let me first preface this by saying I am a born and raised AME Christian-turned-agnostic, so take whatever I have to say how you will.

However if you believe in a Christian God and fully understand the overall concept of such a deity as an individual entity, there's no way you could come out the other side of that and still believe He cares anything for such vain, basic and frankly childish concepts like constant praise and worship. That sort of thinking is largely a callback to pagan and other pre-Christian religions where they had far more vain and "selfish" 'Gods', societies ways of thinking and behavior.

We should also take note to remember that it's entirely possible that the Bible we know and some of the original documents that form it aren't the same ones.
 

Cyrus' Wife

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No offense breh but thats an absolute silly stance to take...to me at least.

So it really was no good reason for god to create satan other than him to let him have free reign to wreak havoc? And yall fine with this? Im basically agnostic at this point because Im not arrogant ebough to say youre right or wrong about gods existence per se. But the logic yall employ to makw sense of religion is interesting to say the least. Id respect it more if yall could just go its its blind faith, which it is

I consider myself more relationship-oriented than religion-oriented and yes, dealing temporarily (because earth life is just temporary) with pain/suffering/grief caused by Satan is worth (eternally) living with God pain-free forever.

I respect your differing opinion though. That is why God gave us free will to choose our own paths.

ETA: I'm a brehette by the way :queen:
I just love Cyrus from "The Warriors" movie hence the username lol!
 
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Cyrus' Wife

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We should also take note to remember that it's entirely possible that the Bible we know and some of the original documents that form it aren't the same ones.


This is ABSOLUTELY correct. This is why God asks for us to seek Him in a personal relationship. Reading someone else's book about you and knowing you personally can be two entirely different things.
 

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Believing in a Deistic God who doesn't interfere with his creation>>>>>>>>>>>> :whew:
For real, I've just been chilling for billions of years. :whew:

I finished all my work, I'm on break until it's time to clock out.:ahh:

We're unionized, boss can't make me do shyt, and neither can you people. :win:
 

Cyrus' Wife

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Y’all religious folks (even of the same religion) are never on the same page. Everybody has different theories and arguments. If God was such a sure thing then why is everybody still so divided on who he is, what he wants, etc, etc? You would think a entity that’s as revered as god is in the world would have more concrete direction for his followers.

I see where you're coming from, but it boils down to being given free will. God could have created robots who all worshipped Him but instead He wants a relationship with those who CHOOSE to seek Him out and receive His direction and His love and love Him in return. That's why I respect all those in here...in fact, a lot of the biggest skeptics of God (like Saul who was renamed Paul) eventually became one of the biggest champions of God. It's all about free will and trying for yourself. I encourage everyone to at least try God and if you find He doesn't help you then so be it but He has made all the difference in my life and has helped me through quite a lot.
 

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So people putting their stock in a god whose just winging it :mjlol:

If thats the case thats even crazier than the opposite...

“All-powerful” isn’t the same as “all-knowing”; people tend to use those interchangeably.

So, I’ll ask again - where’s your Scriptural basis for the claim that God is “all-knowing”?
 
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