Saltmeister
The Dangerous Dinner
RubySera_Martin said:It seems I have the wrong idea on the meaning of worship. I get that impression from both your and Saltmeister's posts. That is two people telling me I'm wrong. I take that very seriously.
Sorry if you're offended.
Worship, I think is when we honour someone for something we can't inherit. That's perhaps why some Christians won't "worship" Jesus. They believe there is something from Jesus that we can inherit: his attitude. Jesus wasn't a rule-follower. If we adopt a non-rule-follower attitude, and if God accepted Jesus on the basis that his non-rule-follower attitude was honourable, He would accept us too. Just as Abraham is the spiritual ancestor of those whom God accepts through faith, Jesus is the spiritual ancestor of those who aren't rule-followers. I guess that's what makes one a Christian: we become Christians by being spiritual descendents of Jesus.
RubySera_Martin said:One thing I would like to know is why you don't put Jesus Christ on a pedestal and worship him? My Christian parents and religious instructors indicated that this was the proper way to do things. In the Christian communities with which I am familiar, it seems the following terms all mean more or less the same: worship, devotion, praise, honour, glorify, revere.
All of these things were considered to be to the honour and glory of God and His Son Jesus Christ. And there was always an emphasis on emulating Jesus, not only in church but in our everyday life. So this community believed in worshiping and emulating Jesus Christ.
I was taught to worship Jesus, but it isn't enforced at church. It was just part of the hymns in Sunday School. Now that I'm grown up I don't have to do what I was taught as a child.
Do I worship Jesus anyway? I can't exactly answer that for myself. You could say that in some ways I do worship Jesus (that he was sinless and I can never be perfect), while in other ways, I don't worship Jesus (that he had a non-rule-follower attitude that I can adopt so God will accept me the same way God accepted him).
So the answer is yes and no.
Whether I worship Jesus doesn't matter. I can reinforce the idea that Jesus is my personal Messiah both ways. If I don't worship him, it's because I have chosen to become his spiritual descendent. To those who worship him, I say "So do I!" and to those who don't worship him, I say "Nor do I!" To me it makes no difference. I can worship him as God and at the same time honour him as spiritual ancestor (without worshipping him) for the legacy he's left behind. He's my personal Messiah either way. I reckon if a Christian is confused about this, let's say the personal Messiah concept should take precedence over the concept of worship. As long as your Messiah concept is reinforced, it doesn't matter if you worship him or not.
If we start making rules on whether to worship or to not worship we may condemn someone without realising that they were merely taking an alternative, but nonetheless legitimate approach to the same sentiment/goal. The agenda is the same but the approach and methods are different.
Concerning worship and devotion: My intention wasn't to tell you off for being "wrong" but just to let you know I was being misunderstood. I was afraid you might have thought my ancestor idea was a bit . . . nerdy? Geekish?