Can Atheists Worship/love the Divine? Yes.

[brotherlylove]

At long last we are in total agreement, Brotherly. Worship stinks of self abdication and so is utterly beneath me. I don't want my dog to worship me let alone a person. I like people to have a backbone. People I find worthy do need to embrace autonomy just as you say.

Does autonomy make any sense in light of Gods sovereignty? How could one be autonomous in such a world?

Even when I was very young and believed in such things I could never imagine that God would want or have need for a sea of worshipers. To what end? What would you do with worship?

I think John Piper offers a good description on why God commands worship:

I have to imagine that if your God actually did exist and was giving you absolute free will, He would be sorely disappointed with you. He'd wonder why your insecurity drove you to invest so heavily in that magic elixir they call the "bible" and why you allow the charlatans who sell it to enslave and control you.

He gives us absolute free will to obey or disobey Him, and we are also free to experience the consequences of our choices.

In my case, no one sold me Christianity. I had received signs that God did actually exist, and on that basis I decided to give my life to the Lord. When I did, I received the Holy Spirit and my life was utterly transformed, like a butterfly emerging from a catepillars chrysalis. It's because of those things that I believe the bible is the word of God.

He would not know what this "judgement day", "hell" or "heaven" is all about but he would surely not endure your company in this or any other life. If you really believe in God, spit on the bible, think for yourself and make yourself worthy to be good company for this God of yours. Don't throw yourself at his feet like teenyboppers before a pop idol. Don't abandon yourself at all. Make yourself worthy. Humility in measure is admirable. Seeking to be nothing is not.

I am not nothing. I am an adopted son of God and co-heir to Christ. To be a Christian is to be a part of Gods family. God isn't looking for syncophants, He is looking for sons and daughters to follow the righteous example of His Son and be transformed. I am grateful for all that God has done for me.

If someone took you off the street and fed you, and clothed you, set you up with a car and a house, gave you friendship and connections, and sent you monthly checks until the day you died, you would probably be pretty grateful to that person, wouldn't you?

You might even feel like praising him, and telling other people all that this person did for you. Well, God did a few better than that; He died for me, forgave me for my sins, and gave me eternal life. I have a lot of reasons to praise Him, eternal reasons. We praise the things we love, and so I praise God, the author of life. I praise He who made the stars, the green meadows and the crystal blue sky.

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Humility is claiming responsibility for your triumphs as well as your mistakes and not trying to lay blame on any outside 'influence' at the first sign of trouble or praise for what you have done. Also known as 'backbone'

My mistakes are entirely my own. As far as my triumphs, what I have accomplished in this world, things that some might feel are noteworthy, are just grains of sand passing through the hourglass. My life isn't about what I have done, it is about what God has done, is still doing.