Can Atheists Worship/love the Divine? Yes.

[brotherlylove]

Get off. I can 'out-imagine' you any day of the week brotherly. I can imagine the Mother of God spanking her unruly, tantrum-throwing son [God] on his supernatural backside whenever he abuses his own creation. His current 'absence' is because his hypernatural mum sent him to his room as punishment for being cruel and tyrannical to mortals.

How do you out imagine a maximally great being? Whether you think that God is a maximally great being is a different question. My statement was referring to the fact that atheists view deity in a negative connotation and thus probably have trouble imagining anything positive about it.

What the hell does "spiritual eyes" mean?

It means there is a way of seeing that extends beyond what you now perceive.

I can conceive of situations where people worship a being whose very existence cannot be demonstrated. Do I think such a being is worthy of worship? No.

What being would be worthy of worship?

What kind of half-arsed appeal to intelligent design was that? At least make an argument that can be refuted as opposed to being ignored as a rant. There is no evidence of a designer or creator in nature. Anywhere. And God knows what's best for me? By sending me to eternal torment and suffering in Hell? Just because I couldn't believe in this life? What an almighty bastard you believe in!

There is plenty of evidence for design, such as the information in DNA. God only sends unrepentant sinners to hell, so if you have been warned and you still refuse to turn from your sins, I don't see anything unfair about it. He knows what is best for you because He created you and knows you better than you know yourself. Do you deny that such a being would know what is best for you?

The catch-22 here is if a sentient being is *worthy* of worship they wouldn't want to worshipped in the first instance. A flawless rationally-minded deity wouldn't require other lower creatures to debase themselves idolizing or holding them in such reverence and high-esteem to the point where people stop being themselves. If God's perfect, and not an ego-manic, then he would find your religious ceremonies disgusting or at the very least, unnecessary. He'd find your acts of worship embarrassing and opening him to shame in front of an angelic audience and wouldn't want or need your worship.

Conversely, if God demands worship from mere mortals, he's not perfect and therefore, not worthy of worship.

Your flaw here is that you're contrasting God to human beings. It is debasing to worship another human being, because no human being is worthy of worship. It isn't debasing to worship a being that is worthy of worship. Worship isn't groveling yourself, it is a sincere proclamation of reverance and gratitude. Consider this quote by CS Lewis:

“[Lewis] But the most obvious fact about praise – whether of God or anything – strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honour. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise unless . . . shyness or the fear of boring others is deliberately brought in to check it. The world rings with praise – lovers praising their mistresses [Romeo praising Juliet and vice versa], readers their favourite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favourite game – praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars. . . . Except where intolerably adverse circumstances interfere, praise almost seems to be inner health made audible. . . . I had not noticed either that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: 'Isn't she lovely? Wasn't it glorious? Don't you think that magnificent?' The Psalmists in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about. My whole, more general, difficulty about the praise of God depended on my absurdly denying to us, as regards the supremely Valuable, what we delight to do, what indeed we can't help doing, about everything else we value.”

It is natural to praise what we value. God doesn't need worship; He doesn't need anything. He instituted it for our benefit, as a way to be in right relationship with Him. I think the Creator of this Universe is definitely worthy of worship.

Except the consequences are eternal which makes your god an asshat for giving us that choice. That's akin to a parent giving his child the freewill to point a loaded gun up his own nose. God is either monstrously abusive, or wholly irresponsible and incompetent as a 'parental figure'.

If He didn't give us the choice we would be robots. You could call any parent "monstrously abusive" for knowingly conceiving a child that could potentially be a murderer or die in a hideous way. He gives us the opportunity to have eternal life, but if someone prefers to do evil instead, that is their choice.

Yeah right. Look up indoctrination sometime and learn something about yourself.

I know what it means, and that doesn't apply to me. I came to Christianity independently.

At least you don't subscribe to Christianity for personal gain. Heaven forbid!

I "subscribe" to Christianity because I believe it is true.

A creator-god concept is a being that is all alone in an infinite void/singularity without any other like him to comfort him. He can imagine up a world (universe), fantasize a family (humans), but unlike him, none of it is real and deep down he knows it.

God had perfect love due to relationships in the Holy Trinity before He created anything. He didn't create out of need, He created out of an abundance of love. It is real because He gave us a spirit, which makes us as real as He is, since God is a Spirit.

A god can't die. Do you even know what the concept of a deity is?

A God who came to Earth as a man could die. When you die, your spirit leaves your body, and that's what happened to Jesus. In that sense, we are all immortal. You are having trouble imagining this because you see death as the end, and in that sense, no God couldn't die, but that isn't the reality.

Life is a process, death is its inevitable outcome.

Death is inevitable, but not final.

Yeah, its the painting's fault the artist sucks so hard.

It's the childs fault if he doesn't listen to his parents.

If its all about god, then you are nothing, O adopted son and co-heir of magic man.

It is quite the converse in regards to me. It's all about God, in that, we reach our highest potential when we are in line what what He has ordained. That is what we were created for and so I am really nothing without Him.

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How do you not see the contradiction here? Giving someone free-will without autonomy is like giving someone a dick without any balls.

You have autonomy to obey or disobey His commands. Much like you have the choice to do the dishes or go to your room. It doesn't mean you get to do whatever you want, forever.

If he decides who to adopt based on who praises him, then his "adoptive" children and sycophants are not different.

He decides to adopt anyone who calls upon the name of Jesus Christ.

Praise him? For what? Giving me something I did not deserve?

I'd be grateful if he told me, "I'm doing all this because I expect you to pay me back every penny", I'd be grateful to him. Otherwise, I'd call him a fool and throw his money back in his face.

The trouble is, there is nothing you can do to earn it. He has been providing for you your entire life; you have a lot to be grateful for.