Reply #77: Good point there with your last question. [View All]

[Nihil]

> Is it really worship if there's no expected reciprocity between
> the worshippers and the object of worship?

I am aware of "the god of the gaps" but that last question makes me
wonder if that also covers my earlier point (about being thankful for
good fortune / blaming something for bad fortune).

Maybe "worship" is the wrong word to associate with this kind of god?
(i.e., the non-anthropomorphic, not particularly interested in human
action, pleasure or suffering kind of god.)

I would think that my earlier examples were more "acknowledgement"
(or plain wistful habit?) than "worship" but YMMV.


> If you're saying <Atenists> worshipped something other than the sun,
> something that wasn't in fact the sun but only represented by it,
> something with a "personality" for lack of a better word, something
> with a will and an interest in human affairs, something that can be
> appealed to and prayed to and to which offerings can be made in exchange
> for reciprocal actions, then what's the difference between Aten and Allah,
> for example

One could say that there is no difference between Aten and Allah or Jahweh
or the Christian "God the Father" in a purist sense as it would be the
Creator aspect being worshipped by means of the visible works and the
concept of the "life-giving force" (rather than a white bearded old man).
It is only when generations of various self-appointed interpreters
(a.k.a. priests/rabbis/mullahs/...) interfere and tag on all manner of
other exclusive claims that the difference appears.

One could also say that maybe I didn't pick a good example but it happened
to be the one that sprang to mind when reading the previous post.

:shrug: