Describe why Christians worship God

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Fran Grainger 11S

  1. Describe why Christians worship God

Christians believe in a trinitarian God, compromising of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  They worship the Father, or creator, part of the trinity because they believe he is the sole creator of the universe and merits worship.  The fact that the Father God had created the universe would be evident to a Christian because of the teleological or design argument, which says that because we see such beauty and order in the world, which could not have occurred by chance, the universe must have a designer.  William Paley presents this argument as he talks of someone happening upon a watch on a path.  They would know that the watch had a designer because of its intricate and perfect nature, however, if the same person discovered a rock on the path, they would dismiss it as a natural occurrence.  This is relevant to the creation story because a stranger to the planet would see that the Earth was too perfect to occur without a designer, which must have been God.  

Christians also worship the Father because they believe in the cosmological argument, which is that nothing can happen without a cause, and in infinite regress there must have been a first cause, which Christians believe is God.  Also, the cosmological argument states that because everything in the universe is contingent and finite, there must be a non-contingent, infinite and necessary being to have been the first cause or prime mover of these events, which is God.  Christians also believe God to have aseity and therefore God is “begotten not created.” 1 

Another reason why Christians worship the creator part of the trinity is that because God created human beings in imago dei 2, for a love relationship with God which they need to fulfil by worshipping God.  The love relationship with God is necessary for human beings because it is what they are created to do; 3 “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee. Christians also worship the Father because they try to live their lives as that of Jesus, and Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.  The second is this: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these.” 4 This passage shows Jesus saying that Christians should try and have a love relationship with God, and because a Christian would follow Jesus' example they would do this.

Finally, Christians worship the Father God because they believe he is the author of human morals and therefore merits worship.  The moral argument, presented by Emmanuel Kant, states that because we have a seemingly universal sense of right and wrong that there must be a universal author of morals.  God has presented his morals, and those he wishes Christians to follow on two occasions in the Bible; The Decalogue in Exodus 20:1-17 and The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7.  The Christians also believe their God to be just, and stand up for justice; this is shown in Amos.

Christians also worship Jesus, the Son part of the trilogy, the incarnate redeemer of humanity.  They worship Jesus, because they believe his incarnation shows the existence of God, because Jesus’ birth is a fulfilment of prophecy told in Isaiah chapter 9.  This shows Christians that God is not simply a deity, who created the world and left it alone, but a personal God who regularly interacts with the world, and merits worship.  More prophecies are fulfilled as Jesus presents the New Covenant to the disciples at The Last Supper in Matthew 26:20-30 and as he is crucified becoming the Passover lamb.

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Christians worship Jesus because they believe that through his crucifixion, he has suffered all the sin of humanity and forgiven Adam and Eve’s original sin.  Through worshipping Jesus, Christians believe that they are put right with God through atonement and redeemed of their sin.  Additionally, Christians worship God because they believe that he has established a new covenant and that through the fulfilment of this Christians are offered life after death through eternal salvation and resurrection.  “He became what we are so we might become what he is.” 5  Christians worship God through kenosis and making themselves vulnerable to ...

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