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Question on God “needing” us to serve Him

August 26th, 2015

Anyone interested in helping me break a question down?

Here’s the question: “Don’t mean to be harsh but why does God need us to serve him? Isn’t that kind of selfish? The Bible states that God should be worshiped because he is our creator but its not like it was difficult for him. He created everything with just talking which seems fairly easy.”

I think I’ve identified 2 main ideas that I can address.

1. Does God “need” us? OR What is the purpose of mankind in regards to God?
2. Is God selfish? OR Why does God deserve our reverence?

Does anyone else see something else I can address with her, that I’ve missed?

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  • Seen by 63
    Ed Chait, Jinny Leo and Dale Agner like this.
  • Ed Chait I would address those two points also. I can’t think of anything else.
    August 17 at 5:27pm · Like · 1
  • Jeff Laird I think you’re on the right track. Many questions are best answered by showing that the question itself is the problem. Not all of a questioner’s assumptions are true.
    August 17 at 5:27pm · Like · 3
  • Tim White Why does God demand our reverence and praise? Because of two corresponding unchangeables. 1. God demands truth. He is against the lie, deception, and dishonesty. 2. God alone is worthy of all praise. Therefore, our praise and reverence is the purest honesty we can achieve.
    August 17 at 5:33pm · Like · 1
  • Lea Ann Davis McCombs I would begin with the premise that we were designed by God to be like God and to only find our deepest purpose in fellowship WITH God. We don’t serve Him because He needs anything. We serve Him because that is what we were created to do. Just as birds don’t sing and fly because God is forcing them to do it. They sing and fly because that is what they were designed to do. A bird deprived of the freedom to sing and fly will never know all it was created to be. And a human spirit that never worships God will never know all a human being is designed to be.
    August 17 at 5:47pm · Like · 3
  • Christopher Dupre The questioner is asking with a very human, temporal viewpoint. Attributing selfishness to God shows that she is seeing God as a finite being, even though she acknowledges His power would make creating the universe ‘easy’ for Him. It’s an indication that she hasn’t thought things through too much (which is why she’s asking the question, I guess). Creation’s value is not based on the degree of difficulty in creating it, but on the fact that it reveals God’s glory as the ultimate standard of what is good. Everything in creation points back to God in declaration of His glory (Ps 19:1), including us. That God would choose to use us according to His purpose should excite us. We have to remember that He is the transcendent standard. I think the questions are indicative of societal views of God. We either believe there is no God, or there is a god of no consequence.
    August 17 at 5:54pm · Like · 2
  • MeLissa LeFleur Houdmann There is an article on the site about this. Search “God demand worship” and it might have some info you can use.
    August 17 at 5:55pm · Like · 1
  • Ed Chait I think the questioner is also looking at things with a works-based perspective when he/she says that God didn’t have to work hard to create everything. This person may be thinking that if God had worked hard, then He would be worthy to be served by us.
    August 17 at 5:57pm · Like
  • Julie Kimani Christopher, I was thinking the same thing. She is trying to bring God down to a human level. I have close friend that tries to do the same thing, her statement to me was “If God judges me, then He’s not perfect” What they’re not realizing is that He is the ONLY one who has the right to judge, to be jealous, etc.

    Ed, thanks! I knew there was something else in there I wasn’t seeing! I think I can incorporate that into the part where I address why God deserves our reverence.
    August 17 at 6:01pm · Like · 2
  • Ed Chait Thanks for sharing the question! smile emoticon
    August 17 at 6:02pm · Like · 1
  • Bob N Kelly Russell Short answer is we “get” to serve God. Out of the overflow of our love we’re drawn to worship the One who created us. Until the sheep comes into the fold, there is no understanding of the Shepherd’s great love.
    August 18 at 4:07am · Like · 4
  • Jason Finch 1. Does God need us? This would be a definite no. The Triune God is self sufficient. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit have eternally loved each other and lived harmoniously with and in each other. Mankind was created for the sole purpose of God’s glory. Our service to Him is for His glory. Even Calvary (though we are beneficiaries of Christ’s sacrifice) is to glorify God.

    2. Is God selfish?
    If God was Unitarian, then perhaps He would be selfish, but the fact that He is Triune in His nature makes Him not selfish, because The Father is always loving the Son, and the Son loving the Father, and the Holy Spirit. In regards to us, we are His creation. If there was another creator out there (which there is not), then perhaps one could call God selfish, but the fact that He is the only one of His kind demands that He be revered and glorified by His creation.

    Just my thoughts smile emoticon
    6 hrs · Like · 2
  • Julie Kimani Regarding selfishness, I ended up saying that the definition of selfishness is thinking only of oneself without regards to others. God proved He isn’t selfish on the cross.

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