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[Newbie]

I’ve often thought about things I believe, and reasons to defend them. It’s not always easy. Take worshipping God. On the surface, it’s hard to explain away an omnipotent deity who demands our worship. Why demand? Why when we read Revelations are there thousands of thousands gathered around His throne, worhsipping and praising and going on and on. In fact, we even see that in the Bible God has actually created some beings whose sole purpose it is to praise Him day and night, incessantly for all eternity. It seems, say, a little egotistical.

[jimwalton]

God demands our worship not out of egotistical self-centeredness, but out of concern for us. Let me explain. Before sin, worship was part of our nature. God didn't have to demand their worship, and they didn't have a problem giving it. But as soon as sin entered the world, there were other choices, all of which were destructive. We see that right away in Genesis 4 when Cain offers inappropriate worship, Genesis 6 shows the world a mess, and Genesis 11 shows again a major worship problem. God demands our worship, not because he is full of Himself, but to protect us from incorrect conceptions of God, the destructive lies of idolatry, and the inappropriate expressions of of spiritual devotion.

As far as Revelation in your reference, I'm not sure I'd agree that seraphim were created to worship, and that's why God made them. They choose to do that (since we know from other passages, such as Jude 1.6, that it's a choice even for spiritual beings) and God doesn't stop them. On the contrary, it would be quite inappropriate for God, in some self-deprecating manner, to say, "Aw, shucks y'all. You don't have to do that."

Feel free to respond to discuss it. I'd be glad to talk about it more, or deeper.