How does one 'praise' god?

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I'm just not exactly sure what the phrase means.

I would have thought the essence of 'praising' would be to acknowledge that the world is good, and then say to god 'Congratulations on making such a good world and being so great at everything'.

So how often do we need to acknowledge this? What do songs and music add? What is the point of doing it together rather than alone? If you name your god only 'God', then how do we know that this is the god you are indeed praying to, rather than some god of a different religion? How is 'praising god' different to prayer? How is 'praising god' different to 'being spiritual'?
Any thoughts or reflections would be welcome, from believers of any kind of atheists.

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@The Pentacle Queen,

This has to turn out stupid, but here goes: If I were to believe in something deserving of the term, God, It would have to be a God that is synonymous with "Ultimate Reality", not just the best or most powerful entity IN Reality; It must encompass everything including you and me. I guess that's a form of Pantheism. My "praise" for this God would simply be the attempt to "realize" It's totality, most particularly to glimpse It's unity with me. In other words, we could not observe and understand this God in the ordinary sense because we could not possibly separate ourselves from It, i.e., to objectify It, in order to perceive It as a particular form in a world of forms. As the Totality It cannot be an object for a perceving--or praising--subject. One can only see and praise It in all its ordinary manifestations, as everything and anything in one's life.

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Personally I don't think so highly of the creator of the world. Look at all of the mistakes He or She made. Earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis wipe things out all the time. Most planets are barren wastelands, and things are spaced way to far apart to be decent for living things.

And don't get me started about humans. In a universe that has been around 15,000,000,000 years, humans last a measly 100 years at best and most of our bodies give out way before that. And our teeth don't even last half of that without thousands of dollars of dental care.

Over all, it is pretty crummy work. Personally, if I had super creator powers, I think I could do a much better job.

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@The Pentacle Queen,

The Pentacle Queen wrote:

So how often do we need to acknowledge this? According the the 10 commandments, once a week, on the Sabbath. Their is some disagreement as to which day is the Sabbath.

What do songs and music add? God gives life, people give the gift of song in return. Some religious sects, of course, believe music not worthy of god, but is the work of the devil. It's all in the details.

What is the point of doing it together rather than alone? Witnesses.

If you name your god only 'God', then how do we know that this is the god you are indeed praying to, rather than some god of a different religion? I believe most believers, in most "one god" religions, believe there is only one god. They also believe their method of praying or praising is better than the other guy's method of prayer. It's not that god is different, it's that they believe she must prefer us over them.

How is 'praising god' different to prayer? One is a thank-you the other is a request.

How is 'praising god' different to 'being spiritual'? Depends on how you go about it or what you want to believe. Could be the same thing or not.

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@The Pentacle Queen,

As an atheist I cynically suggest that the term "praise God" only has meaning with respect to its antithesis "curse God" (synonym "I did not ask to be born into this miserable world"), which of course would condemn the speaker to eternal damnation.

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@Ceili,

The Sabbath is pretty clearly Saturday. I don't think that anyone with understanding of the Bible disagrees with this. In the Bible the Christians met on the first day (Sunday) specifically because the 7th day of the week (i.e. the Sabbath) was already taken.

In romance languages like Spanish or Italian the word for Saturday is even Sabado (i.e. the Sabbath).

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@maxdancona,

The point is, that even though it's written in the bible, Muslims and Christain's celebrate the Sabbath on Friday and Sunday. If that's not confused, what is?

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@maxdancona,

I in turn when facing that kind of typical simple-minded argument end up reasoning that if our world was uninterruptedly jolly and happy all the way down happiness would become a pretty boring common place which we would n´t value all that much...you see happiness requires its opposite to be what it is...not only that but given 2 law of thermodynamics it requires work to...work edifices meaning in human soul...thus from there going wild on speculation who knows our civilization in such a dreadful world might have well be trying to develop an effective mean of suffering only to get something different on its bag of experiences...either that or kill itself out of boredom...

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@The Pentacle Queen,

By the by, PQ, how is teaching English going?

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Scripture says; "Sing to the Lord, bless His name, announce His salvation day after day. Tell His glory among the nations, His wondrous deeds to all people."

Psalm 35:28
my tongue shall speak of Your righteousness And of Your praise all the day long.

Psalm 71:8
Let my mouth be filled with Your praise And with Your glory all the day.

Psalm 79:13
So we, Your people and sheep of Your pasture, Will give You thanks forever; We will show forth Your praise to all generations.

Psalm 102:21
To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, And His praise in Jerusalem,

Offer to God praise as a sacrifice, and fulfill your vows to the Most High, then call on me in your time of distress and I will rescue you, and you shall glorify me."

" Those who offer praise as a sacrifice glorify me and to those who go the right way I will show the salvation of God."

"All those who do right shall rise to live".

"Do what is right and just".

"I the Lord speak the truth, I say what is right".

Those who trust in the Lord shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with him in love: Because grace and mercy are with his holy ones, and his care is with the elect.
But the wicked shall receive a punishment to match their thoughts, since they neglected justice and forsook the Lord.

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@1Prince,

These are all man made fantasies, man made ideas because no god, no omnieverything being would be so conceited as to allow such nonsense.

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@Ceili,

Not to nitpick, and it really isn't that important. Christians in the Bible didn't celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday. They celebrated on Saturday.

Remember that the Christians in the Bible were Jewish.They knew and believed the story of God creating the world in six days and resting on the seventh day. This is why in Moses set up the Sabbath (the seventh day) as holy. The seventh day was holy to Christians and Jews alike.

The Christians all know that the Sabbath (the day commanded by God in the law of Moses to keep holy) was the seventh day. However the Christians started meeting 0n the "First Day" (they referred to it as the first day) to break bread.

They were two different days and early Christians, being Jewish, celebrated both days. There was no confusion over which day was referred to in the law of Moses.

The word Sabbath is a Jewish word that comes from the law of Moses which says "Remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy". There is no question that this refers to the seventh day (on which God rested) and calling Sunday the Sabbath is just wrong. The Biblical Christians would have understood that.

The fact they met on Sunday makes sense, it it doesn't make it the Sabbath.

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by understanding who he actually is

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@JTT,

Oh come on JTT,

If you were all-powerful, you wouldn't insist that everyone sing about how powerful and wonderful and benevolent you were?

What's the use of power if you can't use it to make people love you?

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@maxdancona,

maxdancona wrote:

Oh come on JTT, If you were all-powerful, you wouldn't insist that everyone sing about how powerful and wonderful and benevolent you were?

Quote:

What's the use of power if you can't use it to make people love you?

to make a better place to live for us all

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@The Pentacle Queen,

יָדָה)
(Qal) to shoot (arrows);
(Piel) to cast, cast down, throw down;
(Hiphil); to give thanks, laud, praise; to confess, confess (the name of God)
(Hithpael) to confess (sin); to give thanks

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@demonhunter,

Thanks demonhunter, do you mind telling me which particular religion it pertains to?

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@The Pentacle Queen,

I do not mind. It is Hebrew. I got more. Oh yeah!

קֹדֶשׁ
apartness, holiness, sacredness, separateness.

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@demonhunter,

תְּהִלָּה
song or hymn

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@JLNobody,

No JL I think that's a really good stab at what happens.
I'd be interested to see how many believers could actually relate to your model though.

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How does one 'praise' god?

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