"If you do not believe, surely God is beyond need of you. He is not pleased with disbelief for His servants. And if you are grateful, He is pleased therewith for you; and none shall bear the burden of another."
Quran 39:7
I think this is the second passage I've culled out of surah 39, which is usually rendered as "The Throngs." This is not the only time in the Quran wherein this point is made. As Nasr tells us, "That God is beyond need of you (cf. 3:97; 29:6) is related to the idea that unto God belong the pure religion (v. 3), for neither God nor His religion are in need of human beings, but human beings are in need of both." I mean, I guess it makes sense: what could an eternal, omnipresent, omniscient God need from human beings? It's a bit of a slippery slope, because if God truly needs nothing from human beings - that essentially there's nothing that we can do to impress God, then what's the point of the relationship? Nasr adds, "God is then pleased with gratitude, not for His own sake, but because it leads to His servants' salvation. All of this together indicates that God Himself derives no benefit from human beings' faith in Him, but rewards them for it out of His Mercy." (Study Quran, p. 1120) If God is truly ultimately Good, or in this specific example Merciful, then this begins to make sense. We've talked before about the fact that in some translations of the Quran the passage about God creating human beings being created to worship God is rendered as human beings being created to know God. To me the former has never made sense, and the latter is perfectly logical. If God has no need of us, and only created us so that He/She could be worshipped, then the human condition is rather pointless. Nasr's point is a great one, although it takes a bit of mental gymnastics to make it work; truthfully, it somewhat reminds me of the old Calvinist logic because of predestination you couldn't earn salvation (so why be good?), but if you acted good it was probably indicative of being saved because a person who was saved would act that way. Now, if what God truly wants from us is to show consistent kindness and love and compassion and forgiveness to our fellow humans, and all the other beings on the planet, then you worship God by showing that kindness and love and compassion and forgiveness.
Quran 39:7
I think this is the second passage I've culled out of surah 39, which is usually rendered as "The Throngs." This is not the only time in the Quran wherein this point is made. As Nasr tells us, "That God is beyond need of you (cf. 3:97; 29:6) is related to the idea that unto God belong the pure religion (v. 3), for neither God nor His religion are in need of human beings, but human beings are in need of both." I mean, I guess it makes sense: what could an eternal, omnipresent, omniscient God need from human beings? It's a bit of a slippery slope, because if God truly needs nothing from human beings - that essentially there's nothing that we can do to impress God, then what's the point of the relationship? Nasr adds, "God is then pleased with gratitude, not for His own sake, but because it leads to His servants' salvation. All of this together indicates that God Himself derives no benefit from human beings' faith in Him, but rewards them for it out of His Mercy." (Study Quran, p. 1120) If God is truly ultimately Good, or in this specific example Merciful, then this begins to make sense. We've talked before about the fact that in some translations of the Quran the passage about God creating human beings being created to worship God is rendered as human beings being created to know God. To me the former has never made sense, and the latter is perfectly logical. If God has no need of us, and only created us so that He/She could be worshipped, then the human condition is rather pointless. Nasr's point is a great one, although it takes a bit of mental gymnastics to make it work; truthfully, it somewhat reminds me of the old Calvinist logic because of predestination you couldn't earn salvation (so why be good?), but if you acted good it was probably indicative of being saved because a person who was saved would act that way. Now, if what God truly wants from us is to show consistent kindness and love and compassion and forgiveness to our fellow humans, and all the other beings on the planet, then you worship God by showing that kindness and love and compassion and forgiveness.
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