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To: paladinan
Revelation 14:7 He said in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water."

Worship belongs to God alone.

31 posted on 03/23/2015 3:09:29 PM PDT by CynicalBear (For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus)
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To: CynicalBear
Worship belongs to God alone.

The word in English is ambiguous, and originally meant any kind of high honor. That's why some English judges are addressed as "Your Worship".

The word in Greek is not ambiguous. "Latreia" is the worship or honor due to God alone, and is not to be given to Mary or any other created being.

38 posted on 03/23/2015 3:25:17 PM PDT by Campion
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To: CynicalBear
Worship belongs to God alone.

In the modern sense of "latria", yes. In the ancient, original sense of the word ("paying honor to that which is worthy"), no. Words mean things; and the modern meaning is not always the original meaning, or even the best meaning. I suspect that people, dwelling on the idea that "Only God is worthy" (without finishing the sentence--a nasty habit of modern people), gradually excluded everything but God from that word's usage. Their hearts were most probably in the right place... but their English skills were getting muddled, and they succeeded in neutralizing a perfectly good word of its original meaning, to the point where no one can use it in the original sense without a tiresome list of qualifiers.

(Read "Mere Christianity" for more detail on that phenomenon; C.S. Lewis laments the destruction of the word "gentleman", in that same manner.)

For example (and this is especially pertinent, when dealing with Christian sensibilities): the word "pray" originally meant "to ask"; e.g. "I pray thee, tell me what you mean?", meaning, "I ask you, tell me what you mean." Nowadays, the word has "morphed" into a limited use in which (especially in Protestant circles) it's used for God alone... and that was never its intended purpose.

Adoration belongs to God alone. We are quite free to "worship" (in the old sense of venerating, or paying honor) that which is worthy.
121 posted on 03/24/2015 5:34:25 AM PDT by paladinan (Rule #1: There is a God. Rule #2: It isn't you.)
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