Faith and Worship

In LDS philosophy as much as in any branch of Christianity we tend to view the universe in terms of opposites, good and evil, peace and war, chastity and promiscuity, Heaven and Hell.  But in Hindu philosophy there are 3 differentiations used to illustrate the inner-workings of human nature and the universe as a whole.
These 3 levels are called gunas and though I loathe to reference wikipedia for easy reference and understanding this excerpt serves its purpose:
"Guṇa (Sanskrit: गुण) means 'string' or 'a single thread or strand of a cord or twine'. In more abstract uses, it may mean 'a subdivision, species, kind, quality', or an operational principle or tendency.^[1]
In Samkhya philosophy, there are three major guṇas that serve as the fundamental operating principles or 'tendencies' of prakṛti (universal nature) which are called: sattva guṇa, rajas guṇa, and tamas guṇa. The three primary gunas are generally accepted to be associated with creation (sattva), preservation (rajas), and destruction (tamas) (see also Aum and Trimurti).^[2] The entire creation and its process of evolution is carried out by these three major gunas.<sup>[1][3][4]"
The reason I mention the gunas is because they are fundamental to understanding the 17th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita which is about the 3 different types of faith and worship.
Krishna says in 17.3-7 "Every man's faith conforms with his inborn nature, Arjuna.  Faith is a person's core; whatever his faith is, he is.  Sattvic men worship the gods; rajasic, demigods and demons; tamasic, the hordes of dark spirits and the ghosts of the dead.  Men who mortify their flesh in ways not sanctioned by scripture, who are trapped in their sense of "I" and driven by warped desires, in their folly torturing the parts that compose the body, and thus torturing me in the body-know that their aim is demonic...."

Now I'm sure that we have seen examples of all three forms of faith and worship at some point throughout our lives.  But there is more to be said of these 3 types of faith and worship, of self-control and charity.  
When we Choose The Righteous path for righteousness sake then we are truly living righteously or in a Sattvic way.  When we pursue the appearance of righteousness to gain blessings, and the honor and praise of our fellow brothers and sisters we are in fact living selfishly or in a Rajasic way.  And when we say to ourselves and others "Random injustice anywhere means there is no true justice anywhere." or "I have been hurt 7 fold and I will have vengeance 77 fold." or we pursue limitless vengeance and suffering for limited sins and offenses then we are on a Tamasic path. 
In the Bhagavad Gita 17.13-17 Krishna says "Worship is tamasic when it is faithless, contrary to scripture, with no food offered, no texts recited, no payments made to the Priest.  Honoring the gods, the priests, the teachers and sages, purity, nonviolence, chastity, uprightness-all this is control of the body.  Speaking the truth with kindness, honesty that causes no pain, and the recitation of scripture-this is control of speech.  Serenity, gentleness, silence, benevolence, self-restraint, purity of being, compassion-this is control of the mind.  When these three levels of control are practiced with faith and diligence and with no desire for results, such control is Sattvic.

So worship is tamasic when it is faithless or contrary to scripture but notice that it is also tamasic when no offerings are made.  Now the offerings mentioned here are indicative of the culture from which this scripture springs but I think the importance and the focus is that people who worship in this way do not make offerings to the Lord.  No tithes, no offerings of selfless service, no recitation of scripture, no prayers.  It is, you could argue, a habitual form of worship.  Like those who for example sing the hymns halfheartedly with no joy, the scriptures don't say to make an in-tune noise they say to make a joyful noise.  People like this may just as easily and habitually fall to sleep in church out of a lack of interest or desire to truly partake in the act of worship.
Also Krishna explains what Sattvic control is control of the mind, body and speech.  That all 3 when done with faith and diligence and without concern for results or in other words when righteousness is done for righteousness sake and not out of desire for blessings or out of fear of punishment for not worshiping or making offerings.  If you read the entire Bhagavad Gita and many overviews and commentaries you will get a better sense of what I have been explaining.  Having done so I have come to a good understanding of what the scripture is trying to say.
And now Krishna moves to discuss the different types of charity in chapter 17.18-22 "....Charity given to the worthy, without any expectations, for the sake of the act itself-this kind of charity is Sattvic.  Rajasic charity is given halfheartedly, with the thought of securing some favor in return or to gain some spiritual merit.  Charity is called Tamasic when given to the undeserving, at the wrong time and wrong place, grudgingly, without respect."</sup>  

Doing good for goodness sake is Sattvic but most of what I see in our community and in American Christianity at large is Rajasic, only done when there is a blessing or the praises of their brother and sisters to be found in offering worship, or in the giving of charity, or in the performance of selfless service.  But if we are truly intent of achieving a perfected state we must know how to get there and align ourselves with the right intentions, have the righteousness of the Lord within us.  None of us are perfect but through faith and service and charity and worship we may become perfected beings.  The potential is there all we have to do is remove the obstacles within ourselves that block the Lord from dweling within us where he truly wants to as much as some of us want him to.
We are God's children and as such we have a divine inheritance to be found.  As children of God we are a part of Him as surely as are own flesh and blood are a part of us but on a much deeper and intrinsic level.  According to Stephen Hawking since we know that time and space are one then at the moment of the big bang time itself was created, so there can be no creator because there was no time for it.  Which is a straw man argument if ever I've heard one.  Just because time as you understand it came into being at the same time as space and matter, the matter and the astronomical levels of energy to break lose at that moment came from somewhere and have always existed as the Lord has always existed, as scripture says we have always existed.
Our souls are a part of the substance of God, and through them we have direct and instant communication with Him.  We are never alone, we are never so lost we can not be found or saved.
And when I read the Bhagavad Gita I get the sense that there is no inherent evil in any of us.  When the Gita makes reference to that, it is calling to mind the doctrine of reincarnation, whereby you ascend or descend into the next life based of how you lived in your last life-in essence your choices determine your fate. And LDS theology agrees that your choices determine your fate.  Satan as an example-chose to reject the will of the Lord and turned from another child of God into the Father of all lies.  It was a choice made of his own free will, not an inborn evil.
We are all given our agency to choose the righteous path or reject that path and choose something evil or just choose to forever be lost on the roller coaster of ups and downs that is found in pursuing pleasure and fleeing from pain.
How we choose to worship and what type of faith we have will determine the quality of the spiritual fruit we bear, or if we are to bear any at all, or even if we are to turn into religious nuts rather than producing spiritual fruits.