First off, this is my first GD post, so be gentle with me.
My question is regarding the phrase/idea “God is always watching you,” which one hears fairly often in religious talk/instruction. How does that make you feel?
I can see how for some it might be comforting…that the Supreme Being is always watching out for one, and knows everything about them down to their thoughts and deepest hopes and fears and loves them very specifically, for who they are. Like a parent, but omniscient.
To me, though, it’s pretty creepy and terrifying. The idea of God as some sort of Cosmic Big Brother, or a Santa keeping a great Naughty/Nice list on every person who has ever existed…I love my folks, but I’m very glad that they aren’t omniscient. I like the idea that my thoughts, and my actions when I’m alone, are entirely for myself. I like the idea of a God who starts things going, but Who has better things to do with Their time than caring whether little ol’ me does the things They want me to or not. Stuff like, you know, lighting stars, creating new worlds with new lifeforms, Maybe Their attention gets distracted one way or another by various prayers; maybe They focus a bit more on people who are, or could be, very important to Their Plan (whatever that might be). But unless there’s a major bug in the program, They have no reason to monitor every little subroutine.
Are there any religious Dopers who feel like I do about God? Who are totally freaked out by the idea of a Personal God? If so, how do you reconcile it with the teachings of most Christian churches? (Also, what denomination if any are you?)
This is probably one of the biggest things that has kept me away from mainstream Christianity. Well, that and the behaviour of many Christians. But I digress.
I remember an old saying that once you finally really understand that God is always seeing you, your actions and thoughts , then you will really be free.
I know it sounds creepy when you think of God as some father figure who nver allows you any privacy but I think the premise is tied to “the truth will set you free”
If everything you are, all your strengths, weaknesses and idiosyncrasies, are known to God then there’s no reason to hide who you are or pretend to be someone else. We are sooooo influenced by the attitudes of those we associate with and so concerned about the opinins and judgments of others, the idea that God sees all frees us to be ourselves, to accpet our imperfections and continue to strive.
I think in many ways it also lends itself to encouraging forgiveness and being too judgmental about te imperfections of others.
Well, if God became man as Jesus Christ, then God has pooped.
(Having written that, I’m sure some church father has “proved” that Christ, being perfect, excreted not, but if you want to maintain the idea of “fully God and fully human” it seems to me you have to include the messy stuff.)
No, I think it’s pretty much accepted in Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, sectarian circles that God Incarnate as JC did indeed poop. As did Mother Mary, which some may even find more disturbing. Only Gnostic heretics, denying the truly material nature of the Incarnation, might deny that, but even they may acknowledge that He seemed to poop.
I didn’t mean to imply that Nonpooping was an orthodox belief – exactly the opposite in fact.
But after an extensive couple minutes of research, the only advocate of Pooplessness I could turn up in the early church was Valentinus, who was indeed eventually declared a heretic - although to what extent the doctrine of Unpoopfulness factored into that I cannot say.
Examining whether God sees all is one way to look at it, but, think around the corner on it for a moment. Hiding from God? God won’t notice if . . ?
However, While I believe God does always see, and know I am not so sure he is always particularly interested. My life bores me, and I am no where near omniscient. I have gazed upon my sleeping child with overwhelming love. But my baby sleeps more or less like another, and pretty much the same from hour to hour. From the perspective of God my greatest moments are probably a bit like those quirky smiles and pouts of a sleeping infant. Perhaps endearing, certainly not unique, or historically significant. Yet I treasure those images in my memory, and perhaps God does as well. After all, He love me.
But back to the OP, think of it this way: Why do you not want others to see some of the things you do or think? Because they might think less of you? Because they might not understand? Consider that God has seen everything that you ever have done or thought, or that you ever will, and He still loves you and understand. When you think about that, it’s really quite liberating.
I’m a Christian type, and while I do believe in an omnipotent omniscient God, the phrase “God is watching you” has a creepy surveillance vibe to me. No likey.
No. Because they are my thoughts and my actions, and they are personal and I enjoy privacy.
As a matter of policy, I don’t do anything I would be ashamed to have anyone know I do - whether or not anyone’s watching. That doesn’t necessarily mean that I am OK with having someone watch and judge me while I do it.
That comparison is like saying “Why don’t you let the officers into your house, whether they’ve got a warrant or not, if you don’t have anything to hide?” Because my stuff is my stuff, and I don’t want anyone else traipsing through it willy-nilly.
But seriously, the whole God is watching you thing kinda comes with the territory of believeing in an omniscient God. He’s not so much watching or spying on you, as he knows everything. As a former by-the-Book, card-carrying Christian, I just sort of shrugged it off and took comfort in numbers. Whatever it was I was doing, I’m sure He’s seen much worse. I kinda makes me feel bad for Him. I mean, shit. He made me who I was, who am I to not indulge in the things I find pleasurable? And if He really has no way to turn His back while I take a shit, or rub one out, then sucks to be Him. He has no more control over the situation than I do, so why hold it against Him?
If He actually exists, then no matter whether you believe in Him or not, he’s still checking you out. May as well not make it boring for Him. Go nuts!
My parents taught it to me, not so much as a Big Brother In The Sky, rather as a Big And Extremely Humorless And Petty Father In The Sky Who Will Be Very Angry At Almost Anything You Do.
The way I usually hear it explained is as a Loving Father Who Is Everywhere, who knows everything and who personally cares about each of His creatures (but who mostly keeps His hands off).
ETA: very pretty, Tris
Reminds me of a story I read in Reader’s Digest (Campus Comedy, I think}.
The dining hall at a certain religious school was set up with a buffet. You’d pick up your fresh fruit, move on to the veggies and entrée, and sometimes, at the end there would be a tray of fresh-baked cookies. The students were on something of an honor system to not bogart the food, but sometimes not everybody would get a chance at the fresh fruit.
So one evening, the students were confronted with a bowl of apples, with a sign that read: Take ONE. Remember, God is Watching.”
At the other end of the buffet by the cookies, someone had placed another sign: “Take all the cookies you want. God is down at the other end, watching the apples.”
