# God's busy -we need to look after ourselves. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 1, 2006, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-busy-we-need-to-look-after-ourselves/371030 "2006-09-01T02:33:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-busy-we-need-to-look-after-ourselves/371030/1 "2006-09-01T02:33:54Z")
Assuming the premise that there is a superhuman God, the notion, that God is _everywhere_, doing \*everything \* in a practically infinite universe is simply silly. We need to acknowledge that God is busy with “God stuff”, and take care of the smaller things that concern our day to day existence. I think we need to jettison the notion that God is intimately and personally involved in our personal everyday lives. This level of conceit is silly and counterproductive. God paints in broad strokes and we fill in the outlines. God isn’t ignoring us, God simply does not have time for all the piddly stuff we busy ourselves with. We need to understand the limits of God’s attention and be responsible for ourselves to the extent we are able. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-busy-we-need-to-look-after-ourselves/371030/2 "2006-09-01T02:39:11Z")
Why should we assume there is a superhuman God? And if there is one, why should we assume we would know what he’s doing? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-busy-we-need-to-look-after-ourselves/371030/3 "2006-09-01T02:40:21Z")
[The Church of God the Utterly Indifferent](http://godtheutterlyindifferent.tribe.net/) ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-busy-we-need-to-look-after-ourselves/371030/4 "2006-09-01T02:42:12Z")
Which reminds me of a joke: A Philosophy Prof is giving his lecture, and decides to challenge the existence of God. He does this by calling out loudly: “God, if you exist, I want you to knock me off this stage by the end of the hour”. Nothing happened, and he continued the lesson. At the half hour, the Prof repeats the challenge: “I’m still here, God. If you exist, knock me off this stage by the end of the hour.” Nothing happened, lesson continues. Five minutes left in the hour, and the Prof calls out God yet again… “C’mon, God. Show yourself. Knock me off this stage before class is over” This time, a young marine leaves his seat, walks deliberately to the front of the class, and knocks the Prof flat on his ass. The Prof is stunned, and in some pain, but stammers: “W-w-why did you do that?” The marine replied: “God was busy, so he sent me instead” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Gaines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/439d5e/32.png) [@Gaines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaines)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-busy-we-need-to-look-after-ourselves/371030/5 "2006-09-01T02:45:59Z")
Why should we assume a superhuman God has to have limitations? And why should we assume that we are not among his Godly things to do? And why do I have the sinking suspicion that your question was basically just you pointing something out in a condescending manner? ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-busy-we-need-to-look-after-ourselves/371030/6 "2006-09-01T02:48:59Z")
God cannot tolerate the prescence of sin, which is why bad people cannot go to heaven. Also, God is everywhere and in everyone. That’s got to SUCK. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-busy-we-need-to-look-after-ourselves/371030/7 "2006-09-01T03:05:40Z")
[QUOTE=astro] We need to understand the limits of God’s attention [/QUOTE] Okay, help me understand: what _are_ the limits of God’s attention? Just how much can God do before becoming simply silly? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-busy-we-need-to-look-after-ourselves/371030/8 "2006-09-01T03:05:51Z")
Man has to accept the limits of his God. To do otherwise is simply childish, the entirety for reality is too large for any entity to micro-manage. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-busy-we-need-to-look-after-ourselves/371030/9 "2006-09-01T03:21:10Z")
Was “omnipotent” redefined while I wasn’t paying attention? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-busy-we-need-to-look-after-ourselves/371030/10 "2006-09-01T03:26:01Z")
[QUOTE=astro] Man has to accept the limits of his God. To do otherwise is simply childish, the entirety for reality is too large for any entity to micro-manage. [/QUOTE] You still haven’t given any hint as to where you think those limits lie. I’ll grant that I cannot wrap my mind around what God is capable of, but that’s a limitation on my ability to understand God, not on God. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-busy-we-need-to-look-after-ourselves/371030/11 "2006-09-01T03:30:41Z")
[QUOTE=DianaG] Was “omnipotent” redefined while I wasn’t paying attention? [/QUOTE] Sure God _can_ do anything if s/he sets their mind to it, it’s not omnipotence that seems implausible, it’s omniscience, especially if it’s required to be applied to monitoring every little thing in the universe. That tips the scale from plausible God to silly God. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-busy-we-need-to-look-after-ourselves/371030/12 "2006-09-01T03:38:43Z")
Isn’t omniscience sort of contained in omnipotence? If one is omnipotent, it hardly seems that one is likely to strain onself keeping track of a few billion humans. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-busy-we-need-to-look-after-ourselves/371030/13 "2006-09-01T03:41:30Z")
FWIW, I don’t actually believe that there’s an omnipotent God. I just think that arguing the limits of omnipotence is sort of oxymoronic. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-busy-we-need-to-look-after-ourselves/371030/14 "2006-09-01T04:29:03Z")
So, how does God keep himself busy these days? Checkers? American Idol? ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-busy-we-need-to-look-after-ourselves/371030/15 "2006-09-01T05:25:37Z")
[QUOTE=astro] Assuming the premise that there is a superhuman God, the notion, that God is _everywhere_, doing \*everything \* in a practically infinite universe is simply silly. We need to acknowledge that God is busy with “God stuff” [/QUOTE] Oh, there’s some silliness here, all right, but it isn’t in the idea of an omnipotent God. It’s in the idea of a “superhuman” God, as if God is just like us, only bigger and better. Stretch your mind to the idea of a being outside of time and space, outside of physical being completely, and maybe it won’t seem so silly. You are right, though, about God not having time to do or keep track of all those things. He doesn’t have time at all. Time has nothing to do with him. What I see here is simply, “I don’t understand the concept, so it must not be possible. It’s beyond my imagination, so it’s just silly.” ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-busy-we-need-to-look-after-ourselves/371030/16 "2006-09-01T05:40:33Z")
[QUOTE=thirdwarning] Oh, there’s some silliness here, all right, but it isn’t in the idea of an omnipotent God. It’s in the idea of a “superhuman” God, as if God is just like us, only bigger and better. Stretch your mind to the idea of a being outside of time and space, outside of physical being completely, and maybe it won’t seem so silly. [/QUOTE] Ummm… stretching … stretching… no… still silly, too many data points to keep track of in order to be truly universally omniscient. If God is intelligent God’s got to focus, and being focused requires some degree of exclusion. Situationally omnipotent OK, universally omniscient, no. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-busy-we-need-to-look-after-ourselves/371030/17 "2006-09-01T05:45:55Z")
[QUOTE=DianaG] Isn’t omniscience sort of contained in omnipotence? If one is omnipotent, it hardly seems that one is likely to strain onself keeping track of a few billion humans. [/QUOTE] Well, don’t forget that he’s supposed to be watching out for [sparrows](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=10&verse=29&version=9&context=verse), too. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-busy-we-need-to-look-after-ourselves/371030/18 "2006-09-01T05:54:15Z")
How can the skin of a rat or a mouse hold Anything more than harmless flea? The burning plague has taken my household Why have the Gods afflicted me? All my kith and kin are deceased Though they were as good as good could be I will out and batter the family priest Because the Gods have afflicted me! My privy and well drain into each other After the custom of Christendy Fevers and fluxes are wasting my mother Why has the Lord afflicted me? The saints are helpless, for all I offer As are the clergy I used to fee Hereafter I’ll keep my cash in my coffer Because the Lord has afflicted me! * * * This is none of the good Gods’ pleasure The spirit they breathe in men is free But what comes after is measure for measure And not any God that afflicteth thee As the sowing, so the reaping Is now and ever more shall be Thou art delivered to thine own keeping Only thyself afflicteth thee! – “Natural Philosophy,” by Rudyard Kipling ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-busy-we-need-to-look-after-ourselves/371030/19 "2006-09-01T06:09:28Z")
[QUOTE=Oakminster] Which reminds me of a joke: A Philosophy Prof is giving his lecture, and decides to challenge the existence of God. He does this by calling out loudly: “God, if you exist, I want you to knock me off this stage by the end of the hour”. Nothing happened, and he continued the lesson. At the half hour, the Prof repeats the challenge: “I’m still here, God. If you exist, knock me off this stage by the end of the hour.” Nothing happened, lesson continues. Five minutes left in the hour, and the Prof calls out God yet again… “C’mon, God. Show yourself. Knock me off this stage before class is over” This time, a young marine leaves his seat, walks deliberately to the front of the class, and knocks the Prof flat on his ass. The Prof is stunned, and in some pain, but stammers: “W-w-why did you do that?” The marine replied: “God was busy, so he sent me instead” 😃 [/QUOTE] Got a much, much better one: Old Ezekiel the farmer was sitting on his front porch when his neighbor drove up in his pickup truck. “Ezekiel, the dam up the valley just broke! We’ve gotta get out of here!” Ezekiel said, “Thank you, friend, but I’ve always put my trust in the Lord! The Lord will save me!” The neighbor drove away. Then water started flowing over Ezekiel’s land. A motorboat came by with a bunch of refugee farmers and the sheriff’s deputy piloting it said, “Come on, Ezekiel! The valley’s flooding!” And Ezekiel said, “Thank you, friend, but I’ve always put my trust in the Lord! The Lord will save me!” Then the water rose higher and higher and Ezekiel had to climb up onto the roof of his farmhouse. A helicopter came by, checking for stragglers. A state trooper shouted out of the 'copter door, “Come on, Mister! We can get you out of here! Grab the ladder!” Ezekiel shouted, “Thank you, friend, but I’ve always put my trust in the Lord! The Lord will save me!” The helicopter flew away, and the water rose higher and higher. And Ezekiel drowned. When he awoke in Heaven, Ezekiel immediately demanded to be ushered into the presence of God. God said, “Ezekiel! Glad to see you here, but I didn’t expect you so soon!” Ezekiel replied, “Lord, I always put my trust in you! Why didn’t you save me?!” God said, “Look, Ezekiel, what more do you want from me?! I sent you a pickup truck, I sent you a motorboat, I sent you a helicopter . . .” ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2006, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-busy-we-need-to-look-after-ourselves/371030/20 "2006-09-01T06:43:50Z")
[QUOTE=Gaines] Why should we assume a superhuman God has to have limitations? And why should we assume that we are not among his Godly things to do? And why do I have the sinking suspicion that your question was basically just you pointing something out in a condescending manner? [/QUOTE] If god is watching over us, he’s doing a piss-poor job of it. But the OP is fatally flawed in that there are much better answers to the question than God being too busy - many of which have already been given. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gods-busy-we-need-to-look-after-ourselves/371030.md?page=2)