Why Would God Care?

I haven't participated in this thread because I just don't care enough about it. However, I recently saw the movie "Meet Joe Black". It's about Death taking control of a young man's body because he is curious about life and wants to enjoy it a bit. His host, a very wealthy capitalist, asked him if people aren't dying and because Death is right here with him, and Death answered him the following manner.This morning, when you brushed your teeth and shaved, did you just do those things or did you think about what you were going to do today? Most of us when we take a shower or do other morning stuff do think about about a lot of things. Death said that just multiply that by infinity and that's how an infinite being operates.I would say that god cares about little jimmy wacking off because he cares about the great scheme of things at the same time as he cares about the littlest stuff.In some sense, I can relate this to my concert. I played the Mozart Clarinet Concerto. The song itself was beautiful. People afterward told me I did a great job. However, I can tell you exactly what I did wrong in what places and how they could have been better. There were very little things that probably nobody noticed, but they were important to me. In the great scheme of things, I had to worry how I would fit in with the background orchestra as well as how I would project my sound so as not to get drowned out by the orchestra. I had to worry about dynamics. I had to worry about my breaks. I had to worry about keeping the piece classical (I'm more of a romantic player). But at the same time, I was worrying about how I could approach each note.In short, it's probably not something we as humans can comprehend.

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The trivial matters I'm talking about are the ones forbidden by major religions.

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I know you are, but the OP concerns masturbation. You say your OP scenerio is forbidden by major religions, but you haven't shown that it is.The OP scenerio is not forbidden by the Jewish or Christian Bibles, which are believed to contain information from God.So we are back to the idea that some religious people claim God cares about juvenile masturbation. Although if we looked at the reasoning behind the thought, I'm not sure that juvenile masturbation is really their issue with masturbation. It is more about what could lead to offenses that do harm others.So why would some religious people feel that God cares about juvenile masturbation?Given that people can have an interest in every minute detail of an ants life, myrmecology, it is not a stretch for some religious people to feel that God is concerned with every minute detail of a human's life even though he does have all creation to deal with.

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Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

Cool. We're more important than anything in the universe. Maybe if you really try had, you can not care so much that you write a book for ants that explains, in ant language, about why they must not climb your leg while you piss. That would really be not caring.

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"I know some of you are going to say 'I did look it up, and that's not true.' That's 'cause you looked it up in a book. Next time, look it up in your gut."
-Stephen Colbert

Little known fact about arguments: if you repeat them without adding anything new, they get better.

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"I know some of you are going to say 'I did look it up, and that's not true.' That's 'cause you looked it up in a book. Next time, look it up in your gut."
-Stephen Colbert

For... I dunno, maybe the fifteen or sixteen THOUSANDTH time... if masturbation doesn't fly with you, GO AHEAD AND PICK ANY OLD SIN YOU PLEASE.The question is not intended to be specifically about masturbation. If it was, I would have titled the thread, "What's up with God and spankin' it?" The second we see myrmecologists punishing ants for acting in ways the myrmecologists think are bad, and trying to instruct them in how to behave better, this will be a valid comparison.

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"I know some of you are going to say 'I did look it up, and that's not true.' That's 'cause you looked it up in a book. Next time, look it up in your gut."
-Stephen Colbert

Saying that yes, he does in fact care, doesn't really explain why. It's a nice metaphor, but it's on the wrong scale. Did you worry about any sounds being made by the bacteria on your hands? Fair enough. It wouldn't be the first time a religious plot hole was filed under "mysterious ways."

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"I know some of you are going to say 'I did look it up, and that's not true.' That's 'cause you looked it up in a book. Next time, look it up in your gut."
-Stephen Colbert

That we know of... Why do you positively think that god cares?I realize that you think that if he doesn't care then restricting behaviors is a waste of time. But other than the consequence of him not caring, why do you think that he does?

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To further the analogy, "not climbing my leg while I piss" would be composed of multiple actions. I would not need to care about some of them as long as they weren't "climbing my leg while I piss". Now, jacking off could be one of those actions that has been deemed as included in "climbing god's leg while he's pissing", while not being significant enough for god to care about.

How does that affect the price of tea in China?

Oh. So we're maybe not that important.Okay. You already asked this in post 57. We spent several posts hashing it out, which I have no interest in repeating. If there's something you find lacking in the logic of those posts, feel free to point it out directly. And if we were doing something that actively hurts God, (which would be kinda difficult, what with the omnipotence and all,) then yes, I think it definitely would make sense for him to care.But even then, look how you reacted to the ants. Again, it was not by attempting to mold their culture so they would feel shame when they climbed your leg. It was to say, "ACK, ANTS!" and step on them.Edited by Dan Carroll, : No reason given.

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"I know some of you are going to say 'I did look it up, and that's not true.' That's 'cause you looked it up in a book. Next time, look it up in your gut."
-Stephen Colbert

Wow, 84 posts and no-one, not one person, has come close to attempting to answer the question.
Disappointing.So. my attempt at re-phrasing the OP:
(sorry if I'm getting this wrong Dan)1) God things something is a sin (example given: Mastubation (Lust))
2) A person commits that sin, in doing so, harms nobody
3) For commiting this sin, Little johnny goes to hell, or suffers some amount of "separation from God"The question
Why does god give a shit about what Johnny does with his wang in the privacy of his own bedroom?is anybody going to address this?So far we have had something along the lines of
"God cares because doing this separates Johnny from god"
But why does this separate johnny from God?That's like saying a father doesn't want his child to commit a crime because he doesn't want them to go to prison, neglecting totally the victim aspect of the crime, the fact that it is wrong. Merely concentrating on the possible punishment.God is all powerful etc etc. so God has Deemed that this action should separate the perpetrator from Him.
Why has he deemed it so?we are all god's children apparently and he wants us not to suffer. yet he happily has killed millions in our short existance.God apparently cares about us enough to write a rule book, possess the body of a human to spread his word. But Why?

Your reason for thinking that god cares is:

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If he doesn't, any restriction people place on their behavior for the sake of religion alone is a pretty major waste of time.

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That is a negetive reason for why you think he doesn't not care.Do you have a positive reason for why you think that he does? I find the answer insufficient. Plus, I've already explained how there are reasons for placing restrictions on behaviors that god doesn't care about.Simply repeating an insufficient answer doesn't actually answer the question. Well then I think you are needlessly getting down to the gnat's ass on what god cares about. I think it would be better to look at the big picture rather than look for inconsistencies when you zoom in real close. But I'm not capable of communicating with ants and I'm far from godly.

I don't find your concert analogy very satisfying.I'm more familiar with painting and sculpture, where sometimes you look at a piece and say, "Hmm... it's finished. There's nothing more I can do."In music, you might be playing the same piece again and again, so you can micromanage what you'll change next time. "Real art" (no offense) isn't like that - it's a one-off. There's no getting it "right" or "wrong". You get what you get - and sometimes it's "better" than what you aimed for.I think of the universe as a unique sculpture, not one performance in a series of concerts. I think of God as standing back and looking at the big picture and saying, "Hmm... interesting." - not worrying about a few rough spots.You're thinking, "lots of details = lots of worries".
I'm thinking, "bigger intellect = less worries". Edited by Ringo, : Removed repeated phrase repeated phrase.

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Oh, I see where you're getting confused.I don't think God cares. You see, God is just a made-up person, no more capable of caring than Rhett Butler or Kermit the Frog.However, there are those who believe he is real, and their system of belief logically requires that he give a shit about what happens on this planet. I am asking why they think that way. If you'd like to point to an important idea of yours that I left unaddressed, feel free. I'll be happy to go back to it. Yeah, that's why I didn't repeat it, and instead asked you to point where you found a flaw in my logic. You have yet to do so.

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"I know some of you are going to say 'I did look it up, and that's not true.' That's 'cause you looked it up in a book. Next time, look it up in your gut."
-Stephen Colbert

I think you've gotten as close as we're gonna get after six pages of evasion and semantic mangling.Originally, I was asking with a bigger scale in mind... given the scope of what God is, and what God can see and understand, how is it possible that he cares about anything we do? I thought that bringing it to an utterly harmless example like masturbation would bring it into sharp focus... I mean honestly, there's no reason that even we should care who masturbates, why would it even remotely concern God? But making it specific seems to have just provided an excuse to avoid the larger topic.So far, we've gotten some responses that harp on about masturbation, as if it's the important point in all this... some that dither about whether God cares per se, or if he not-caring cares... and some that repeatedly insist without elaboration that of course God cares, don't be ridiculous. So at this point, screw it, I'd be happy to just get an answer about why he cares about the small, harmless stuff.

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"I know some of you are going to say 'I did look it up, and that's not true.' That's 'cause you looked it up in a book. Next time, look it up in your gut."
-Stephen Colbert

You are difficult to communicate with. Becuase they have a misunderstanding.

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you writes:

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Of course, to be able to say God didn't care, this would have to be a law that God didn't set into motion.

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Why is that? Couldn't the law be faily simple and not get down to the gnat's ass on what you're touching?

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Something like: any behavior that seperated you from me could lead to your damnation. But go and do whatever you want, I don't care.

to which you replied:

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To continue the anthill metaphor, would you take the time to approach a colony of ants, and tell them that if they step outta line, they're gonna suffer? Especially if you don't care at all about ants?

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That doesn't answer my question. I think you've made a strawman god...