iano writes:
God permits man to commit evil if man wants. But God warns that there is punishment for the evil that man does. Surely any natural sense of Justice you hold to permits that notion some airtime
Of course not. That notion is sheer nonsense.
God can warn us of
natural consequences - e.g. step off a cliff and you fall - not that we need those warnings from an external source. But He doesn't have to provide
additional consequences - i.e. "punishment". If He did that, it would be vengeance, not justice.
There are two ways I can express choice: within the boundaries he finds acceptable or outside the boundaries he finds acceptable.
The boundaries are there for
our benefit - not God's. If we step outside the boundaries, there are
natural consequences. There is no need for additional punishment.
Think of a mother telling her child not to play on the street. If he disobeys, there are natural consequences - he might get hit by a car. There is no need for him to be punished on top of that.
Will he
learn from a spanking not to disobey? Maybe. But that isn't the kind of punishment you're talking about, is it? You seem to be talking about spanking the child in the hospital, after he has already suffered the consequences of his actions.
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