Reasons: Part II

If you are just joining, please start with Reasons: Part I.

Point two from the Losing My Religion post:

The act of throwing people into infinite torture and punishment for not believing a Jewish guy from 2,000 years ago was God’s son, or unknowingly worshiping the wrong god, is extremely cruel and sadistic.

Again- there is an assumption with this point that man is somehow good and deserving of good things and that God has created a hardly believable and narrow way if anyone does not want to experience eternal judgment.  The problem with this thought process is that the author is presupposing the good of human nature.  But it is impossible for a finite being to have infinite knowledge in order to determine that human nature is good.  The author is also assuming that God’s judgment is unjust.

For example, let us assume that a person is coming out of a building and is attacked, bound, and thrown in the back of a car by a man.  Instantly, it seems like an injustice and a horrible story.  The abductor is deemed cruel.  However, if the person coming out of the building has taken the lives of half a dozen innocent people inside and the attack is by a police officer, the act does not seem unjust.  The police officer had knowledge that warranted his actions in the circumstances.

God is the only omniscient one.  Who are we to question the justice of God?  The Bible is clear:

God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.  Psalm 7:11 ESV

So my contra-statement is this:

We have broken God’s law and deserve punishment.  Because of God’s mercy, 2,000 years ago, God sent His Son Jesus to earth, to die, be buried, and rise again in order to make a way for fallen man to spend eternity in heaven.  Jesus was the perfect atonement for imperfect man- an act of pure sacrifice, redeeming love, and undeserved mercy.

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