The Attibutes of God

Originally posted by bbarr
What does it mean to be perfectly just? Would it, for instance, entail that a perfectly just being would treat everyone precisely in the manner they deserve? Do you think this would be at all in tension with being loving? If being merciful, forgiving, compassionate and generous is at least partly constitutive of being loving, then it seems to be at odds wit ...[text shortened]... an, and whether we're supposed to read them as we would in their typical application to humans.

Any true justice system would surely not include punishment.

Of course that Utopian ideal will never come to pass but if
you have an all powerful god he should be up to the task.

Originally posted by bbarr
What does it mean to be perfectly just? Would it, for instance, entail that a perfectly just being would treat everyone precisely in the manner they deserve? Do you think this would be at all in tension with being loving? If being merciful, forgiving, compassionate and generous is at least partly constitutive of being loving, then it seems to be at odds wit ...[text shortened]... an, and whether we're supposed to read them as we would in their typical application to humans.

Jumping in uninvited.
Kick me out as you see fit.

What does it mean to be perfectly just?
God's attributes being absolute, we can't be faulted too heavily for general fuzziness from time to time.
God's justice accepts everything His righteousness approves.
God's justice condemns everything His righteousness rejects.

Hitching onto a previous statement in another thread, God's genius had already constituted a plan wherein He wouldn't have to deal with man on the basis of His love.
Instead, He devised a plan which satisfied His righteousness.
Admittedly, His plan is [understatement] a little hard [/understatement] to get one's mind around.
However, when one gets a general idea of exactly what happened, exactly how it happened, exactly when it happened...
It is thing of unspeakable, humility-inducing beauty.
It's about the only thing I have encountered that actually shuts my mouth.