Converting

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

In the most basic, human sense.

Huh. You're anthropomorphising god, then.

An apt analogy is the old saw ‘ignorance of the law is not a defense’, but a man who robs a bank can claim the he didn’t know act was illegal is still subject the just punishment of the law.

You still need a law to say this. The absence of law does imply the absence of justice. Isn't it some definition of justice... to enforce law.?

A god who provides guidance to its creatures isn’t just, but merciful. And ‘justice’ and ‘mercy’ are mutually exclusive qualities. If you were to argue that it is a merciful god who provides guidance, you’d have a much stronger case.

Merciful means slighter punishment, forgiving whoever deserves forgiveness, etc. not the absence of guidance/law.

And I'm waiting for your case against a just+merciful god, aside from claims.

1. So are you. You are imparting an exclusively human concern (‘justice’) to god.

2. No one’s talking about the absence of law. If you want to claim that divine law exists, go right ahead. But ignorance or awareness of that law is immaterial to the concept of justice. 

3. Suppose a god decrees that the punishment for my sins is that I go to hell. As I’m a particularly unrepentant and enthusiastic sinner, it would be justice for me to go to hell. But if god forgives me, it has been merciful, not just.

Boru