The justice and mercy of God

[Godscreated]

Spiritual brinksmanship.

Not the best of motivators, the fear of death (when it comes to morality, at least..and even less so when brinksmanship is an option). While it may come at any moment we spend a considerable amount of time not thinking about it. Many people, when contemplating their own deaths do so in the context of their last words, which could presumably be, "god, forgive all the terrible shit I didn't have a strong enough moral compass to prevent me from doing in the first place". It's legalism in place of a good life.

It's not even clear to me how one could be sinful or virtuous in the face of omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, and omnibenevolence in the first place. All these things which you may be rewarded or punished for are already known, there is no surprise, no test. A human life becomes a cog in the wheel of a being so much greater than themselves that the very idea of punishment or reward becomes as small and petty as we would be in relation to this being. Assuming that some deity invented this notion rather than ourselves is doing a disservice to the very idea of a deity. Heaven and hell, are, to me, platitudes crafted by human beings. Fantasies meant to console those who feel wronged or poorly compensated. Something of a Janus situation in our empathy, where good deeds not rewarded must be rewarded somehow, that some good deserves eternal reward that cannot be fully achieved in a human lifetime. On the opposite end, our empathy for others (and of course our self interest) leads us to conclude that some evils are so vile that punishment should have no end. My two cents and five bucks will buy you a cup of coffee....lol. (fucking inflation screwing with language....)

The disservice of the idea of this deity, that would be your idea of what God would be or act like. God creating mankind to love and love in a way we could never completely understand has done and will continue to do his will as a deity that created man, has the complete right to do. The reason I say this is the same reasons you've given for not understanding God, omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. Tell me why should God ever have to explain himself to those he created unless it pleases him and what makes us (all of mankind) believe we have a right to have an explanation. I do agree that some make salvation a ritual and that could be why so many leave the faith, they try to be what God has told them they can not and they expect others to do the same and they become disillusioned with who God is. Christ asked us to let him live through us and he would show himself to others, yet many believe that being a witness must be their way and that they must live a life so good that it's impossible to achieve. They see others who are happy in their faith and do not understand why because, they are miserable trying to be good without allowing Christ through the Holy Spirit guide them. My two cents worth.