RE: God is love. God is just. God is merciful.
October 4, 2014 at 3:40 pm
(This post was last modified: October 4, 2014 at 3:46 pm by genkaus.)
(October 3, 2014 at 8:48 pm)Drich Wrote: Maybe the question should be to whom God is loving, merciful and just?
And the answer would be no-one - since mercy is suspension of justice. And that would be the case for one of the better versions of god - your god, as you describe him, is monstrosity of injustice.
(October 4, 2014 at 5:27 am)Michael B Wrote: I think when we talk about love, justice and mercy, then those words should have a consistency when we use them, whether we are talking about God or a person. So I would say the love of God reflects God's desire for goodness for us, God's justice reflects fair judgement of our actions, and God's mercy allows for justice to be tempered in response to genuine contrition by the guilty. For the Christian, we see and experience these attributes most clearly through walking in faith in the person and teachings of Jesus Christ, the clearest 'avatar' of God.
A desire for goodness - with no action to achieve that end. A fair judgment - with an unfair punishment. And mercy - which would be subversion of the so-called justice.
(October 4, 2014 at 6:05 am)Michael B Wrote: Boru. The way I see it is that mercy must always start from a position of justice. Without justice, mercy means nothing. So mercy is a layer on top of justice, or as Shakespeare so poetically put it, 'mercy seasons justice'. Justice starts with an eye for an eye, a life for a life. Mercy then seasons that justice and gives a new opportunity, especially to those who genuinely want to live a new life. I think we can see that layering of mercy on top of justice in our penal justice systems, certainly here in the UK.
I agree - mercy starts from justice and without justice mercy means nothing. After all, you can't detract something from nothing. Mercy is a detraction - it doesn't add a layer, it removes one - resulting in less justice than before.
