Why Does Your God Punish People?

[Sunstone]

Assuming you are a theist who believes that his or her god punishes people, precisely why does your god punish people?

......

By the way, to assert that your god punishes people because they "deserve" or "warrant" being punished strikes me as a cop-out, a superficial and shallow response, for it fails by itself to address the question, but only appears to do so.

That is to say, stating that a person deserves or warrants being punished for something does not in and of itself explain by what cause or reason does deserving or warranting punishment for something mean one should be punished for it.

You can perhaps more easily see the point if you consider a non-traditional example of such a statement. e.g. "Jones deserves to be fined for inflating a party balloon". That non-traditional example, I believe, makes clear that merely saying someone deserves or warrants a punishment for something does not by itself explain why they deserve or warrant to be punished for it.

 

[Jainarayan]

Assuming you are a theist who believes that his or her god punishes people, precisely why does your god punish people?

Usually to fulfill a prophecy or right a wrong:

• Vishnu killed Hiranyakashipu by disemboweling him. Hiranyakashipu was an evil tyrant who tried to kill his own son, a devotee of Vishnu, numerous times. And because Hiranyakashipu was generally an s.o.b. to his people and the gods.
• Krishna killed his maternal uncle Kamsa. Kamsa had usurped the throne from the rightful king, and imprisoned Krishna's parents, killed all their children before Krishna and tried to kill Krishna Himself numerous times.
• Krishna killed the demoness Kamsa sent to kill Krishna. It was quite clever. The demoness Putana offered to nurse infant Krishna, but he knew who she was, and when she nursed Him, He literally sucked the life out of her. Precocious little fellow.
• Krishna prophesied He would endure 99 insults in a single occasion from a jealous cousin. But Krishna gave the cousin ample opportunity to not make the insults. When the cousin Shishupala got to #99, Krishna said "Don't go there!", but ooh, he went there for #100. Krishna lopped off Shishupala's head with his sudarshana chakra (basically a divine buzzsaw).
• Rāma killed Vali and Ravana, but they had it coming.

Those are just a few of the times I can think of when He lost His cool. Plus the time on the battlefield in the Kurukshetra War He hurled a chariot wheel at Bhishma.

 

[IndigoChild5559]

Assuming you are a theist who believes that his or her god punishes people, precisely why does your god punish people?

One of the metaphors for God is that he is our loving Father. As a loving Father, he sets behavioral boundaries and consequences if we don't comply. That's not a terrible thing. A terrible thing would be if he neglected us and didn't care about our behavior and let us "grow up" in intelligence without an accompanying sense of morality.

 

[Spirit of Light]

Maybe it is people who punish themselves by not follow the deity they supposed to follow within the spiritual path the chose to be a part of?
Every spiritual path/religion has guidelines to try to follow toward some form of enlightenment (salvation) But if people do not follow they can not see the truth, and when they do wrongdoings they will suffer.
The law of the cosmos(dharma) is there for a reason

 

[calm]

Assuming you are a theist who believes that his or her god punishes people, precisely why does your god punish people?

......

By the way, to assert that your god punishes people because they "deserve" or "warrant" being punished strikes me as a cop-out, a superficial and shallow response, for it fails by itself to address the question, but only appears to do so.

That is to say, stating that a person deserves or warrants being punished for something does not in and of itself explain by what cause or reason does deserving or warranting punishment for something mean one should be punished for it.

You can perhaps more easily see the point if you consider a non-traditional example of such a statement. e.g. "Jones deserves to be fined for inflating a party balloon". That non-traditional example, I believe, makes clear that merely saying someone deserves or warrants a punishment for something does not by itself explain why they deserve or warrant to be punished for it.

If God wants to punish people, so shall he do it. For all that he does is good and just.

 

[Hockeycowboy]

Mine doesn’t...the only punishment is death (Romans 6:23). And that punishment, will soon be removed for most. — John 5 28-29:
“28Do not be amazed at this, for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice 29and come out—those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.”

Revelation 21:3-4:
“3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying:

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man,

and He will dwell with them.

They will be His people,

and God Himself will be with them as their God.b

4He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,c

and there will be no more death

or mourning or crying or pain,

for the former things have passed away.” “

Take care, my cousin.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Assuming you are a theist who believes that his or her god punishes people, precisely why does your god punish people?

Mostly because they put two "n's" in the word punish.

 

[Woberts]

Mostly because they put two "n's" in the word punish.

I thought that it was a pun. Layers upon layers.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

One of the metaphors for God is that he is our loving Father. As a loving Father, he sets behavioral boundaries and consequences if we don't comply. That's not a terrible thing. A terrible thing would be if he neglected us and didn't care about our behavior and let us "grow up" in intelligence without an accompanying sense of morality.

Unfortunately one of those "behavioural boundaries" appears to be "what you must believe without evidence."

 

[IndigoChild5559]

Unfortunately one of those "behavioural boundaries" appears to be "what you must believe without evidence."

Not in My Humble Opinion. Of course I don't speak for all Jews (I never do).

 

[Dawnofhope]

Actions have consequences, positive and negative. Religious Teachings whether based on an understanding of the Eternal Dharma or God of Abraham enable us to better avoid negative consequences (punishment) for misdeeds.

 

[robocop (actually)]

Assuming you are a theist who believes that his or her god punishes people, precisely why does your god punish people?

......

By the way, to assert that your god punishes people because they "deserve" or "warrant" being punished strikes me as a cop-out, a superficial and shallow response, for it fails by itself to address the question, but only appears to do so.

That is to say, stating that a person deserves or warrants being punished for something does not in and of itself explain by what cause or reason does deserving or warranting punishment for something mean one should be punished for it.

You can perhaps more easily see the point if you consider a non-traditional example of such a statement. e.g. "Jones deserves to be fined for inflating a party balloon". That non-traditional example, I believe, makes clear that merely saying someone deserves or warrants a punishment for something does not by itself explain why they deserve or warrant to be punished for it.

We don't remember our pre-mortal existence, there is opposition in all things (there's good and bad going on everywhere) and we are given the freedom to choose what we do to ourselves and others. It is up to us to prove ourselves worthy in the fray.

 

[Deeje]

Unfortunately one of those "behavioural boundaries" appears to be "what you must believe without evidence."

All the evidence we need for God's existence is all around us.....many just attribute it to the undirected forces of blind chance, effectively eliminating the artist from his own masterpiece and saying in effect, that the paint just arranged itself on the canvas accidentally. They admire the work but give no credit to its brilliant Creator.

Some people get mad at God for hiding himself, when the opposite is true....his creation tell us all we need to know about his personality, and his written word tells us all about his purpose....who we are...why we are here...what we are supposed to do here....and where we are going. Science tells us nothing about those important questions. There is a reason why we need to know the answers.

 

[The Kilted Heathen]

Usually for their own stupidity. Building cities 6ft under sea level, standing defiantly in the wake of a destructive storm, etc.

 

[Sunstone]

Mostly because they put two "n's" in the word punish.

Who on earth would do such a heinous thing? By the gods, they must be dumb! Makes me wonder how they manage to breathe, walk, and knuckle-drag at the same time! I'd be ashamed of myself if I did something like that. What a village idiot that clown must be!

 

[Aupmanyav]

Society has created this carrot and sword system so that it can function peacefully. Do good and be rewarded, do evil and be punished. All religions which claim reward and punishment have only plagiarized it. I am not a theist.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Assuming you are a theist who believes that his or her god punishes people, precisely why does your god punish people?

......

By the way, to assert that your god punishes people because they "deserve" or "warrant" being punished strikes me as a cop-out, a superficial and shallow response, for it fails by itself to address the question, but only appears to do so.

That is to say, stating that a person deserves or warrants being punished for something does not in and of itself explain by what cause or reason does deserving or warranting punishment for something mean one should be punished for it.

You can perhaps more easily see the point if you consider a non-traditional example of such a statement. e.g. "Jones deserves to be fined for inflating a party balloon". That non-traditional example, I believe, makes clear that merely saying someone deserves or warrants a punishment for something does not by itself explain why they deserve or warrant to be punished for it.

{Disclaimer : I'm an atheist. In case it was unclear by my smug face.}

Per Genesis 2:7, Man breathed life into God, and made Him in his image. That's why.

 

[danieldemol]

I think one could just as easily ask why does God reward a soul as why does God punish it. In either case it would be because the wayward soul is trained by the pillars of reward and punishment into the path of virtue

 

[Spartan]

Assuming you are a theist who believes that his or her god punishes people, precisely why does your god punish people?

To stop the slaughter of the innocents for one thing.

Here's something I doubt many have considered - that God's Judgments actually save lives

Here's how it works: How many people would 100 evil men kill in their lifetimes? Let's say a thousand, and the 100 evil men wind up in hell when they die. Now, let's let those 100 evil men have 100 offspring that over time grow up to kill an additional 1,000 people. Now, you have 200 evil men in hell and 2,000 murdered others.

Now let's take it to the 10th or so generation. By now, you've had 10,000 evil men giving birth to 10,000 offspring and together those 20,000 evil men and/or women murder 200,000 people total. So, you now have 20,000 evil men and women in hell (vs. 100 if you had judged and executed them earlier), plus 200,000 other dead people.

So God, being smarter than his critics, and able to see consequences further out in time than the mathematically-challenged "God is evil" crowd, saves 19,900 people from going to hell plus he saves 199,000 others from getting murdered. And he does that by stopping the bloodshed before it gets rolling.

Get the picture? God Judgment saves lives, and saves multitudes from winding up in Hell.

 

[The Kilted Heathen]

Fine with the "One to save Millions," without the rubbish of hell.