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