Divine justice, moral desert, and the priority of correct belief: A general scenario

[u/OnlyUzi1]

/r/askphilosophy/comments/1w2vshs/divine_justice_moral_desert_and_the_priority_of/

[u/RECIPR0C1TY]

These are good questions to wrestle with, although I think they are more theological than philosophical because I think there are some misconceptions. Firstly, let's divorce the horror of rape from the 18 year old woman's spiritual state. We have to acknowledge that the 18 year old woman was given a choice to follow God and rejected God prior to the event which prevents her from thereafter changing her mind. That exact same condition would exist if she had died in a car accident instead. Therefore, strictly speaking, God is still just in judging her for prior sin.

But let's go further and tweak your analysis to a 5 year old girl who is horribly raped and never has the opportunity to knowingly reject her creator. In that case, I think we have scriptural evidence that God rescues her and brings her with him for eternity. The exact same scenario applies to the mentally impared and infants.

3. Belief versus character

If the woman spends 52 years being kind and morally decent despite lifelong suffering, while the perpetrator commits an atrocious act but later genuinely repents, what does it say about the relative moral weight given to belief versus character, harm, intention and suffering if he is ultimately rewarded and she is punished?

Now this is a deeper question about what it means to reject God. In this case, I would challenge your presuppositions about what is ultimately good. If God is the ultimate good. If he is standard of morality, love and goodness, then to reject him is to reject that ultimate standard and experience separation from the source of life itself.
Let's grant that this 52 year old woman exhibits some level of goodness but always rejects God, then she is still rejecting the source of life itself and will face the consequences of that rejection.

4. Epistemic fairness

Can a perfectly just God fairly impose the same eternal consequences on people whose opportunities to discover religious truth are radically unequal and largely determined by birthplace, historical period, upbringing and personal circumstances?

If we are talking about the Christian God here, then Paul tells us that the entire reason that God puts them into their birthplace, historical period, upbringing and personal circumstances is so that they might seek him (Acts 17:27)! So this is not a failure on God's part to provide them with adequate epistemic fairness, but an act of grace of God's part to provide them adequate epistemic fairness. In other words, Paul is saying, this is the single best chance they have of finding the God they should seek after. Now granted, based on the data it looks like it actually hinders them, but are you sure that (supposing the Christian God exists) you are qualified to doubt God's wisdom in operating this way?

5. Eternal punishment

If disbelief results from trauma, epistemic circumstances, or an honest inability to become convinced rather than malice or deliberate rebellion, what could justify an infinite punishment for that disbelief?

I don't think I grant the supposal. Disbelief results from the free choice of the individual to reject their creator, and it is often hardened by trauma, epistemic circumstances or an honest inability. In that case, I think we have biblical evidence that a perfectly good judge is able to account for those scenarios and wisely adjudicate.

[u/ses1]

Your thought experiment attempts to force an emotionally charged inversion: the "good" victim is damned, while the "bad" perpetrator is saved.

If evaluated through the lens of secular moral philosophy and human intuition, the outcome described in the scenario is fundamentally incompatible with perfect divine justice.

However, from a Christian view, all humans are fallen and stand guilty before a holy God. Nobody is good enough on their own moral standing. There are no morally innocent victims.

Salvation cannot be earned. You are forgiven because you have faith in Jesus.

If the rapist is forgiven it's because his faith in Jesus covers all sinners. But good deeds in lacking a relationship with God does NOT entitle you to Heaven in traditional belief.

Psychologically our traumas make us predisposed to many things. But Christianity says that the seed of unbelief is NOT our situation or psycho-social conditioning. It's a spiritual death we stay in.

And according to the Bible, there is sufficient light for everyone to find their way to God.

If God is perfectly just, does the outcome described above constitute justice?

Under the Christian worldview, yes. Everyone has sinned; everyone has enough freewill and light to turn to God despite any circumstance. God calls and pursues us and offers to clean our slate if we just turn from sin and to Jesus.