Hello Dr. Craig,
My question is about divine justice. You describe God as being essentially kind, fair, and compassionate, but I do not see how his justice can be exemplified with scenarios like this:
Suppose a serial killer like Jeffrey Dahmer enjoys a lifestyle torturing, killing and cannibalizing people for fun. He eventually gets caught and goes to prison. In prison he becomes a born-again Christian and all this sins are absolved from him. He then gets killed and goes to heaven since the mere act of conversion into Christianity cleanses him of all previous wrong doings. Some of this victims however were not Christian when they were murdered and so they go to hell when they die. So not only are the murder victims tortured and murdered in this world, they get sent to hell to be tortured even worse, but now it is forever, while their murderer enjoys everlasting peace in heaven.
I have never had a Christian explain to me how this scenario above, is not only the work of a "perfect" and "all-loving" deity, but that this is an example of perfect justice that could not possibly be improved upon by any generation of humans, past, present of future. In other words, if the God of the Bible is inherently perfect, compassionate and just, why would he allow a serial killer into heaven but his victims suffer in hell eternally, when the only thing separating them (aside from the fact the victims never tortured and killed people) is the killer's conversion to Christianity in prison just before he died?
The objection I have is that this is not an act of perfect justice, and that the Christian God is merely being defined as perfect/kind/fair/compassionate etc which to me is just wordplay since his record shows otherwise. The only answer I have yet to hear, is that we all are deserving hell, and only those who submit to God are given mercy, even if they are serial killers. So I have to ask you, with all due respect, if you truly agree with this notion of justice, that would allow a sadistic serial killer off scott-free of divine punishment, when his victims, who pleaded for their lives and were killed without mercy, are now being tortured even worse, all while their cries for mercy will go unanswered for all eternity?
Thank you for your time.
Mike
United States
Click HERE to read Dr. Craig's answer
What a fascinating exchange of viewpoints. I think Dr. Craig provided a first-class answer, even though I also think that Mike may have had a hard time swallowing it, especially if he is (obviously) an unbeliever. I suppose the test of how well he digested it will depend on how "hardcore" he is in his unbelief. And, of course, any of Dahmer's atheist victims would have had an ever harder time (no kidding) grasping it.
ReplyDeleteThere is NO human alive, in any safe and secure moment, that can understand with any "real" comprehension that final second or moment of life, and what it must truly be like. Is this not true? We all hear the news reporter describing the plane crash (or whatever it is) with a countenance of grief or despair, but there is never any mention of what the victims may or may not have been thinking. It is just an untouchable subject, and beyond any attempt to address it. It just can't be done.
I only point this out to stress how serious the tragedy of sudden death can be, and the horror of having rejected Jesus, as Dr. Craig put it in slightly different words. I sincerely hope his answer had the kind of impact it was meant to have on Mike. In short, this is very, very serious business. I think Peter came as close as one can get when he mentions, "Ye do well that ye take heed" in 2 Peter 1:19.
Yes, Mike and the rest will do well to take heed.