God’s Justice

• -ethical rationalism • -the autonomous of human capacity as well as

the justice and wisdom of God• -that the intrinsic good or bad of action can be

establish on purely rational ground

• -they argued that God cannot will evil for• 1-it is apart from being rationally repugnant• 2- it entails futility on the part of God• -in addition, to induce man to desire evil and

be disliked by the good contradicts the desire –as the urge to will the good and of revulsion, as the urge to avoid evil will deny the opportunity of man to earn the reward

• -God is capable of wrongdoing, but does not do wrong, by virtue of His wisdom and mercy

• -it follows that it was the duty incumbent of God to act in accordance with the universal precepts of wisdom

• -there are 3 test cases of this thesis• 1-whether God had created mankind for a

reason• 2-whether God could demand what is

intolerable • 3-whether God could torture the innocent,

without any reward

• -for the 1st question, • -God has created mankind for a positive

reason• -however, is not compelled, by reason of His

essential goodness, to create this world at a specific time

• For• -the knowledge of the good of the object by

the agent does of the agent does not entail its production necessarily, but simply the possibility of choosing it for that reason, accordingly his choice would be good for that reason

• -motives do not necessitate the action, but only that its choice is more justifiable than any other

• -for the 2nd question,• -that God could not demand the intolerable

from His creation

• -the concept of obligation, as well as the imperative of grace or benevolence, logically entailed that God’s demands be rationally tolerable

• -for the 3rd question• -God cannot torture children and other form

of suffering on mankind • -for good or bad of action was independent of

the status of the agent or his relationship to the action

• -it is intuitively known by reason

• -we should, however, in determining the moral quality of a painful action, overlook the many aspects of the action, which, though prima facie evil, may in reality be good

• -ethical voluntarism• -justice means• -is the type of action one is empowered to do• -is the type of action which is conformity with

the God’s command

• -injustice means actions improperly done or done in violation of God’s command

• -it follows from this double definition that justice and injustice should be determined in terms of the relationship of the agent or his action to God, and that accordingly those 2 terms have no application to God whatsoever

• -in fact, what God does is by definition just; what he refrains from doing or prohibits is unjust

• -if accordingly it is asked whether it is permissible for God to made to suffer or to demand from His servant the intolerable without any reward or advantage

• -Yes, for this would be just, if done by Him and permissible and praiseworthy as far as His wisdom goes

• -if is asked whether God, who is at liberty to act so ruthlessly in the world, can commit a falsehood

• -No, it is not because such commision is morally reprehensible but rather becoz the attribute the attribute of truthful is one of the essential attributes of God and He cannot therefore without contradiction be said to lie

• -in short, all action insofar as they are contingent particular occurrences in the world, fall within the purview of God’s all comprehending will, and are ordered towards the universal good and order of the world which is the pure good