Why God Lied to Me: Salvationist Theism and Justice
Journal of Religious Ethics 30 (2):231 - 249 (2002)
| Abstract | It is widely assumed that God is either incapable of lying to humans or utterly unwilling to do so. However, there appear to be compelling reasons for God to intentionally deceive that are rooted in the traditional conception of God as an agent of salvation for humanity. A terroristic threat like eternal damnation ("hell") illustrates these reasons. God's love for human beings as wayward members of a divine family in concert with the obvious moral and cognitive limitations many humans suffer provide sufficient reason for God to deploy (or allow uncorrected) the threat of eternal damnation. A proper understanding of justice supports the contention that eternal damnation is contrary to justice, and therefore divinely inspired threats of eternal damnation are deceitful | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,672 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesGina M. Sully (2005). Omnibenevolence and Eternal Damnation. Sophia 44 (2).
Eric Reitan (2002). Eternal Damnation and Blessed Ignorance: Is the Damnation of Some Incompatible with the Salvation of Any? Religious Studies 38 (4):429-450.
Ted Poston (2008). Hell, Vagueness, and Justice. Faith and Philosophy 25 (3):322-328.
Kelly James Clark (2001). God is Great, God is Good: Medieval Conceptions of Divine Goodness and the Problem of Hell. Religious Studies 37 (1):15-31.
John Kronen & Eric Reitan (2004). Talbott's Universalism, Divine Justice, and the Atonement. Religious Studies 40 (3):249-268.
Thomas Talbott (2001). Freedom, Damnation, and the Power to Sin with Impunity. Religious Studies 37 (4):417-434.
Michael L. Peterson & Raymond J. VanArragon (eds.) (2004). Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Religion. Blackwell Pub..
Katherin A. Rogers (2007). Anselmian Eternalism: The Presence of a Timeless God. Faith and Philosophy 24 (1):3-27.
Eric Reitan (2007). A Guarantee of Universal Salvation? Faith and Philosophy 24 (4):413-432.
Charles Billingsley (2009). God Laughs: And Other Surprising Things You Never Knew About Him. Regal Books.
Elmer L. Towns (2009). God Laughs: And Other Surprising Things You Never Knew About Him. Regal Books.
Ted Poston & Trent Dougherty (2008). Hell and Vagueness: Reply to Sider. Faith and Philosophy 25 (3):322-328.
Rik Peels (2006). Divine Foreknowledge and Eternal Damnation: The Theory of Middle Knowledge as Solution to the Soteriological Problem of Evil. Neue Zeitschrift Für Systematische Theologie Und Religionsphilosophie 48 (2):160-75.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2010-08-24Total downloads4 ( #178,586 of 549,069 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,185 of 549,069 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
