Unjust God ?

 Basically, why  would God design a system where many of His created beings would eventually  go to eternal Hell?  Or, a broader question might be Why does God do things  that we perceive as UNFAIR.

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The simple answer is that the problem is with our perceptions and assumptions, not with God.

What are we presuming?

1) God designed the "system" - a fair assumption.

2) God created us as his beings - a fair assumption.

3) This system of God's has a "cause-and-effect" or "reward-punishment" feature. - a fair assumption.

4) This cause-and-effect or reward-punishment system is self correcting and thus Just. - a fair assumption.

5) This "Justice" feature of God's System is "Eternal". - A fair assumption if by "eternal" we mean that it is ALWAYS in operation. However, if by eternal, you mean that the "effect" or "correction" is static and FOREVER, then that would be a violation of JUSTICE. For a permanent or eternal punishment (or reward) would stop the dynamic ever balancing and correcting nature of Justice and would result in a "static" and stagnating result which would result in a cessation of the "eternal" nature of Justice which is to be ever balancing and correcting.

In other words, for JUSTICE to be ETERNAL it must forever be balancing and correcting. Therefore you can never arrive at the final reward, because that would mean THE END. Since "The End" is the opposite of "Eternal", a Final Reward (or Final/Eternal Damnation) is not consistent with ETERNAL JUSTICE.

So this is where we differ, H.

I see Justice as Eternal, while you see the final Reward / Punishment as being a static forever kind of thing.

My point to you is that your view is inconsistent with the concept of "Eternal Justice".

jc
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 14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!
 15 For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I  will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens  whom he wants to harden.
 19 One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still  blame us? For who  resists his will?"
 20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say  to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'"
 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay  some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
 22 What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore  with great patience the objects of his wrath--prepared for destruction?
 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the  objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory--
 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the  Gentiles?
H.

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God does as He Wills, for HE is the doer, not us. I agree.

However, so long as you continue to try and meld the opposing concepts of ETERNAL JUSTICE and a FINAL FOREVER STATIC PUNISHMENT / REWARD, you will continue to deal with a distant Jeckle / Hyde type Father God.

It is the holding of this set of conflicting values that is the major cause of the dysfunctional nature of much of orthodox religion today. The only way to stay in a dysfunctional family like this is to shut off the mind and stay in one's place and not get to uppity ("But who are you, O man, to talk back to God?" ). This is different from humility. No where does humility tell you to shut your eyes and ears to the world and recite the family mantra. Humility says lay down your personal desires/beliefs/prejudices and "Be Open the Truth". But to be Open to the Truth we have to LOOK for it, and LISTEN for it. If we shut off our minds (out of misplaced obedience or false humility), then we are stuck in bondage to the devil masquerading as Half-Truth.

The Family Mantra of Orthodox Religion is a literal interpretation of scripture resulting from an imperfect hermeneutics. Yet, since God's Justice is ETERNAL, the self correcting nature of reality will, I am confident, provide us all with the necessary experiences to allow us to eventually verify for ourselves the truth / falsehood of our beliefs.

The key is to be open to the Truth, by exercising the humility to Stop and Look Deeply at the various "appearances" that life continually presents to us.

May we all seek and find the face of the Beloved (Christ) here on Earth.

jc