Why doesn't anyone punish God?

            Good should be rewarded while evil should be punished. A large part of our ethics system is based on this simple statement, and it seems preposterously simple that it almost doesn’t make sense to question this belief. Just as when I push on something, it returns an equal and opposite force, doing good seems to automatically require a reward while bad should be punished. And just like how the aforementioned law of physics is Newton’s Third Law which forms the foundation of much of physics, the belief that “good merits good, bad with bad” is a fundamental principle for our belief code. Believing that good actions will accrue rewards and that bad behavior will be met with negative consequences forms a guiding principle for how we live our lives. Nothing is altruistic, and so the self-interest to attain as many rewards as possible becomes a powerful force in shaping any moral motivations. This postulate of sorts forms the foundation of some of our core moral beliefs, from which minor cultural or situational variations on the same theme can be derived. There really isn’t a logical reason, besides an evolutionary one, perhaps, as to why we believe that good=good, bad=bad. We just take it as it is, accept it without question because in order to create a hierarchy of ethics and meaning, we have to create something out of nothing. 

Another example of this is geometry postulates; they are, seemingly obvious, axioms that we assume to be true (but cannot proved to be true) from which all geometry theorems and corollaries can be derived. The justification for the “truthiness” of  postulates however, is completely circular; postulates are true because any mathematical truths are postulates. In a similar manner, this belief in karma -- what goes around, comes around -- is cornerstone for all moral thought and doesn’t have a logical explanation as to why. It just is. I know we’re not supposed to bring in outside sources (and I swear these outside sources only reinforced, and didn’t cause, this line of though), but just to hammer home this point is some research in the “foundations of morality,” a topic very fitting in this context. The researcher, Jonathan Haidt, identifies one of the core tenants of all moralities as “Fairness/Justice/Reciprocity.” All humans, no matter the culture, are born with a “rough draft” containing basic understanding of these five “pillars” of morality. The pillar of fairness, justice, and reciprocity in part deals with essentially exactly the belief that good deserves good and bad must be punished. This belief crosses cultures, according to Haidt. 

         Of course, evolutionarily, there is a plausible explanation for why this belief is hardwired into the brains of the majority of people. Good or altruistic deeds may encourage reciprocation of the favor. In other words, I scratch your back, you scratch mine. Treating others well or gaining a reputation as a good person may enhance one’s chances of survival because one incurs favors from others that just might save one’s life. For example, Harry inadvertently saves Wormtail’s life in the fourth book in the popular book series, Harry Potter, despite Wormtail’s treachery. Yet Dumbledore sagely recognizes that “no good deed goes forgotten;” Wormtail later spares Harry’s life in the seventh book, but for his act of mercy is strangled by his own, cursed hand. Each received their just deserts. While this is perhaps not a scientifically valid example, imagine this repeated countless times over the span of millenia and maybe, just maybe, humankind is now programmed to believe in karma, a byproduct of some beneficial evolutionary tactic. 

        Although acting ethically may just be a product of the cold and impersonal force of evolution or is merely a practical invention for the sake of creating an ethics code, we still seem to harbor a strong moral compulsion to do what’s right. Logically, I don’t see any reason why I should behave myself if it is likely that I’m just going to be smote by an almighty god. However, if the probability worked out that I most likely would be rewarded if I conducted myself in a morally upright tradition, then I still would act ethically. However, even if it were most likely that I would be punished regardless of my morally admirable deeds, I think I still would feel an inner compulsion to “be good.” Why? For me, I feel an instinctive drive to be better. If I’m only going to live once, then why wouldn’t I be the best that I can be? Even if that means I might not get any preferential treatment from an uncaring god, setting a goal for yourself (in this case, being good) provides meaning and structure. If I did whatever I wanted, the novelty of it would soon wear itself out. Secondly, I dislike conflict, and acting wantonly would surely incur some kind of retributive response from those around me. In order to maintain the social peace, I would advise everyone to generally follow the cardinal rule of “play nice” because it allows for large groups of people to cooperate with one another.

         Now, this still leaves the question of why God would want to punish Job, who by all accounts is a perfectly good, upstanding man. The answer to this is simple: the God of the Bible is a power-hungry being who demands nothing less than blind obedience from his followers and then likes to play with them. Really, I don’t see how he is all loving; it’s just a smoke front to cover for his overbearing, manipulative nature. He’s like the person who pretends to be your friend and makes you do all this stuff for him, “because it’s what friends do” and convinces you that doing X thing is “best for you” for reasons you wouldn’t understand. Really, you should be lucky you have a friend like that, to tell you such things. God make his followers do fun things like sacrifice their children and carries out fun experiments like, if we take away everything from a poor, innocent man, will he curse me to my face? In order to justify his abuse of power, God places man in a position of inferiority; we are contaminated by original sin and can only be saved through good acts. Then he uses pseudo-mystical excuses to cover for his actions; these excuses are designed in such a way as to make criticism or further questioning impossible and rude. In fact, He makes it seem like our fault for asking why He can do whatever he wants with us poor earthlings, because who are we to question the divine order of things? Really, God, you need a taste of your own medicine. Your irresponsible actions merit punishment.