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Just because we can't fathom it doesn't mean it's not ascertainable by a divine intellect.
Sure, but it seems to me it's usually a good clue someone is talking nonsense when all we have left is divine mystery.
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The whole thing that kicked off this thread is the Hitchens and other atheist stance that certain things about morals and ethics are so obvious we don't require any God to know them. Do you not take this stance?
It depends on the moral precept. For the big items I agree, murder, rape, slavery, cruel punishment, bearing false witness, theft. These are all self defeating to a society. For finer points, say the morality of a white lie, the benefits of utilitarianism, consequentialism, virtue ethics ect. and the various ways these lines of thought might guide your opinions on less obvious matters (say the justifiableness of a given war, or collateral damage) I not only disagree that they are obvious, I'm not sure we have the answers at all.
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True, but again the rebuttal to this is morality was written on all are hearts, a stance that atheists and agnostics generally agree with albeit through naturalistic means.
That's not a punishment for sin, but rather a mitigation of the number of sins committed.
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Isn't one of the most often debated topics on this board among believers how much works and faith interplay with each other?
Yes, and from those frequent debates I think you've become more than familiar with the fact that it's a question of whether it's more or less than zero. Not one among them would argue that it's about balancing the rights and wrongs done. It's trivial to dismiss such a notion as having anything to do with Christianity.
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Either way, within the abrahamic religions we are commanded to be righteous, by God. While the penalty and instruments of relief that penalty are debated, the commandment and standard of righteousness remains, and God is held to be the enforcer, judge and jury of that standard.
Yet within the Christian context god does not ever balance the scales. In fact the common Christian interpretation is that one single act is worthy of eternal damnation. And that you are made just not by making up for it with good works, but by vicarious redemption and faith. An idea of divine justice equalizing rights and wrongs is foreign to Christianity. You'd need to appeal to another faith tradition. I'd agree a better argument can be made within Judaism or even islam. Even still, a priority is put in faith above works in many ways.