I was really intrigued by my small group's question in class on Tuesday. We had been given the question "Would you still believe in God were there no heaven or hell?" I thought about the ramifications of what this meant in terms of God's absolute justness. How just can God be if there is no eternal atonement for mankind's sin? There is some level of justice in the world, though. Man is not immortal but suffers through sickness and pain. Governments impose temporary justice for immoral crime and wickedness. The moral of the story for anyone at that point would just be to avoid breaking any laws. If everyone dies but there's no legitimate specific consequences for sin outside of law (i.e., one doesn't contract cancer because they envied someone or were too prideful), there's no reason to do anything other than live to better yourself. Sure, charity and good works out of the kindness of your own heart are nice, but they're not as fulfilling as making money or being the most important person in your workplace. I wonder what all this would mean for morality/conscience. I feel like this would be a very jaded and cynical world, but to be completely honest, it might not be that different from the real world.
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