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Full Idea
The necessity of redressing the balance [of injustice] is deemed one of the strongest arguments for another life after death, which amounts to an admission that the order of things in this life is often an example of injustice, not justice.
Gist of Idea
Belief that an afterlife is required for justice is an admission that this life is very unjust
Source
John Stuart Mill (Nature and Utility of Religion [1874])
Book Ref
'The Existence of God', ed/tr. Hick,John [Macmillan 1964], p.119
A Reaction
It certainly seems that an omnipotent God could administer swift justice in this life. If the whole point is that we need freedom of will, then why is justice administered at a much later date? The freedom seems to be illusory.
| 21335 | Belief that an afterlife is required for justice is an admission that this life is very unjust [Mill] |
| 21329 | Nature dispenses cruelty with no concern for either mercy or justice [Mill] |
| 21328 | Killing is a human crime, but nature kills everyone, and often with great tortures [Mill] |
| 21330 | Nature makes childbirth a miserable experience, often leading to the death of the mother [Mill] |
| 21331 | Hurricanes, locusts, floods and blight can starve a million people to death [Mill] |
| 21332 | We don't get a love of 'order' from nature - which is thoroughly chaotic [Mill] |
| 21333 | Evil comes from good just as often as good comes from evil [Mill] |
| 21334 | No necessity ties an omnipotent Creator, so he evidently wills human misery [Mill] |