Barbara KingsolverGod doesn’t need to punish us. He just grants us a long enough life to punish ourselves.
About This Quote
The purpose of punishment is to correct an individual. It is not the role of God to punish us. Punishment is our invention, not his. The idea that we must pay for our own wrongs, and be punished by God for them, is a very human one.
We invented it and we can just as easily discard it. There is no reason to fear God and there is no point in fearing the punishment we fear we will meet if we sin. Punishment is just an invention we made up to feel better about ourselves, and it has worked for centuries.
Source: The Poisonwood Bible
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