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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 19, 2025

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A pencil is a good pencil when it is able to draw, is sharp, long enough to be held easily in a hand, etc.

By that reasoning, if God punished people for being kind and generous, he'd still be good.

God is not good in the sense of being accountable to others for duties and obligations that he performs admirably.

The word "accountable" here is tricky. Clearly nobody can punish God if he doesn't act appropriately. So in that sense, God isn't accountable. But surely people can come up with conclusions about whether God's acts live up to his principles, and if they don't, conclude that God is acting badly.

I'm not sure I would agree that God has principles. He has a nature, and this nature cannot deceive or be deceived. Would you describe that as a principle that God has to live up to? I wouldn't.

if God punished people for being kind and generous, he'd still be good.

I don't see how. Or rather, I think you need to expand upon the scenario a lot more. What are these people's natures, can God make a creature whose nature is to not be kind/generous, does God punish people or simple refrain from rewarding people?