Here is a very good conversation between Peter Kreeft, a catholic whom I’ve grown quite fond of, and a Muslim. The whole thing is good, but I wanted to bring up something Kreeft says around the 34:00 minute mark.
Would you not agree that justice and mercy imply each other? Unless there is a role of justice, mercy is meaningless. Unless you deserve to be punished, it is not merciful to take back the punishment.
He’s saying that mercy is not mercy unless it relieves the penalty of justice But then how can a perfectly just God also be merciful? If punishment is taken back, then that is merciful, but it is not just. If the punishment is not taken back then that is justice, but where is God’s mercy? One answer is that the justice is not set aside for mercy’s sake, but substituted from one to another.
