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Criminal law is predicated on certain rights of the individual, as well as elements of the social contract, the collective benefits of deterrence, etc. It is impossible for God to violate any human right. He is the grantor of all rights. They have no other source. Else God is not God. He is, by definition, the cause of our value, and the value is primarily to Him, and only secondarily to each other. In other words, we do not murder, not because it is inherently wrong for human beings to die, but because we are peers, and do not have authority to cause the death of another, unless that authority is delegated to us by God. For example, we have a right to kill another in self-defense. But without such delegated authority, we are only peers, and no one of us has any authority to take another's life, and so we must constantly engage in sometimes complex balancing of rights (both criminal and civil) to provide the most just outcome possible.

But God is not our peer. This is a common, albeit unstated premise in much atheist thought, and I was much afflicted by it before my conversion to faith in Jesus. God, as a construct, is viewed not as Creator but as simply Other, a bigger stronger someone else who has no right to tell us what to do, or do anything with us we do not like, as if we and He were on an equal footing in terms of autonomy. But man before God is not autonomous. Man has moral freedom, but he is accountable for the use of that freedom to his Creator.

Therefore, it is impossible to condemn God's action under any construct of human law. Criminal law presumes the defense of rights among peers, the fundamental assumption being the value of each person and therefore the sustainability of their right to live, to own property, to control their own body, etc. But God enters the equation before all that. He is not some coequal peer, only bigger and stronger. We are the product of His creative act, created for His purposes, not our own. None of us asked Him for permission to come into being. He made it happen because that is what He wanted to do. By His permission only can we breath. By the sustaining power of His word alone do we even have the power of thought or choice. There is no area of our being, even our value as persons, including our rights, that does not depend utterly on Him. He cannot be judged by us. We do not have standing to make that kind of judgment.

Yet after all that, what we see in Mary is not resistance, but obedience, acceptance of God as Creator. She did not contest His absolute authority. He cannot be charged with violating her will, because her will was in compliance with His will. She did not have to say yes to grant God permission He already had by right as the Creator. But she did agree with God to see it through, because she understood He not only had the raw authority, but also because He could be trusted, that given His perfection of holiness, this was the best possible thing that could happen. She trusted in His inherent goodness. An excellent example for all of us to follow when the will of God takes us to unexpected places. He is good, and worthy of our praise at all times.

Peace,

SR

But God is not our peer. This is a common, albeit unstated premise in much atheist thought, and I was much afflicted by it before my conversion to faith in Jesus. God, as a construct, is viewed not as Creator but as simply Other, a bigger stronger someone else who has no right to tell us what to do, or do anything with us we do not like, as if we and He were on an equal footing in terms of autonomy. But man before God is not autonomous. Man has moral freedom, but he is accountable for the use of that freedom to his Creator.

Criminal law presumes the defense of rights among peers, the fundamental assumption being the value of each person and therefore the sustainability of their right to live, to own property, to control their own body, etc. But God enters the equation before all that. He is not some coequal peer, only bigger and stronger. We are the product of His creative act, created for His purposes, not our own. None of us asked Him for permission to come into being. He made it happen because that is what He wanted to do. By His permission only can we breath. By the sustaining power of His word alone do we even have the power of thought or choice. There is no area of our being, even our value as persons, including our rights, that does not depend utterly on Him. He cannot be judged by us. We do not have standing to make that kind of judgment.

Very well said. Post of the day, or at least this morning praise God. If God were otherwise then He would not be the God of the Bible, men have "changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things." (Romans 1:23) .

Your reasoned reply relates somewhat to what i tried to say here in this thread, which is a good one for your lawyers.