Kindred,
Through the ages, there is a recurring theme of the wheels of Justice turning slowly.
From the Sun Tzu quote around 500 B.C.,
"The wheels of Justice turn slowly, but exceedingly fine."
To Plutarch's metaphor on divine justice from 1 A.D., "Thus, I do not see what use there is in those mills of the gods said to grind
so late as to render punishment hard to be recognized, and to make wickedness fearless."
And English translation of "Göttliche Rache" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,"Though the mills of God grind slowly; Yet they grind exceeding small; Though with patience He stands waiting, With exactness grinds He all."
Yes, the wheel of Justice turn so slowly, at times not at all, that divine justice is hard to recognize in this lifetime which does make the wickedness fearless.
The progressive false sense of invincibility and fearlessness stems from instant gratification of getting away with escalating patterns of bad behaviors.
For instance, if someone lies, and is not struck down immediately by lightning, then the feeling is that God is letting the liar get away with it;
but has this someone gotten away from self that has turned into a liar or thief, sinner, hater, abuser or cockroach?
When this person dies without repentance and atonement then obviously this will not enter heaven, but hell though the divine justice of this will not be recognized until in the afterlife.
Therefore, it is best for justice to be served this lifetime, so that repentance and atonement can be accomplished on earth for redemption and for the possibility of a good afterlife rather than forever damnation in death.
