God could allow evil to happen...but protect the innocent and punish the evil ones
Anony Mous - Thanks for playing along.
How can God allow evil while at the same time protect the innocent? I see at least two problems with that scenario.
First, of all evil requires victims. Evil is only apparent when acted upon. Its like designing an engine without fuel. You will never have measurable evil without victims. Evil and its victims are integral components of free-will and prove its existence is real.
Secondly,
There is no one innocent. Kids before the age of accountability are the exception. We have all broken the 10 commandments.
A slightly modified version of what you suggest is carefully laid out by a man who walked out of a tomb, making it very difficult for a thinking person to ignore what he said: "You must be born again".
This creates the "innocent" that you posit in your scenario. Your scenario now looks more like a biblical model of salvation.
God may judge sin, he doesn’t execute any judgements when it is relevant.
I think that is a more legitimate concern. Two things: There is something called instant karma that happens. People draw into their life what they project out and it can be substantial misery. This isn't judgment, but some sort of natural law on how things work.
Hebrews 9:27 reads "it is appointed unto man once to die and then judgement".
God placed the primary time to judge after a person has died. This life is not a time of judgement but of grace.
"I did not come into the world to judge it, but to save it" - Jesus
We could take issue with God's lack of judging in the here and now....but once he starts the judging, he'll have to see it until the end.
Which would largely prohibit the formation of the "innocent" in your scenario, since we are all guilty.