More Old Posts: Problem of Evil? Part 1

 Consider the following scenario:

Two men are serving time in prison. Both of these men are dying of a treatable cancer. Does the state have an ethical obligation to provide medical care to them? My first answer would be an absolute "Yes!" However, to be thorough the situation should be analyzed more closely. One of the men (prisoner Selfish) is serving a short sentence for some white-collar crime (For ease I will say he is doing 10 years for identity theft). The other (prisoner Depraved) is on death row for a heinous rape and murder. Now the situation is a little more interesting.
I would still be inclined to say that Selfish deserves medical attention from the State. That is to say, the State has an ethical obligation to provide medical care to Selfish. However, does the State have an ethical obligation to provide medical care to Depraved, having already been condemned to die? That seems a little silly to me. If the State has any ethical obligation whatsoever to Depraved (though I am not sure that it does) that obligation would be to ease the suffering of Depraved by moving him to the front of the line at death row.

Now consider humanity. The Bible specifically says that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23a). Therefore, anyone judged guilty by God is on the proverbial death row, simply awaiting the end due him. Moreover, the Bible says that all humanity is condemned of sin before God (Romans 3:23), so every human being is on the divine death row. Every human being is living out his/her days anticipating the inevitable punishment. To make matters worse, not only does sin condemn humans before God, it also acts like a cancer on the individual and society. Sin is a deadly cancer.
Basically, humans are in a situation very similar to that of Depraved. Does God have an ethical obligation to cure humans of their cancer? I don't think so.
If humans were basically good, only Selfish, then God might have an obligation to save us. However, the God of the Bible is under no ethical obligation to save humans from their cancer.