Is it fair for God to punish us when we never asked to be born?

Yes. Reward and punishment follow the same law we see everywhere in nature, and they apply only where a person had a real choice.

None of us asked to be born into a world where fire burns. Yet no one calls it unfair that whoever puts a hand into the fire gets burned. And when we are thirsty and drink cool water, we feel calm and relief. Good and bad actions already have visible consequences here.

So reward and punishment are not just promises for later. They are demonstrated to us in nature every day. The spiritual law that religion speaks of is not some alien law. It is the same law that is at work throughout creation.

What matters is choice. Angels praise God from morning till evening, yet nowhere is a reward for them mentioned. They are made that way and have no other option. A lion devours other animals, and no one threatens it with punishment. It follows its instinct and cannot do otherwise. Where there is no choice, there is neither reward nor punishment.

A human being, however, stands between two paths. The first verse above says that God has shown us the way and left the choice to us. It is this very freedom that raises us above animals and angels. It is a gift that alone makes it possible for us to be truly good and to be rewarded for it.

That is why in the life to come only those who had a choice here on earth will be rewarded or punished. And even then, what the verses above say holds true. No one bears another’s burden, God wrongs no one, and He rewards good far beyond its measure.