Are we going Christian God of the Bible here?
Does it mean the lifeboats got limited room?
That would violate the promise of anyone who follows Jesus getting in. Capacity has to be infinite to allow for that, unless the number of spaces is exactly predetermines already in which case it's entirely arbitrary and more-or-less irrelevant what the criteria are.
Well, it could be the idea that there's some uncertain amount of space, but it is certainly limited, and the people who actually want to hang around the dude who owns the lifeboat are the ones who get to be in there. Not sure how many people actually will fit, maybe, but (especially if eternity is as a few seconds), then you prioritize the people who actually give a shit about you.
he wants everyone to go heaven but being that near to sin would destroy him
I don't think so, the attitude to sinners was pretty hateful. Burning cities, sending plagues, that kind of thing. That's not the kind of thing you do a group of people you pity.
I didn't say anything about pity. I mean, it's probably there, but saying 'you usually don't do that to people you pity' doesn't actually mean anything here. If you want the maximum possible number of people to come to heaven/be with you, then you institute very visible punishments for those who don't. Sure, it might be unfair to them in particular, but in the long run it will save more souls. just as one possible interpretation.
it's Him letting you choose to stay in the water. And if He values choice enough, then it makes sense.
It's making them stay in the water if they didn't prostrate themselves before him before the ship even sank. Of course someone in the middle of the ocean is going to want onto a boat. It's the equivalent of someone trying to get protection money out of you but without making a very good case for why you should before they go ahead and burn your shop down. Even if you accept that it's a fair system, you have to accept that the victim can't entirely be blamed for not picking up on how they were suppoed to play into it.
No, it really isn't. The act of loving God and accepting Jesus into your heart is the very same act as that of getting into the lifeboat. They are the same thing. And while I would agree that hey if there's enough lifeboats, put everyone one, but if someone's gonna tip the lifeboat over because they're flailing about 'thoughtcrime' and 'burning heretics at the stake' and 'but I don't wanna go to Church', I'm not gonna force them to be on the lifeboat.
And the whole point of the Bible and shit would be to get people to know how and what to do. If you tell someone 'this is the procedure for getting into the lifeboat, you should drill in this a couple of times a month' and they never do, whose fault is it when they drown?
I mean, in all honesty, we've taken this analogy much too far and it's kinda ridiculous and can be twisted to say whatever, but meh.
As for the 'arbitrary punishment' bit, a lot of the point of raising someone to be Christian is, as far as I can tell, in this context, teaching them why it
isn't arbitrary, and the point of all those miracles and sermons and firebrand preaching is to tell and show everyone else 'hey look this shit is real guys come on please I don't want your souls to die in fire'.
The crucial difference here is that Christianity believes virtue and heaven are inextricably linked, and sin and hell/annihilation are inextricably linked. It's not an arbitrary decision by some dude, it's a fundamental fact about God/The Universe. Little kids don't make the connection between fire->hot->pain until it's been shown. God did that a couple thousand years ago with the plagues and the flooding and so on. Saying 'well you don't keep doing that' would, in this instance, be kinda equivalent to saying 'well, you only showed my granddad what happens when you cover someone's legs with greek fire-liquid and set it on fire, I never saw it happen'. To which Jesus would respond "I'm not setting your legs on fire Medamnit I already feel bad about doing it to Patrick forty years ago fucking hell dude'.