We tend to believe that the world is, on the whole, fair, and that wrongs will be punished and rights rewarded at some time in the indeterminate future.
The Bible agrees: ‘whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.’ (Galatians 6:7). The Christian religion also includes the potential for reward and punishment to be meted out after death in the fields of heaven or fires of hell.
This attitude helps us make sense of the world as we translate events as being just, fore-ordained or inevitable.
This is also a mindset of bullies, who believe that they are punishing their victims.