Hello Mark, thanks for responding.

You said:
“God is not a bank nor a burning building. He is omnipotent.”

“Omnipotent” does not mean “God can do absolutely anything.”

It means “God can do all things that are doable.”

God can’t make a square circle, because such a thing is impossible. God can’t make Himself stop existing. God can’t make something 100% true and 100% false at the same time.

But none of that threatens God’s omnipotence, because none of those things are doable.

Omnipotence refers to potence — power. It means God has all power to do all things. God will never lack sufficient power to do anything that is doable.

But making a square circle isn’t a matter of power. No matter how much power you have, you can’t make something both a square and a circle at the same time.

You said:
“He could have forgiven the sins of mankind with the briefest of thoughts. Nothing has to be one way or another with God.”

Yes, some things do have to be “one way” with God — namely, Himself.

God exists. He can’t cease to exist. His existence has to be “one way” — He has to exist.

Likewise, God is both compassionate and just. In God’s self-revelation, He emphasizes both His love and His justice. They go together. They can’t be separated.

If God refused to be just, He wouldn’t be loving. If God let abusers and criminals get away with hurting who ever they wanted, God would not be loving. A lack of justice means a lack of love.

That’s why God gets justice for everyone. All humanity stands before His Throne when our lives are over. Every single person must give an account for every single thing they’ve done.

God gets justice for every single sin.

This will feel good for you, when you watch God get justice for you against all who have hurt you.

It might feel less good, when God looks at what you’ve done to others.

But it must be this way. God cannot be loving without being just. The two can’t be separated. If God let people abuse you all your life and get away scot free, how could that be loving to you?

You said:
“There is no reason that Jesus had to die on a cross for God to forgive the sins of mankind. God can do anything.”

God can do anything that is doable.

But God can’t be just without punishing sin.

If God isn’t being just, then God isn’t being loving.

Forgiving sin with no justice for the sin is evil. It means a person can break into your house, beat you up, kill your family, take all your valuables, and leave in broad daylight — without any negative consequence. If God simply forgave all of that, and let the criminal go free and keep all your stuff, would it be loving to you? Would it be loving to your murdered family? Absolutely not.

Sure, God could forgive sin without justice. But it wouldn’t be loving. It would reward evil.