God is love. God is just. God is merciful.

[John V]

I've always failed to understand how theists can support the claim that God is both merciful and just. Aren't these two terms mutually exclusive?

By way of analogy, suppose I rob a bank. The judge sentences me to five years - this is what the law calls for and is, in the only sense that makes sense, justice. Alternatively, the judge imposes a lesser sentence - eighteen months, community service, binding over or some such. The law makes no provision for these lesser sentences, but judges (here, at least) have wide latitude in what they can impose. In this case, the judge has been merciful but not just.

It is the same way with God. If he wishes to be just, he can't forgive sins. If he wishes to be merciful, he would pardon all sinners for everything.

Which'll it be?

Boru

That's the point of the cross. The judge paid the just penalty himself, which allows him to be merciful as well.

You'll likely complain that it's not just to allow one person to pay the penalty for another. That's fine as your opinion. God sees it otherwise, and as lawmaker and judge it's his opinion that counts.