"I am the Way, the Truth, the life. No one cometh to the Father but by Me." This is ambiguous? God's standards are perfection:
living completely sinless. Sinless by His standards, not ours. Clearly, at my most clear and concisely accurate language you and I are speaking different languages. I understand what you are saying. You don't, maybe can't understand me. God. The God of the Old and New testaments, is the history in brief of His interactions with His creation; to wit, us. Another non ambiguous quote: "For the wages of sin is death". What we earn (wages) of sin (a single breaking of God's standards) = eternal separation from Him. Death, described here, is the 'second death'. It is not the simple lack of function of the tents made of flesh and bone that we currently inhabit. This is the death of that which makes us, us. You probably don't believe this. That's okay. "We see through a glass darkly." Ever look through a car window that is mostly opaque due to window tinting? God knew that we couldn't meet His standard of perfection. He also will not allow the unrighteous; sinful, imperfect, rebellious near Him. We cannot ever be good enough to obtain a proximity to God on our own. Because the wages of sin is inviolable; a death powerful enough and sinless was needed to pay the debt for the sins of humanity. Since God is more powerful than all of His creation. He is the only One who could do it. Those that accept Him as their substitute are granted, not awarded, His sinless nature.
Why can't God just forgive? Without the substitution, we can't be near Him. He is God. He does not change. His boundaries forever remain His boundaries. You suggest that because you can forgive that He must or He isn't God? Look in a mirror and you see a reflection of yourself. The image is not imbued with your knowledge, your feelings. It is a lifeless image and once you are no longer standing in front of it, it ceases to exist. Similarly, the Bible tells us that when we are not directly facing our Creator, who we are created in the image of, we cease to exist. Lee Strobel, an award winning journalist for a Chicago paper, and an atheist, once tried to prove that God didn't exist and that Jesus, His life, miracles, death, and resurrection was a lie, a fable. Look him up. Read his book. Give it some serious thought. We are all dashing towards the inevitability of our deaths. Be prepared when it comes lest the image called you and created by God vanishes.
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