“Seriously, I’ve thought it through for dozens of years. How could God be less merciful, less forgiving than man?”
I’m astounded that you have made man the measure of God’s character!
You might as well make every pot the standard of character for the Potter.
The second thing that jumps out at me is that you have truncated God’s character to being just loving and just merciful.
God is also righteous. God is also holy.
The solution you have arrived at is to make God equal in character to fallen man by eliminating the parts you do not like.
Only in Christ does the Loving, Merciful God who is also Righteous and Holy find full expression of all His Character, providing forgiveness that is unconditional (unlike man’s standard). Sin is fully judged, satisfying God’s Justice, Righteousness and Holiness. Mercy is delivered, Love is poured out and God is reconciled with His creation on His terms.
Your explanation falls short by an immeasurable distance. Your god/idol is the size of man. Your idol is not holy, righteous, loving or just.
And that is just the tip of the iceberg of what is wrong with your claim. As I said, you are free to worship the small god you created, while turning your back on God Himself. I wish you the best.
ampu
If just stands to reason that there cannot be men who are more just, forgiving, merciful, or wise than God. If man, in his finest state, would not throw good people into a lake of fire, then it stands to reason that neither would a just, forgiving, merciful, and wise God.
It boils down to this: Any “god” that would condemn “non-Christians” to eternal hell fire must be considered “mad” and unworthy of worship. This is not a new idea or one that I came up with on my own. I certainly don’t have any negative feeling toward those who disagree nor do I claim that my beliefs are “true” and that others are not.
The last point is that I would base my vote on a candidate’s belief in the principles of freedom, not on their beliefs about Jesus or hellfire or whatever.