Rob wants to suggest that a just or righteous or holy or judging God is somehow not good news.
Tell that to the oppressed Christians in North Korea. Tell that to the ordinary citizens of Libya longing to be set free from a wicked and brutal dictator. Tell that to the Jews during the Holocaust in WWII. In a sin-soaked world, Good News involves both redemption and judgment, both vindication and liberation, both holiness and love. The God of the Bible is holy love. Not love without holiness which would fail to deal with the cancer called sin. And not holiness without love, for if that was the way God related to us all— no one could stand. The Good News of and about Jesus Christ, who will be the final judge of the world, is that justice, mercy and grace are all a part of this story.