I grew up going to church but I’m not religious now and I never really understood this part.
Please, no answers along the lines of “aha, that’s why Christianity is a sham” or “religions aren’t logical”. I don’t want to debate whether it’s right or wrong, I just want to understand the logic and reasoning that Christians use to explain this.
God will forgive who he chooses to forgive, but of us we are required to forgive all. Implicit in this is that God’s forgiveness is not automatically given to everyone. It is offered to everyone freely. Christ has already paid the price, but it is up to us to accept that gift and repent of our sins. Not repenting means that well suffer for those sins in the afterlife, but doing so won’t mean we then get to go to heaven. Our reward is dependent on how we lived up to the truths we understood in life. Christ invites us to repent and live a higher life, a holier life, a life of continual repentance.