There's something absolutely thrilling about revenge. An eye for an eye or their whole person. Jesus can keep the forgiveness. I'm gonna take names when one deserves it. Praying the evil away doesn't work, it appears to be a psychological mental cope.

Your problem seems to be that you see everyone else's sins as great, and your own as small. Additionally, eternal forgiveness does NOT mean a lack of temporal consequences for one's actions. God does not ordain the state to wield the sword for no reason. Forgiveness is also handed out by some too freely. Forgiveness is and always has been conditioned upon confession and sincere repentance, or what the Westminster divines called "repentance unto life."

The measuring stick is not based on good things outweighing bad. The standard is perfection. "You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." - Matthew 5:48 "For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it." - James 2:10 I generally agree with the idea that punitive justice is intended to be a deterrent against crime, though. Again, the civil magistrate does not wield the sword for no reason, but in order to be "an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer." (Romans 13:4)