LOL, let's just say for the moment I'm simmering instead of boiling.
I'm part German so I'm drawn to "sturm & drang" extremes especially re: purity and absoluteness of definitions. But I'm also part Cherokee & French so I can see, hear, & speak metaphor (think art & music). And therefore sympathetic to Mercy trumping justice. The paradox is the tension between perfect forgiveness & perfect justice as I see it.
I am yet able to suspend all that to consider the entire affair on a different level, or in a different sense. Even if not presented so consciously, it may serve a soteriological point about ourselves individually rather than collectively or we could say it speaks to our individual experiences as members of a group (unbelievers/believers)
Is there a difference in the results of German and Cherokee/ French applications? May I suggest there shouldn't be. Look at man's criminal justice system, we build in various principles of sentencing, namely punishment/ retribution, deterrence (specific and general), rehabilitation etc
Sentencing Principles, Purposes, Factors | Sentencing Council
If God's justice system isn't better than man's then there's a problem with one's theology. God's justice is condign, based on 'as ye sow so shall ye reap'. God has the power to utterly destroy or totally redeem. He is never short on information and never judges unrighteously. Moreover, He's merciful. Also, our God is one, meaning at least that His attributes are never in tension, they are all aspects of His commitment to save our sorry hides, for He is love.
So the word used for 'punishment' throughout the NT is kolasis (correction) not timoreisis (retribution). The object is always to repair, to save those condemned by the disease of the world through the first Adam. How? By utterly destroying evil and delivering the man from the bonds of the flesh. By what method? Jesus Christ and the gospel as undoing Adam1, reconciling the world to God and delivering a message of good news for all, followed by personal baptism with the holy fire that consumes evil and refines away the dross. Ultimately, that holy fire immersion is applied to all unbelievers. Purification and sanctification in the superabundant grace of God.
Look at the judges in the OT. The focus is always on restoration, jubilee-style. The judges like Gideon and Samson were highly imperfect men who were yet the saviours of Israel. Back then, when the judge came to town, the widow whose house had been devoured by scribes would get to plead her case and have their ill-gotten gains restored to her. Restorative justice, after the destruction comes restoration. The narrative pattern of the Bible, it's everywhere.
Unfortunately our modern western lenses have us default to a particular Romanised mindset of God the harsh magistrate. But the Biblical tradition sets the judge as a wise arbiter who restores lives and property. (These days if a family court custody judgment bisects the baby, it's considered a pretty good outcome!)
Condign justice is experienced as the pain of tearing away habitual sin. The fire of humiliation we experience in refusing to let go of pride, for example. But the object is always to save - that's how divine justice and mercy are aligned, and not in tension. So He can utterly destroy in order to totally redeem. Isn't this indeed the message of the cross?