Great White Throne Judgment

One critic in class keeps referring to the Great White Throne Judgment in Revelation 20:11-15 "Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."   He kept saying that people will be judged according to their deeds, not their sins; and that the only criteria for eternal condemnation is not believing in Jesus, because that determines who is in the book of life.

I'm still in the process of forming  my "apologia" or defense; but, currently, my response would be that at the Great White Throne judgment, the unsaved will be judged for both their good and evil deeds, and inevitably, it will reveal that they fall short.    As Romans 2:5-11 says "But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God. "  And, James 2:10 say "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all."

In other words, perfection is required, and no person meets that standard; "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).  So, when judged, it is clear that man is guilty; and only those who placed their faith in Christ are saved; because Christ died for our sins.  But, only those who believe in Christ are regenerated and are justified.