How can things considered bad when done by humans become good when God does them? The following is one of the central questions concerning moral values in Christianity.

I am referring to an answer Caleb gave earlier on here. There he says, and I believe this is the standard stance Christianity holds:


  God is good, 100% pure good. He is, in fact, the only standard of what
  good is; we measure whether something is good or not by comparing it
  to the character and decrees of God.


In the comments he writes (bold style added by me):


  because he IS the standard (rather than being measured against it)
  there are certain things that are good for God but sin for men.


My question is: How can this be the case?

Even if God sees the big picture and has knowledge of all the ramifications of all potential actions the point where you can call something good ends when real suffering by sentient human beings over extended periods of time is involved.

Just as one example see the following citation about things to come when Jesus will return to us from Revelation 9:1-5:


  Revelation 9:5 (NIV)
  They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five
  months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a
  scorpion when it strikes.


By all moral standards I have ever heard of this deed alone (extensive torturing of people) would be considered an outrageous atrocity, so the direct opposite of good. How can something like this be considered good when done by God?
First of all, my original comment about some things being sin for men that are good for God was specifically linked to this answer in which I outline how I think men are required to worship God and it would be sinful for them to worship themselves, but God demands that all things be focused on himself. I did not at all mean to imply that God is somehow allowed to do things which are inherently evil (or unjust).

So how DOES one reconcile the apparent cruel state of men on earth now with a good God? Forgive me the liberty of taking a clip out of context from your question:


  the point where you can call something good ends when real suffering by sentient human beings over extended periods of time is involved


The problem I see is that you are approaching this from the assumption that sentient human beings are inherently good and have a right to a comfortable existence.

Christianity asserts the opposite, that we are inherently bad and have no right to anything less than eternal damnation, destruction, torture, you name it. We as humans by nature fall under the wrath of God, not the love of God, because we have chosen to hate God.


  Romans 3:9b-12 (ESV)
  For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”


Since God is good and hates evil, and evil hates good and men hate God, God hates men. They are therefore objects of his wrath. The systematic punishment of evil is GOOD.


  Romans 2:8 (ESV)
  but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.


If what humans (all of them) deserve is an outpouring of wrath (hell), then the troubled existence with mixed good and bad we experience here on earth is really an undeserved grace that overflows from an abundantly good God, not the result of divine injustice.


  Matthew 5:45b (ESV)
  For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.


The real problem with God being unjust is this: that with all men being evil ANY of them should be justified. That God would take beings who hated good and choose to love them rather than hate them is an unfathomable injustice. Rather than complaining about the troubles of this world we should be marveling at how a righteous and just God could POSSIBLY justify the unrighteous.*


  Romans 3:26 (ESV)
  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.


* This would make a good next question.