For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For not knowing about the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Romans 10:2-4 LSB https://bible.com/bible/3345/rom.10.3.LSB

These verses describe the current state of the ‘good’ people and all religious adherents who are not Christian. It is this very belief that separates Christianity from all the other religions. ‘Good’ people and all the religions apart from Christianity attempt to make men good by doing good things, whatever those good things are as described by the religion. The agnostic and atheist who seek to be good determine their definition of goodness that ebbs and flows with their circumstances. Christianity, the One True God, teaches that goodness or righteousness cannot be obtained by the good deeds of people. This is so because if God is truly good, holy, and righteous then people, like Him, must always be good, holy, and righteous, from birth to death. This is not possible for any of us, all of us stand before God as unholy, and unrighteous, sinners who need to be pardoned by God. This need all humanity has, the need for pardon for sin, and the need for appropriation as totally righteous to live forever with a completely righteous God, is made possible only through Jesus the Savior. Jesus, God Himself, as a Man, lived a perfect life, died as a sacrifice for all the sins of all humanity, and rose again from the dead appropriating to all who come to Him for forgiveness the righteousness He lived while living on earth so that all people can live righteously forever with the only righteous God. Only Jesus could be a sacrifice for our sin because only He lived a perfect life before God. Until we recognize this reality that we are incapable of living perfectly as defined by the One True God, we will continue to create our own standards to live by that will be insufficient for appeasing the One True God before Whom all people will be judged. A pardon awaits the humble but the ‘good’ man who ignores the gift of God will find himself the bad man before the God Who Judges all men.