I’m not sure who Mel Dahl is, someone on the web I suppose, but he/she states the old orthodox position especially since Anselem:

if God is a God of forgiveness and mercy rather than wrath then Jesus death was meaningless, why didn’t God just forgive us without sending his Son as a sacrifice?

Certainly God being God, he/she could do whatever he/she wants. Again, it is not God but humanity that needs satisfaction- it is we keep score, demand a pound of flesh, and it is we who need assurance and proof that we have been reconciled. Proof of this comes by the constant support substitutionary atonement theory continues to draw.