Core Message Of Christianity Isn't One Of Love

[abaris]

The belief is that if you turn away from love/goodness (aka God), there is no where left to go except the only place where those things are not present. God is not present in Hell, and since we believe God is love/goodness, those things are not present in Hell and that's why Hell is so awful. Of course, if you are truly sorry, meaning if you don't reject those things, of course you will be forgiven.

But even that's relatively new. When I was a child, back in the 60ies and early 70ies, the talk of the town was still the literal fire and brimstone hell. At least that's what the priests tried to make us believe. So doctrines go with the time. The first time I heard your definition is probably the mid to late 70ies. About the same time, by the way, they started to introduce jazz masses.