In response to the OP, I am in the middle of writing an article on this very issue. Hell is nothing more than scare tactics because Christians know they really don't have anything else. When offering an invisible best friend for life and a mansion in the sky after you die doesn't work, they have to rely on the scare tactics. But my stance is that threats of Hell don't work on those of us who don't believe in such a place. It's like saying that you have an invisible dragon in your back yard that will eat me if I don't believe it's there.
Secondly, threats of hell are pretty silly to begin with, because these people are saying that God loves us but will send us to Hell not only if we don't worship him, but if we break the tiniest of many conflicting rules he set down for us in an ancient, confusing book. If he loves us so much, why eternal torture? Why even the threat? It's like a deranged stalker holding a gun to a woman's head and threatening to kill her if she doesn't marry him.
Thirdly, the idea of sending unbelievers to Hell is totally cruel and unjust for a god which is supposed to be totally just. He never shows us proof that he exists or why he should be worshiped, but if we don't then he casts us into a lake of fire.
And lastly, Pascal's Wager is no way to live your life. If you honestly believe that God is real, that's fine. But if you're just going through the motions because you're afraid Hell might be real, then you're not being true to yourself or to God. And of course an all-knowing God would know that.
Secondly, threats of hell are pretty silly to begin with, because these people are saying that God loves us but will send us to Hell not only if we don't worship him, but if we break the tiniest of many conflicting rules he set down for us in an ancient, confusing book. If he loves us so much, why eternal torture? Why even the threat? It's like a deranged stalker holding a gun to a woman's head and threatening to kill her if she doesn't marry him.
Thirdly, the idea of sending unbelievers to Hell is totally cruel and unjust for a god which is supposed to be totally just. He never shows us proof that he exists or why he should be worshiped, but if we don't then he casts us into a lake of fire.
And lastly, Pascal's Wager is no way to live your life. If you honestly believe that God is real, that's fine. But if you're just going through the motions because you're afraid Hell might be real, then you're not being true to yourself or to God. And of course an all-knowing God would know that.
Christian apologetics is the art of rolling a dog turd in sugar and selling it as a donut.
