Was hell a later invention to scare believers?

[robvalue]

As far as I have been able to gather, hell is a concept brought into Christianity by the NT. That means Jesus brought us about the most evil concept imaginable. I know some people have very toned down ideas of what hell is, but an awful lot of people believe it is to do with eternal torture. For those people, what could Jesus have done that was more evil than to create/unleash hell? I'd love to hear of a suggestion from anybody as to a more evil act Jesus could have done.

Let's face it, hell's primary function is scaring people into compliance and discouraging questions. This isn't much of a threat if there isn't at least some form of considerable suffering involved.