On the nature of Hell

When you wrote:

"And in the face of some all-powerful god they don't understand, mankind reverts to what must be an innate reaction: appeasement in the hope of mercy at some future time."

That might not be so far away from many Christian beliefs, regardless of what "true" Christians actually *should* believe. I know of zero Christians who do not enjoy the future prospect of entry into Heaven. Even Jesus talked about Heaven as a reward for believing. If you "believe" you will receive mercy. The fact that they are avoiding Hell is of great comfort to Christians. Heaven is indeed like a reward.

And in your previous post you mentioned:

"So a person who has had ample opportunity to hear and study the Gospel message, yet still rejects Christ stands in a perilous position"

Now that perilous position, I assume, is the non-avoidance of Hell.

So what is Hell? I'll take you back, if I may, to:

Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Hell does not appear to be a return to the days before birth (or conciousness), which wouldn't be so bad, after all I have no complaints about any of the approx. 5,113,500,000,000 days the Universe was around before I was born. No, Hell hurts.

Many people do not wish to believe in a God that would not save them from themselves. Why is the following scenario not possible with a True and Loving God?

1. Atheist person dies
2. It all becomes clear, Jesus and the Bible are 100% correct
3. Atheist person converts to Christianity on the spot
4. Atheist person is saved from a lake of fire

4. does not happen does it? At that stage it is too late. When all becomes clear you don't need faith so you've failed the test of suitability for Heaven haven't you? I would estimate, extrapolating from conversations I have had, that this "rule" stops millions of people from believing in Christ, Yahweh and The Bible.

It's a tough faith, but then again nobody said it was easy :-)

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I'm glad that you're feeling better and that the deed is done!