@ Djness
I don't believe that putting Jesus into the mix absolves god of any cruelty here. Jesus is one potential escape from what we were originally condemned to. That and Jesus isn't actually a choice do you want to go to hell or not, people don't believe in hell or the validity of the religion that says it exists. If god wanted to offer us a fair choice he wouldn't have been so subjective.
@Crazy4Godword
Many Christians have this same problem, but in the end they say "I can't understand it but I'm just going to trust god" I simply can't do that, I need to understand why something that seems unbelievably cruel is actually just. I didn't put a stumbling block in front, god did when he set up this situation in which I can't believe in a loving god who also created and judged that all sinners must go to hell.
Hell is eternal seperation from God. It is like locking yourself in a closet and when someone comes along to set you free of sin you attack them and accuse them of putting you there in the first place. God did not create the world to be sinful and suffer. People chose to do so and when Jesus comes and tries to set them free, they attack.
This comparison doesn't fit. We couldn't possibly put ourselves in hell unless god first created it and then made the criteria for which souls are judged that condemns every single one of us there. That and you don't deny that we were born into this 'closet' as we were born into our condemnation to hell, what choice did we have other than to already be stuck there? From the earliest moment we can remember we've been condemned to hell/stuck in the closet. Then there's the matter that if god simply truly showed himself or proved his existence, no one would attack him, but the way he's "trying to let us out of the closet" is in a way where no one can be sure if he actually exists.
Then there's also the fact that if we stay in the closet because we don't think there's a way out, he'll instead of pulling us out of the closet, show himself to us, and then lock us in the closet forever and ever so we can't possibly ever get out, and he'll also make the closet a place of torture where there is unbearable agony. He won't let you out even after billions of years after he's locked you there forever. And beyond that, if I saw a child in a dangerous and harmful situation, I'm going to pull them out of it and make sure they're alright, even if they fight me over it. They're a
child, as adults it's our responsibility to protect them, shouldn't god be doing the same?
All these comparisons about us choosing to go to hell don't work... No one chooses hell, they just don't believe it exists, and god isn't proving that it exists either, nor when we die is he offering us a choice personally, we're just condemned no matter what... I've explained my problems with the concept of hell as described, and why I cannot believe in it, that's my stance.
That's why I see annihilation as more consistent with the idea of a loving god, don't you think annihilation makes more sense?