I am not concerned about hell, I'm concerned about the fact that people think I deserve to go there, and that a benevolent god would send me there.
As I said, a belief that hell exists betrays an at least subconscious belief that God exists. And if you're concerned that people think you deserve to go to hell, then you must believe to some degree that hell exists.
It's like if someone told me that I deserve to be cast into the fires of Mount Doom in Mordor. That would make me chuckle. I would be amused. I would not have even the slightest trace of concern.
And a benevolent God does not send anyone to hell. A just God does. Keep in mind that God is not all-benevolent to the exclusion of any other attributes. Yes he is benevolent, but he is also just and full of wrath against sin.
Almost, it's mostly about a specific sin, whether nonbelief is something you deserve to burn in hell for or not.
No one is condemned for unbelief. They are condemned for their sin, and in their unbelief—itself a sin—they remain condemned.
All mankind exists in a state of condemnation on account of sin. Those who belong to God, in their day of salvation move from death to life, from darkness to light. We ALL come from the same pool of death and darkness, of sin and moral ruin—and through unbelief, itself a sin, mankind remains there. We exist in death; only in Christ do we move to life. We exist in darkness; only in Christ do we move to light. We exist under God’s wrath; only in Christ is that wrath removed. We exist in condemnation; only in Christ are we justified.
But we need faith to be saved, don't we? And how easily one gains faith is something no human has in common with each other.
It's actually one of the few things we do all have in common. The Bible is pretty clear: for natural man, gaining faith is impossible. If faith was up to us to acquire, with no help by God's grace, no one would be saved. That is why the Bible speaks of faith as a gift.
Just don't confuse faith with abstract belief or moral repentance, etc. There are distinct categories. For example, believing that God exists is not 'faith'.
I don't think we choose what we take as evidence either. If someone told you that Superman is real, and he knows it because his friend's aunt's husband saw him flying around, would you take that as sufficient evidence? Could you take that as sufficient evidence and honestly believe Superman is real?
No. However, that has nothing to do with whether or not I choose what I take as evidence. Rejecting the existence of Superman is the RESULT of the evidentiary criteria I chose. In other words, I subjected the existence of Superman to the test of my already existing evidentiary criteria. I did not use his existence to develop my criteria.
I was only demonstrating you can't control your beliefs by asking you to believe Sauron was real.
I am a former atheist who was asked to believe God is real. It would seem I can indeed control my beliefs. However, giving intellectual assent to something is not unconditional; for me to believe a proposition, it needs to meet certain epistemic requirements I have. I've been asked to believe that many different things are real; some of them meet the criteria, others don't.
The looming question I am building up to is this: If you are having trouble believing that God is real, maybe the problem isn't God. Maybe the problem is the metaphysical system you have chosen. What if it's faulty? How would you ever know? Especially when that metaphysical system, built upon unprovable assumptions, holds the criteria by which you judge everything else?
Start by asking yourself simple but profound questions. Does 'real' and 'exist' mean the same thing? Can something be real but not exist? What does it mean for something to exist? And so forth. For example, the 'metaphysical' criteria I once affirmed actually eliminated the universe as a whole, when I applied them consistently.
You could, of course try it on another religion. For example, I bet you can't right now honestly believe Allah is real.
Don't make assumptions about my philosophical journeys, my friend. In addition to the years I've spent studying philosophy, I have also studied over 25 different world religions. I can reject the existence of Allah because I have explored these various depths. The rejection is for a reason, it is an informed rejection.
~ Ryft