Do you believe in God?

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Repent or die forever.

I increasingly prefer the gnostic solution, where YHWH, who created the world, is the evil demiurge Yaldaboath who stands between us and the salvation of the most high God Bythos.

I am fully aware that it is perfectly useless to apply reason to puzzle out the inconsistencies of religious faith but I have a bit of free time this morning and I might as well present my confusion in understanding one bit of accepted theology

It seems that if one does not accept some religious fundamentals a merciful God will cast one to eternal torture after death. This is an understandable and perhaps theologically useful threat to the living to persuade them to declare their acceptance of these beliefs but declaration of a belief does not indicate an inner conviction. That requires some fundamental change of understanding and acceptance that a stimulated fear, no matter how great, certainly does not bring about. And a threat of such huge proportions without an accompanying persuasion of a correct view of the universe is a strange action from one assumed to be universally kind and forgiving.

Within human culture torture is a tool used to gain a response. It is an attempt to gain information or social conformity and if it is successful the individual subjected to the cruelty then conforms to social requirements. This is the concept behind sending someone to prison since the experiences has, if anything, negative educational effects and is only meaningful if it contains a future threat of continuance.

But a dead soul that is promised no alleviation of its horrible circumstance no matter what is obviously gaining nothing by a change of attitude. Living people who have been tortured have related that, in the end, they will do anything to make the torture stop. A soul promised only endless torture whatever their change of attitude seems more the subject of endless vengeance rather than someone undergoing an educational process. A God intent only on endless vengeance, frankly, has very little appeal to me. I wonder why people profess love for such a monster.

Yes, yes, that's why I'm not going to press the argument any further. The uselessness of warning a non-beliver about eternal damnation ... is not lost on me. I am as not as clueless as you might think. I am a realist.