For Christians who believe in Hell it would seem to me to be callous indeed not to spend as much effort as possible attempting to secure the salvation of others. Few religions wield both the carrot and the stick as rigorously.
Spending much effort to preach and secure salvation is offensive and despised because some individuals, like the way things are in their lives. Other religious ideologies would have compatibility and do evolve-to-fit regardless, just for the sake of existing.
No, we hate it because we've heard it a thousand times before, and it's still irrational nonsense. I was dragged to do door to door preaching once when I was a child and my parents were still in the thrill of believing they had found the truth. If you really believe these things but just about everyone in the US has heard this so called message numerous times, what is the point of continuing to be insulting and self righteous!
I know you mean well. You seem like a decent person, but I'm a decent, well meaning person too. I always try to be kind, and generous. I despise cruelty, including the cruelty that's in many Biblical stories. I believed the things that you believe now, but at one point, the cognitive dissonance made me come to my senses and I was no longer able to believe such contradictory emotional things that had no basis in reality. I looked around and saw that Christians were no better than anyone else, and sometimes they were nasty, judgmental and cruel.
I am not concerned in the least about going to hell because hell is not a real place. Sometimes life on earth is a living hell, especially for those who don't have a roof over their heads, who don't have enough food to eat, or anyone who cares about them, etc. etc. But, even if there was an entity called god, she would never be as cruel and vindictive as the god in the Christian Bible.
the Bible is full of genocidal revenge committed by this invisible entity. It's been used to justify slavery and all kinds of cruelty. Why on earth would any decent person believe there is truth in that ugly book? Sure, there are some nice parts, but taken as a whole, the books is full of nasty myths and false promises used to promote an attitude of self righteousness. Since leaving Christianity about 50 years ago, I have never been able to understand how or why anyone in the modern world can still hold the concepts in the Bible as truth, instead of the ancient myths that they are. But as the late Joseph Campbell said, "there is power in mythology". If one must have myths to guide their lives and find purpose, why not choose one that isn't so cruel and narrow minded as the conservative Christian mythology?
Sorry Lerner. I don't mean my little rant to be personal. My own parents believed like you do, and I never stopped loving them. We never allowed our different beliefs to come between us. And happily, before my mother became a victim of dementia, she once told my husband that she no longer believed that people like me were going to hell. I guess the cognitive dissonance got to her a bit, because the thought of her own daughter, who has always loved her, would be eternally tortured, was too horrific a thought. I was relieved to hear that this burden had been lifted from my dear mother, who now nearing the end of her life.
You can't prove that god exists anymore than I can prove that she doesn't. I can't prove that garden fairies don't exist either, and garden fairies are cute, harmless little creatures, even if they are imaginary.