Who negotiated Hell/Eternal Life?

I must confess my last post had a big impact in my head this week, I have not been able to stop thinking about the possibility that If I go to heaven, I might not be able to do everything I love doing as a human (evidently, without Sinning), but those things that define me as myself; while at dinner, I was talking about this with my wife, and she asked me –yeah!, but what about Hell, you would not want to go through that unbelievable amount of pain… ETERNALLY?

I would not want to, but I also don’t think we should “believe” out of fear from hell, that doesn’t seem right. –I replied, she then reflected and agreed it’d be very sad to be a Christian only out of fear of going to hell.

“But, do you really think is fair that people who don’t accept Jesus Christ go to hell for ETERNITY?”, I asked.

“…”

“I mean, I know there are bad people, but the bible doesn’t say bad people will go to hell, it says those who don’t accept Jesus into their hearts, PUM, Eternal Death With Pain and Suffering, I don’t know… the balance there… seems WAY OFF.”

According to Wikipedia the worldwide Life Expectancy is around 71 years of age, how can the most merciful and forgiving being on existence have such an elevated exchange rate?… “You Must Accept Christ within 71 years (before you die), or else, ETERNAL PAIN”, ouch.

As I was meditating in all this, I made a quick search for “Hell” on my bible, I was very surprised to see that it is first mentioned on the New Testament, by Jesus himself, wow, this I didn’t know; after further research, the “Old testament” doesn’t seem to mention a place like the Hell of the “New Testament”, but I did find a word that describes a place in the afterlife, Sheol, there are over 60 references to this word and it is used to describe the gathering of the Dead, according to Ecclesiastes 9:10 there is no knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol:

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.” Ecc 9:10

(Interesting side-note: The concept of “Hell” doesn’t exists in Judaism, they believe in a place called Gehenna which is a sort of purgatory, and it is not believed to be eternal)

As usual and as with the rest of my spiritual inquiries, I am even more confused now, let’s apply some logic here (I know, I know… I shouldn’t do this), but please make your own conclusions:

1. God loves us so much that he sent his only begotten son to die for us
2. Jesus died for our sins, so we don’t have to pay for them.
3. Jesus is the first person to talk about “Hell” as we know it today
4. before Christ, God’s chosen people believed in the Sheol, mentioned somewhat regularly in the Old Testament
5. Sheol is the resting place of the just and unjust, in which there is no knowledge nor wisdom (I will assume there is no joy or pain either, as no knowledge implies it)
6. If you don’t accept Christ you will go to hell ETERNALLY

From this six arguments, I personally conclude that while Christ’s Sacrifice provides “a bridge to heaven” to those who accept him, it also comes with an unbalanced amount of pain and suffering to the vast majority of humans that have lived in the past 2,000 and some years, and to top it all, with eternal repercussions.

One last point I want to make, God was willing to spare the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah if only ten Righteous were found, ten; I am obviously not be understanding something or a HUGE mistake was made in negotiating the “fine” for not accepting Christ, but it seems that the pay for not doing so, is equal or even greater than having committed all sins from all humans, which is why he died for in the first place, in other words, those who don’t accept Christ into their hearts, will ETERNALLY pay for all sins.

What do you think? Fair?

Faith Scavenger