I don't remember at what age I came to question the fundamentalist teachings I was taught as a child, but I do remember it was the concept of "Hell" that seemed too absurd to be true and marked, at least in my mind, a large flaw in their theology.
It seems to me, for a creature to be culpable of a crime against God, there must be motive and intent. And this seems especially true if we are talking about Perfect Divine Justice. Mankind's faulty imitation of God's Divine, Pure, Perfect Justice is used by the Courts here in the material world to create civic order, to rehabilitate offenders when possible and punish criminals to bring a certain sense of satisfaction to the victims.
But even in our flawed human mimicry of Perfect, Divine Justice, most Courts require evidence of intent.
If a man or woman spends their entire life honestly and sincerely seeking TRUTH, but just doesn't happen to ever be exposed to fundamentalist teachings, they still are bound for eternal punishment.
Or if through whatever fault of their own they fail to recognize the need for Christian Salvation, all the while bearing no malice toward God and still honestly seeking to reconcile those faults and find TRUTH but just can't seem to do so, the fundamentalist teaching that I was raised with indicates that innocent soul is still bound for Hell.
And if I am wrong in this, then someone with more knowledge of fundamentalist teachings, please correct me or clarify me. But this is the view of all the Southern Baptist churches I attended as a child.
I certainly mean no offense to anyone personally, but to me, it seems that anyone who believes this is an aspect of God's perfect character needs to perhaps seek professional help. Seriously. I am not making a joke. But that sort of belief seems to me to be indicative of a bitterly malicious nature and terribly troubled psyche.
