It is difficult to explain Hell when one can not accept the concept that we do not deserve Heaven, nor can we by anything of our own doing. Because we ourselves are corrupt and sinful, we do not deserve to behold God’s glory or to be in His presence whatsoever. That is, separation from God is a default. But because Christ personally intercedes for us, we are forgiven. But we also need to accept that forgiveness.
I should say that I at one point was an extremely devout Christian type. and I know the whole spiel by heart because I had memorized it when I was in that mindset. There are even posts of mine where I’m making similar arguments as yours, potentially in this very thread.
I should also say that I don’t want heaven, and I don’t think that the heaven of the Bible is something that most people can say that they honestly want. I think of the prospect of an eternity with God while everyone else is burning away as completely exhausting and undesirable. Yes, heaven is undesirable. I’d rather cease to exist. I also would probably rather be in hell with all the rockin’ bands and my actual father and mother and brothers and sisters (because that’s where God will condemn them since I don’t believe that they would be “saved”) than up in heaven. It’d be hot and miserable down in hell, but God strikes me as rather unpleasant and conceited. I don’t think I’d enjoy his company. I also don’t care much about his forgiveness. I care more about the forgiveness of the people that I’ve actually wronged in my life than the forgiveness of a supposedly all-knowing deity.
In other words, we of ourselves decide to take our inheritance and go our own way, and it is up to each of us to decide to go back home to our father. Surely, once he sees us on the road back from far away, he will run to us and embrace us and throw a party. But we are also free to be able to make the decision to be apostate. It’s our choice.
Not really. Not if you were born into a society with no exposure to the strand of Christianity that would redeem you in God’s eyes.