For quite a bit of my life, I was a fundamentalist. Then, by degrees, I began to reconsider some of the implications. I still believe that we are all created in the image of God. But, by fundamentalist tenets, God created us knowing that we would all be imperfect, and that, by "His" very nature, "He" would be forced to condemn us to eternal Hell for the least imperfection. Granted, because "God so loved the world", he gave us an out, by allowing a perfect person to face the death penalty in our place. But if you are raised in a non-christian faith, and fail to renounce your background and convert, or have the misfortune of not hearing the Gospel presented in a convincing way, you are way out of luck, for all eternity. No human society, however barbaric, has demanded the death penalty for absolutely every human imperfection, or because of the imperfection of one's forbears. Jesus (for one)taught us the great value of simple forgiveness among men; how have we ever conceived of God as being totally unable to forgive the children he loves, without having
to put someone to a bloody death in order to do so?