I got into a talk with Christ Date from the Rethinking Hell Facebook group. He doesn’t believe that anyone professes the Christian Faith because of hell.
I do not think such a person exists. I don't think there's anybody who goes from (a) disbelief that God exists, Jesus saves, etc., then (b) is threatened with hell, which (c) causes them to believe.
I'm not convinced that there is any person who, upon being convinced that there is no threat of hell, would cease to profess belief. IOW, I don't think there's anyone for whom hell is the difference-maker.
For me it seems fear mongering is a form of propaganda which time has tested and shown to be very effective. I don’t know why fear mongering about hell wouldn’t work.
It is true; however, that churches do not have many people who’s salvation story goes something like, "I didn’t believe in any of that Jesus crap, but then someone told me about hell and I changed my mind.”
But that’s not how any fear propaganda works. It’s more subtle. It is more like communicating, “if you’re wrong the costs are so high that you should believe that I’m right.” With hell, fear mongering seems to subconsciously pressure sort of a Pascal’s Wager cost-benefit analysis.
Nobody says that fear was the reason why they changed their mind. But if you can impress the idea that if they’re wrong they will suffer eternal damnation, maybe they will ease their intellectual discipline and buy into a belief.
This is on the Wikipedia page for Fear Mongering.
