On Abuse and Hell
by MW Cook
I’ve heard it said that teaching your children that Hell is real is a kind of child abuse. That jarred me. Billions of people believe in Hell—most of the disagreement is just over who has to go there.
But I can see how belief in Hell can be hurtful.
It teaches that the most loving being in the universe is still cruel enough to hurt you forever.
Stop. Don’t throw down your easy reply about the holiness of God just yet. Let it sink in that the Author of love is willing to pour eternal misery on you.
What kind of love is learnt from a Father like this?
Of course, if Hell is real and the go-to place for those of us who can’t muster belief, then not telling people about Hell is abusive.
Praise be, then, that it’s not a Biblical concept in the first place.
Matt W Cook 
Amen. The traditional idea of hell isn’t found anywhere in the Bible in its original languages, and I agree that teaching it is indeed child abuse (see http://www.tentmaker.org/articles/hell_terrorizes.htm if you don’t believe me).
You’re damned if you do, and damned if you don’t you might say…