>>511066132 (OP)>What kind of God needs to rule through fear?You are assuming fear is all He rules people by (love is another method, as in John 3:16) and that He also "needs to" (He's God, He doesn't need anything), while the reality is that fear is a good deterrent against uncomely behaviour harmful to yourself and others. That's the way God chose to fashion the human brain after.
>I ask this from a place of total intellectual honesty. I want to believe in God. But the idea of him sending non believers to eternal torment just doesn't sit right with me.If you were intellectually honest you'd be willing to find out and accept the truth whether you liked it or not.
In any event, a non-believer is not the same as a Christ-rejector, and they'll both have different punishments:
If you never heard about the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be judged by your works, which ain't gonna be fun:
โFor there is no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;โ (Romans 2:11-12)
But if you were confronted with the real Jesus and you die rejecting Him, your judgement's going to be much harsher.
โWoe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for you.โ (Luke 10:13-14)
Anybody who ever makes it to heaven has and will do so through Jesus, one way or another.
โJesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.โ (John 14:6)