It's silly for any of us to try to persuade others through fear or whit. Not one of us can fully convince the other, because, as humans, we do not have the mental ability to understand things beyond our life. I believe there is a God out there who created everything. Anything more than that, I cannot explain nor understand.. nor can any living person on earth. So let's just drop the whole thing and go on with our lives. Life is short. That's one thing we know, so get out there and play tennis.
and Magnus - I completely agree with you that a caring maker would not punish us to an eternity of hell for a lifetime of sin. Why would He even create the world if that sort of suffering were inevitable?