What if hell were a concept created after the time of Jesus? The other pervading religions of the world at that time, and in ours, don't share that concept at all. The thought that when you die you either reach eternal bliss, or eternal pain, suffering and damnation seems too harsh for a Father God. Throw in the message of Jesus and it makes even less sense as a possible outcome to your life. Other religions, mainly Eastern, believe in a sense of reincarnation, or your soul/self/eternal being striving for perfection over several lives on Earth. The train of thought that says you keep striving, life after life, to reach your full potential and when you do, you become a part of the perfection of the Universe, which ultimately you could translate into Heaven, from a Western standpoint. If you remove the concept of Hell from Christian beliefs you have the message saying "Believe in me, and you will have eternal life", which you could translate into, have faith and follow my word and you will become one with me for all time. One with perfection. What if people, like the people who centuries later created the concept of Original Sin (to structure and grow the church by making baptism mandatory for salvation) and Righteous Killing (in order to justify The Crusades) also threw in this concept of Hell. The Eastern religions, Hinduism in particular, believe that there are many paths that lead to salvation. They believe that people are unique and therefore different paths appeal more to different people, but they are all paths of righteousness. Christianity is the only one that says "Follow this path or perish in the fires of hell". It just doesn't make sense to me.