The references to hell were not to the destruction of Israel, a totally different subject.
Also Cold water won't wake up a dead man. A man needs to see that he is a sinner first and that he needs a savior second. The emphasis in evangelical preaching etc. needs to be on the sinner part not on the hell part.Everybody seeks to advoid hell thats mans nature whether dead or born again. But a dead man will not recogonize that he is a sinner, he will always put himself higher then God. The emphasis in evangelical preaching should be in the relationship of man to God and that God is soverign over man and that man needs God to be saved from him self. It is only after a man is born again that he sees this. God has called us Christians to preach the Gospel, I believe the more Christians do this the more God will work in the hearts of those that are his. Preaching alot on Hell and making a big emphasis on hell and not our relationship with God only presents a lope sided gospel which only brings false conversions. We need to preach a well balanced Gospel.
Well, when God spoke to Abimelech and told him he was a dead man, Abimelech got the message (Gen.20:3), so the unbeliever can understand what God wants him to understand. Moreover, to those of us who believe that man has a decision to make on where he chooses to spend eternity, he needs to be warned of the realities of Hell. No one said that Hell was the only thing that needed to be preached! After Hell gets the unbelievers attention he needs to be told that his debt has been paid by someone else so he doesn't have to go there, he can take the free gift offered to him instead (Rom.6:23), he can believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Hell, however, is a crucial part of the Gospel message and needs to be stressed more, not less. It seems to me that it is your 'Gospel' that is unbalanced.
15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Notice not a word about the fear of hellfire torture forever but simply death. God has delivered His children from the curse of death which passed upon all mankind.
Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Paul's epistle to the Romans is a comprehensive study on sin mentioning sin about fifty times, never once mentioning hell, summed up by this verse.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Heaven or hell, eternal life would be required to be tortured forever with Abraham and Lazarus loking across the chasm at the poor souls begging for drops of water and mercy for their families forever. What lost soul desiring God would want to be associated with such a God? Will God give Judas the gift of eternal life so that he may be tortured forever for doing God's will? What a false doctrine! If you teach this doctrine as truth you are part of those misrepresenting God to the world as has been done for centuries. You are parroting the false doctrine of ages and do not even realize it.
Hell is the personification of eternal, everlasting God judged death, the cessation of existance forever. God will return you from whence you came, dust, you being forever in His debt for life and all that went with it which He gave you freely. This is the merciful God I serve.
Genesis 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Job 7:9 As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.
Job 24:19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.
Psalm 6:5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?
Psalm 49:14 Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.
Psalm 49:15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.
Hosea 13:14 I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.
1 Corinthians 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?