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Watering down the reality of hell is a disservice to all Christians. I think it lowers the sacrifice Christ made for us because it deemphasizes what He was saving us FROM.

Amen, FK. To understand God's true love for us one has to understand what precisely we are saved from and why. But it's not only that. To ignore hell is to deny fundamental principles set forth by the fathers and spoken of directly by our Lord Jesus. It is difficult to repent when you don't understand why you should repent.

I'm reading tonight the eastern church fathers, in particular St. Basil as he was referred to in this article. I cannot believe even the early eastern church fathers were so misguided on the doctrine of hell. While I'm only about 1/2 way through Basil, here is an interesting quote:

Remember the vision of Daniel, and how he brings the judgment before us: “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool;…and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth before Him; thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened, clearly disclosing in the hearing of all, angels and men, things good and evil, things done openly and in secret, deeds, words, and thoughts all at once. What then must those men be who have lived wicked lives? Where then shall that soul hide which in the sight of all these spectators shall suddenly be revealed in its fulness of shame? With what kind of body shall it sustain those endless and unbearable pangs in the place of fire unquenched, and of the worm that perishes and never dies, and of depth of Hades, dark and horrible; bitter wailings, loud lamenting, weeping and gnashing of teeth and anguish without end? From all these woes there is no release after death; no device, no means of coming forth from the chastisement of pain. We can escape now. While we can, let us lift ourselves from the fall: let us never despair of ourselves, if only we depart from evil. -St. Basil-To a Fallen Virgin

Sounds to me like St. Basil believed in hell.

To understand God's true love for us one has to understand what precisely we are saved from and why. But it's not only that. To ignore hell is to deny fundamental principles set forth by the fathers and spoken of directly by our Lord Jesus. It is difficult to repent when you don't understand why you should repent.

That's exactly right. It's interesting that we are often accused of not believing in the value of repentance since we see God as being all-sovereign. Yet, it is the Reformed view that repentance is critical both in the positive sense, and also to avoid something that is very very real.