They are not rejecting “God”. Rather, they are rejecting the message. They are saying they don’t believe such a God exists and is a fairy tale.
Interestingly, the New Testament has many clear messages. One of them is the message to willingly come to the Lord. Yet the “eternal torture in Hell” message is clear coersion. It is the equivalent, in human terms, of telling someone to sign the contract or you will blow their brains out. It is called coersion. It is also illegal.
But more importantly, it flies in the face of Jesus’ teachings. I did not become a follower of Christ because he threatened to torture me for all eternity. I became a follower of Jesus because I want to spend eternity in the presence of my creator.
I came to the Lord through desire, not fear. And fear is the opposite of faith.
Isn’t it amazing, though, that even if the only motivztion for following Christ is abject fear, God will accept that and work with it.
I became a Christian at eight through fear of hell and the apocalypse (neigbor’s Bible study). I could not have stayed a Christian without a great deal more than that.
To my father, it was a dreadful scandal that God would burn up a little girl. He was raised Christian, and I wasn’t.