Gee, first of all, the "default presupposition" for those who are atheists is that everyone gets destroyed. Anything better than that is a step up, you must admit. Not tormented, but certainly annihilated.

I get your point about the lake of fire and the torture. Really, I do. I am listening to you. I'm not just talking. We're partners in this chat.

OK, so now you seem to propose that in order to avoid annihilation in the Christian scheme of things, you need to be perfectly righteous in and of yourself. That was never part of the Christian way of thinking though. God has pretty much pulled out all the stops to help us out while still leaving us our fundamental freedom. We ARE predisposed to undercut other people (= sin) at times just because of our unsophistication in the complex system we live in. Maybe you haven't worked for a whole lot of employers yet, but you'll find that managing things makes most people turn into nutbars, to some extent. Most shops, for example, are managed by people who are doing a parody of bad parenthood. There's a good metaphysical reason for this. The more we take on powers of control of destiny (or eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, as Genesis says), the more we deal with the unknown future and all the factors influencing it, and the more awkward and potentially fear-warped we become -- because we are always in over our heads to some extent.

So, first of all, if you look at Romans 2, you'll see that even people who have never heard of God still have a conscience and a fundamental knowledge of love, like a copy of the scriptural law written in their hearts. Romans 2 implies that they will be judged for eternity against this, and there's a clear implication that they may well do OK. Perfection is not needed. Indeed, a person can repent, as you see in the Old Testament, and the slate is wiped clean for them. There is no implication that after repenting, they will henceforth be perfect. Just more conscientious and attentive to God's priorities.

Then Jesus came along. "And God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." This "believing in him" isn't a soldierly loyalty thing as some people seem to think. That would be completely sterile and pointless. Believing in him means recognizing that his gestalt of love is really the central theme of God's priorities, and trying to make that love your own priority. I do in fact think there are people who believe in him who are not Christian, because of some cultural misunderstanding about organized religion or the nature of Christian worship, and they are also included in his redeemed. I am short of time to write an essay on the significance of what he did by living with us and being politically murdered in a gruesome way. But he relieves us not only of our own sin, but of the thrust of the sin that is committed against us. And more importantly, he is with is. We are not alone in this. Again, i won't elaborate on the details right now, but you are reading and asking well, I am sure you're not a stranger to this.

So, inbuilt conscience, repenting, a redeemer... like I say, God has pulled out all the stops.

But we are still free to to make a train wreck of it if we really feel that getting ugly with other people is our main priority in life.