CS Lewis said he would give everything he had if the doctrine of Hell were taken out of Christianity. But, as he admitted, the Doctrine of Hell is there. Jesus himself said, in the Parable of the Wedding Guest, that most people would go to Hell, and not for any serious sin.

Most people end up in Hell, according to that Parable, because they were invited to Heaven, in the Parable a wedding, and they have worn the wrong clothes, which could only mean the wrong doctrine.

Lewis HATED that.

But the very term “Salvation” means Hell. You seek salvation FROM, not TO.

So why love God?

St. Augustine and Calvinists who believe in Predestination are wildly thankful to God for choosing THEM for Salvation from the Eternal Fire. Their point is that while God is viciously unforgiving to most, he chooses not to damn EVERYBODY.

This makes a lot of sense to a lot of people.

In fact, when a terrorist who holds people captive shows the tiniest bit of mercy, the captive tends to fall in love with him. Like God, he has no reason whatsoever not to torture you anymore, so your gratitude is for his showing any mercy at all when his whole reason for being there is to do all the harm he can.

This reaction to terrorists and torturers was discovered a generation ago.

CS Lewis recognized it and HATED it.

It is called The Stockholm Syndrome.

Outside of theology, that is.