eoe,
God does not senence anyone to hell. This is the "angry god theology" of the west.
The "angry God theology of the West"? I don't think I've ever heard of this before. My pastor always talks about how God's face is shining down upon us, and that He is not one of those God's in that if you do a lot of good works that you just might get a netural face from God, and that if you slip up you'll get a lightning bolt thrown at you. He isn't a God whom is always frowning over you. The Bible paints a very different view of God: He is one whom smiles over us. No, God is gracious and He takes delight in the people whom He created, even if they choose to reject Him. Some people say that the roof'll fall in if they entered a church, but the truth could not be more opposite, the church is the place where God wants them to be.
To the OP, hypothetically, are you sorry for rejecting God or are you sorry for yourself because of the
consequences of rejecting God? You see, many people who commit crimes, e.g. adultery, are only sorry if they get caught and have to experience the consequences of their actions. And you're only saying that you're sorry out of fear for eternal punishment. The love that saves, perfect love, drives away all fear as John says, there is no fear in love.
Consider, before God's eyes, you are a sinner. Countless times you have disobeyed His commandments and rebelled against Him. That is your "crime". Now, Paul informs us that [both physical and eternal] death (i.e. separation from God) is the wages of sin. In other words, you because of your sins and transgressions actually
deserve or
earn death!
Now, we have to options of what to do with our sins.
We can do one of two things:
1. Separate from our sins by trusting in Christ and in effect handing our sins over to Him and thus dwell with God forever.
2. Reject Christ and in effect cling or hold onto our sins, in which case we will separate ourselves from God for all eternity.
Since in your hypothetical situation you didn't believe in Jesus, we'll see what's happening behind the scenes in scenario number 2. Back in the Garden of Eden when Adam rebelled against God, in effect he was saying that he wanted life without God. He wanted to decide truth for himself, independent of God. So, we can conclude, that when we similarly sin against and reject Christ and His offer to take our sins away, we are in effect saying to Him:
"Go away Jesus. Don't come in here with that sering spotlight of yours telling me how to live my life, just leave me alone!"
Thus we are wanting to live without God, independent of Him. On Judgment Day, Jesus will grant us our wish and depart us from Himself for all eternity.
So, back to your hypothetical situation, you have already said to God that you want nothing to do with Him. Even though outwardly you may claim that you want to have a relationship with Him, He can see your heart and its intent to avoid eternal suffering.
As to how you can decide which religion to follow. Well, Islam claims that it is the final revelation from Allah and that it preceeds the former Tankh (Old Testament) and the New Testament Gospel. However, one of the things that I find most weird is if Jesus was not crucified as Muhammad claims He was not, then wouldn't the people of the Gospel day just say that no such thing ever happened as the Apostles outlined. I mean, from the Gospels we can conclude that the death of Jesus was a massive event that everyone knew about (Luke 24:13-35) and as such, if it never happened no one would take the message seriously.
Anyway, the Bible says "taste and see that the Lord is good" (Psalm 34:80) and 1 Peter 2:3. Jesus also said that if you seek after Him with all your heart you will find Him. These two verses are like a challenge - the Bible challenges people to try Jesus out and put Him to the test in your life. Of course, you also have a part to play in this. For your part, you must seek after Him and be open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
I have to go,
Katarn.
