PTET - godless culture

Hell As Seperation From God (From a post to IMDb::Boards::Saved!)

"...Well, it all depends upon your conception of hell, which is really just separation from God..."

What is the basis, beyond wishful thinking, for saying that hell is just a separation from God? It certainly doesn't come from the New Testament! (See my "Survey of the Christian Hell").

This raises a serious question. If one accepts that the concept of *hell* is metaphorical, then what basis is there for insisting that heaven, or the resurrection, any form of afterlife or even the whole concept of 'God' is not metaphorical too?

Why would an all-loving, all-knowing God need 'love' from individual humans? Why would God stand by and let all of the evil in the world happen, if He has the power to stop it? Why would this God only *show* his love to those who made a conscious choice to suspend reason to believe in him? And what about the billions of people who 'chose' to love God in a different way, say through Islam or Hinduism or Buddhism? Why does God forsake them?

This brand of 'Xtianity Lite[tm]' is 'nicer' than Fundamentalism, but it makes as little sense.