*It doesn't matter if the translation issue doesn't bother YOUR sensibilities, it bothers MINE and the question is: would a fair and just god send me to eternal torment, a punishment far worse than the sickest most pedagogic father on earth could ever do to their child, for rejecting his "unerring word" when he couldn't get his savior's name right? Answer that question, not one you have made up for yourself!*
Living eternally in His presence in an unredeemed state would be far worse torment. Imagine having to live in the presence of someone you detest, yet everyone around you is always going on and on about how great He is...
I argue that a good part of the torment of Hell is, having seen God, to be denied a relationship with him. Then, there is an argument that I find intriguing, that the "burning" in hell is the burning of shame:
[[http://www.christian-thinktank.com/gr5part2.html
The traditional evangelical view DOES NOT include the active, monstrous torments that occur in the more speculative religious literature (Greek, Roman, Jewish, Christian), in those vivid medieval paintings, in some fundamentalist preaching, or in many skeptics' formulation of this objection!
To demonstrate this, let me simply quote from two VERY traditional sources, one evangelical protestant (very conservative and holding to the traditional view of hell) and from a modern (but still conservative) Catholic work.
The first is from Immortality: The Other Side of Death, by Gary Habermas and J.P. Moreland [CS:IOSD:169-170, 172, 174, 159]:
"Before proceeding, though, one more preliminary is in order. We do not accept the idea that hell is a place where God actively tortures people forever and ever. There will indeed be everlasting, conscious, mental and physical torment in various degrees according to the lives people have lived here on earth. But the essence of that torment is relational in nature: the banishment from heaven and all it stands for. Mental and physical anguish result from the sorrow and shame of the judgment of being forever relationally excluded from God, heaven, and so forth. It is not due to God himself inflicting torture."
"In response, we should first point out that we would agree that an un-ending hell of moment by moment, active torture by God would be unjust and hard to square with his love and the intrinsic dignity of man. But we have already shown that our understanding of hell is different from the torture-chamber model."
"Remember, hell is not a torture chamber, and people in hell are not howling like dogs in mind-numbing pain. There are degrees of anguish in hell."
"The Bible describes hell primarily in relational terms--it is 'away from' God. Therefore, it involves banishment from his presence, his purposes, and his followers. Like heaven, hell is a freely chosen destination. What we decide to believe and do in this life sets us on a road leading to a final destination in the next...Hell is also a place of shame, sorrow, regret, and anguish. This intense pain is not actively produced by God; he is not a cosmic torturer. Undoubtedly, anguish and torment will exist in hell. And because we will have both body and soul in the resurrected state, the anguish experienced can be both mental and physical. But the pain suffered will be due to the shame and sorrow resulting from the punishment of final, ultimate, unending banishment from God, his kingdom, and the good life for which we were created in the first place. Hell's occupants will deeply and tragically regret all they lost. As Jesus said, 'For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?' (Matt 16:26)"
"The Bible's picture of hell, therefore, indicates that upon death, some people will be translated into a different, nonspatial mode of existence. They will be conscious, and they will await the resurrection of their bodies, at which time they will be banished from heaven and secured in hell where they will experience unending, conscious exclusion from God, his people, and anything of value. This banishment will include conscious sorrow, shame, and anguish to differing degrees, depending on the person's life on earth." [CS:IOSD:160, note: no torture]
]]
But God is not anyone's "Father" as much as He is their "Owner", a right of possession that naturally flows from having created everything (I believe that's the concept of "homesteading"). Just as a farmer owns his cows and no one can say anything to him if he decides to kill them all, or some portion of them, for whatever reason the farmer deems right, God owns His creation, and may dispose of us as He wishes. And since mankind is the part of His creation that rebelled and marred everything else good that God made, then mankind must pay restitution, which God alone determines.
So, instead of sending us all to eternal torment, as we rightly deserve for destroying God's property, God decided to pay the penalty for restitution Himself. That makes people mad. It's much more emotionally satisfying to set ourselves up as God's judge; declaring Him to be evil (just look at all the evil, insane things He did--or allowed--in the Bible) and ourselves to be righteous.