Anyway, mr.agnostic/atheist rolled out his reasons to not believe. Not surprised,

having been the bright little boy he was (and now, a bright mid-40s man) his questions had been met with ... number one:  VICIOUS mind games, and about NO honest "well, I don't know."   Had to about laugh, (not funny, just no-brainer) when he made the statement, that churches have, amongst them, more than one or two evil people, and that most people there, are faking it.  Uhm, didn't Jesus say, " on that day, many will say, Lord, Lord, haven't we, in your name do many wonderful works..."  And doesn't Jude, who i think was Jesus's half brother, warn the church that "ravenous wolves" were in the church, planning and plotting bad trouble.

He didn't go into alot of detail about the mind gaming he had experienced as a youngster, but what he said, was enough.  YES hell is real, and it is eternal, but a four year old does NOT need to have the horrid details pounded into his little brain.  Kids need to learn about grace, forgiveness, love - and turning away from bratty behavior,  and that sin is a human condition, that even the best and brightest of us, struggle against it.

Nope, the little boy was threatened with hell-fire, because he was ... what!  Looking out the window, watching some squirrel, that's what.

Next up, was the slaughter of the caananites.  Oh yeah, that was one i struggled with, for several years.  He said, they had just been living their lives.  Yeah, what i used to think too - i had thought they were just pot-smoking hippies, going to the high places where they grooved to grateful dead melodies.  No, seriously, that music is ancient.

Needless to say, how naive.   The caananites were into some nasty stuff.  They had been practicing...ugh, for centuries.  And didn't the Lord warn the israelites, that if they did the same, the "land would vomit them out."