The Paradox of Mainstream Christianity

The paradox of mainstream christianity is its view of God - the God of love, forgiveness, mercy and grace - whom it claims to represent.

It's interesting, no, downright embarrassing, to compare the Biblical view of God with the one portrayed by mainstream christianity.

Over the next few days, I'll give some examples of how this paradox works itself out.  I'll add them as comments to this post.

Here's the first to get the ball rolling ....

Jesus told us to love our enemies and do good to them. 
In this way, he said, we would be showing that we were children of God, who is equally kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
He then instructed us to be merciful, just as God is merciful.
[ Luke 6 : 27 - 36 ]

This is the Bible's picture of God as described by Jesus, the person most qualified to know his father's character and behaviour.

Why then does mainstream christianity teach that God will torment his enemies forever in a place called hell or in a lake of fire, if Jesus said God is the model of kindness and mercy we should follow?

Blessings, Barry