Before answering the question directly, a few notes on hell in general. The context of what few Biblical descriptions there are seem to be symbolic rather than literal descriptions, best I can tell. I personally don't believe there is a literal description, so I don't believe we can truly know what it is like. But the universal theme is that it is a place of eternal torment for all who have sinned (including Satan; the image of Satan being in control in hell is not Biblical at all; he is to be punished there as well). There is no joy or happiness there whatsoever.
The short version of who is going there and who isn't is this: God set out the rules for mankind from the beginning. Those who follow the rules perfectly are not subject to eternal punishment. But the penalty for sinning is eternal punishment. God being completely just must enforce this punishment. It is not a punishment because mankind is inherently evil, as was suggested in a post above, but because each of us has in fact sinned.
The flip side of that is that while God is 100% just, he is also 100% merciful and offers the free gift of salvation from that punishment for any who accept that Jesus paid the price that anyone who sins must pay (prior to Jesus paying that price, part of the faith that people were asked to have is that God had already set in place the plan where sins would eventually be paid for; as the saying goes, once Jesus paid the price, it was not only for those who would believe in the future, but also for those who had believed in the past--but that's a subject for another thread if people want to dig deeper into this idea). It is a free gift that is given for all, and all we must do is accept the gift.
Moving on to answer the question (again, this is the short version), as Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me." (John 14:6) In other words, Jesus is the only way to be saved from Hell. As far as what we must do to accept that salvation, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned." (Mark 16:16)
Again, that's the short version and is presented to be informative, not persuasive. But, EJ, you can read that and draw your own conclusions. My personal wish is that everyone I come into contact with choose to avoid Hell. But I am under no delusion that everyone will. We're all free to make our own choices in that regard, so that's fine.
My problem with all of that is that humanity is automatically evil, something I vehemently object. I've always liked to believe that humanity is not 100% evil, rather a mix of good and evil. After all, as far as I'm concerned, the world is made up of opposing forces. Good and evil, happy and sad, love and hatred, etc. Its simply impossible to be completely good, we're humans. Its in our nature to fuck up now and then. Add to that, I personally think that good and evil
need each other to exist. I don't really think its possible to completely eliminate evil no matter what, because I think every living entity carries evil in its heart, and if there does exist a God, then he has some bit of evil in his heart as well. That being said, I think the opposite also applies. I think there is good in everyone's heart to some extent, including both God and Satan, should either one exist. Its just not possible for someone to be perfectly on one side or the other to me. Now, some use good or evil a bit more than the other, which is quite obvious in what we see out in the world, but at the same time I think both presences are there in every human being, and spiritual entity that may exist.
And I suppose that's the primary reason why I reject Christianity, is the whole "Its either Heaven or Hell, no choices". As far as I'm concerned, it is not possible to be completely on one side, since both exist in the human heart. You'd have to completely eliminate one or the other, but doing so removes one's humanity in my opinion. And to me, I would never want to lose that, not in a million billion years. Its a very precious thing to me. To lose one's humanity is the equivalent of losing one's own soul as far as I'm concerned. Nobody is perfect, but I don't think I'd want to be perfect. Perfection would be tantamount to boredom and that would be no fun.
That's what I truly believe. That is my own spirituality. I am not a Christian and I never have ever considered myself one at all, but I do feel like this is what I actually believe, deep down. I look at Christianity, and I just can't accept it. So I'll just go with what my heart and soul tells me is real, and it tells me Christianity isn't real. I mean no offense to the Christians on this forum, none at all. I'm sure you believe it with everything you have, just as I believe what I believe. But I guess... I'm just tired of being vindicated for choosing the unpopular choice (I mean in real life, the Christians of this forum are anything but hostile
). Hell, I could just feign being a Christian and I'd be liked a lot more where I live, but that would just be lying to everyone I know, and I know that isn't right. So if my punishment for choosing my own path is an eternity in Hell, then I'll accept that because if there is a God that wishes to punish me for choosing what I feel is real, then I have no desire to be with that god at all.