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Originally Posted by Calgaryborn
I don't think it is an ego trip to want love.
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Sure, it's normal (at least for humans) to want to be loved. But to demand to be loved by every single sentient being and to damn all those who hate you and all those who neither love nor hate you to eternal torture... well, that's just a bit of an ego-trip.
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You expect your dog to show obedience and give you attention when you want it. If your dog wouldn't listen to you and spent his days destroying the house and harming the other pets, I bet he wouldn't be around for long.
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As Longsuffering said, he doesn't expect worship. If I've got a dog that doesn't do what I say but it generally good-natured, I don't give him to some sick teen up in Didsbury to torture; I probably love him regardless. On the other hand, if I had a dog who was destructive and violent toward other pets, I would feel that I had not done a good job as an owner. Or, if I had got the dog second-hand, I might feel that the previous owner had mistreated the dog. In either case, not the dog's fault; he's a product of human engineering and human nurturing. If a dog is dangerous and untrainable and a menace to society and had to be put down, I would want it done in the most painless way possible; again, I wouldn't simply abandon him to didsbury boy.
It would be one thing if God simply said that those who did not love him would not go to heaven and would simply cease to exist upon their death; that's fair. But the fact that he would want punishment and pain caused to those beings for all eternity, that's seriously sick. Personally, I believe such a perspective contradicts the notion of an all-powerful being; a vengeful, vindictive and vain god is a contradiction in terms.