proving them right

Group 1: Enemies of the faith claim that we invent God and all related ideas.

Group 2: People who are for Christianity but against "organized" flavors willingly admit that their beliefs are based on their personal intuitions and emotions. For example, "The God Whom I worship would always judge people like me to be acceptable. He thinks and acts in ways that, conveniently, make perfect sense to me."

Aren't the people in group two confirming the hypothesis of the people in group 1? Whenever I read the Bible and confront its truth, I'm often reminded that the difficult doctrines of Christianity don't always fit my preconceptions and prejudices and preferences.

a few short reminders on Hell and Universalism

Of late I've been reading some controversy on the Web about the ever-disturbing topic of Hell, and one heresy thereof, Universalism. And as usual it strikes me that while some of the answers are right and some are wrong, Christians often seem to be asking either the wrong questions or phrasing the right questions in unhelpful ways. None of the following are new opinions of mine, so I term them "reminders". To the best of my understanding, my thoughts are doctrinally sound, but I suppose everyone says that about themselves...

• There is Hell. There is punishment. Put simply, God's perfect justice will fall upon the rebellious and cast them out from Him. It's their choice whether or not to obey Him by living in righteousness and love. If there were no consequences for fully-aware decisions to rebel (i.e. sin) , then Jesus Christ died for nothing. Jesus' earthly teaching was invaluable, but He is more than a teacher; He predicted His death and submitted to it for a reason.
• Without faith it is impossible to please God and be reunited to Him. This means that good people without faith are damned. There's no ambiguity on this point. 
• Faith, the kind that saves, is characterized by change. The faithful bring their beliefs and actions, their entire beings, under His lordship. Complete faith is not participation in the right ritual or word-perfect recitations of unknown concepts. Faith makes an unmistakable difference in the life of the faithful.
• As for arguments about how to distinguish/define genuine rather than counterfeit faith, my personal interpretation of the position that my Christian tradition takes is "Ask God and find out." A real God, whose Spirit person really works, can reassure you. If the Spirit is working in you, bringing about the changes of saving-faith and wielding you as an instrument for good in the world, then you're saved! If the Spirit isn't working through you, and you the weak mortal are continually failing to overcome your sin by relying on your compromised strength, then you have good reason to be unsure. The Almighty casts out fear and selfishness. Let the light in. Invite and embrace. God lives and wants to live in you in a more literal sense than the modern-day Christian acknowledges. After death, when the saved are taken by God, there's no uneasiness. For them there's no "scale" to compare the weight of good and bad actions. There's Him. The source of their Christian life, the power of their Christian life, and the destination of their Christian life. In the afterlife they'll continue what started at the time of their spiritual rebirth.