I haven't read through all six pages of this stuff, so hopefully I won't only say things that have already been said.
I guess first and foremost, the loving God argument. This is a tricky one that I don't believe anybody fully understands. My belief is God created everything and has a plan for everything (fate) that still allows for choice (free will).
Before anybody goes off to tell me this is a contradiction, it's not. If there's a snake in a glass case, and I put a mouse in there, everybody knows what will happen. The snake, whether immediately or when it gets hungry, will eat that mouse. By manipulating the situation (using a plan) but allowing the snake to choose what to do (not ramming the mouse down its throat) there exists both a certain fate and free will. I believe God manipulates circumstances so that we will react in a very exact way because he knows our hearts and minds completely. People will argue that this isn't total freedom, and they're right, but neither is it a total lack of freedom. Thus, both exist in a balance.
It's very confusing when you think of the enormity of it (whether you believe it or not) and I don't claim to understand everything. I don't know exactly why God allows things such as rape and murder to happen, but it's important to remember that God only allows it and certainly does not want it. Since God also allows us to be good to one another, it is therefore up to us to how we act. It's easy to fall into a trap of why there is such suffering caused by people, without also looking at how God uses other people for good. And when I say God uses people for good, this is most certainly not exclusive to people who believe in God, Christian or otherwise. (However, doing good works does not make somebody saved. I'll elaborate shortly.)
By giving people the choice to do good or bad, God is basically the same as a parent. Parents will only harm children by sheltering them too much, because then the child will not learn or otherwise grow as a person properly.
God is not only loving, but also just, which means that people have to be held accountable for laws broken. Any law broken is a choice made for one to separate himself from God. So ultimately, people choose to separate themselves from God. (And that's what hell is, an eternity separated from God.) Since breaking any one law at any time during life make somebody a sinner (sin in Greek meaning "missing the mark" like in archery, meaning anything short of perfection or goodness, basically). God knew that people would screw up, and the law was in place to let people know how they fell short. The law never saved anybody, it was faith.
Romans 4: 1-3
What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God. What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
The short version is that God planned to save all nations through the descendants of Abraham, the Jews, but at any time any other person could have faith in God and be saved. As an example: Rahab, a prostitute living in Jericho, showed a faith in God and hid Jewish spies from the king of Jericho. She is a direct ancestor of Jesus, though she was not a Jew herself.
Now then, since the Jews failed miserably in sharing God with other nations, God sent Jesus so that through him all nations might know God, giving the Holy Spirit freely to anyone who accepted it through baptism.
This is a very short version and contextually there's much more to it than this, but this explains what I believe spiritually and historically. I hope this helps give people an understanding. I'm willing to answer any comments or questions as well.
