In a way, not different at all- IF the question was “How do I come to belief in Islam?”
And I don’t advocate not thinking critically about any religious or philosophical system one is considering adopting. I do advocate serious study of both sides.
But thanks, I liked Skammer’s answer for its conciseness but it may need some fine tuning.
Fixed it for you.
Start out by being born into a Christian family. Let them baptize you. Let them drag you to church every Sunday. Cry a lot, if you must, but it won’t change things. Believe them when they say you are a sinner, and always will be. Cry some more. Go to Sunday School. Learn the Catechism. Pray before meals, before bed, and whenever you want something. Go to confession, even if you believe you didn’t commit any sins. Confess that you really did commit sins, because being human, you are a sinner. And if you don’t tow the line you will burn in Hell forever. Tell them this doesn’t make sense . . . that none of this makes sense . . . and be prepared to be yelled at or threatened or hit.
Try to be like everyone else. It must all be true, because how could all those people be wrong? And whenever your mind conflicts with your faith, shut out reality and tell yourself you’re going to Heaven. Don’t ever admit to having doubts, because nobody can know what’s true, and it’s safer to be on the side that’s goint to Heaven. Shove your beliefs down the throats of your own kids, just like your parents did to you. And on your death bed, when you take your last breath and everything goes black, you finally realize that it was all a lie.
Yes. In fact we are specifically commanded to avoid judging (which telling someone they’re going to Hell undoubtedly is): [Do not judge, or you too will be judged.](Matthew - The Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah - Bible Gateway 7:1-6)
In my own defense, I absolutely don’t discourage reading the Scriptures with a critical eye. In fact it’s an important part of having a well-informed belief. My point was, though, if you want to believe, you have to do more than that – you actually have to engage the text on a personal level. Using literary criticism is good, but in addition to reading it to study it, you’re reading it to comtemplate it: to ask yourself not just “what is this author saying?” but “through this author, what is God saying to me?”
Assumptions 3-4 are incorrect because there are Christian sects that do not believe humans go to hell (only Satan will) though many believe that hell does exist. Check out this article on Universalism. As I was raised Universalist myself, I would never tell you that you are going to hell because I don’t believe you can go to hell.
And you know this from personal experience? Case studies?
OK, GregH. Maybe the other posters thought something like “Am I my brother’s keeper?” and left you the victim of your own lack of faith. But… I find your lack of faith disturbing. So let me give you one warning. You will go to hell if you don’t open your heart to Jesus. Yes, to hell!
Hell, where the air is pungent with the aroma of roasted posteriors.
So beware! don’t say I didn’t warn you.
If you can identify three quotes from my post you get 25 karma points.
PS And don’t anyone DARE ask me to cite! (I’ll simply refer you to the bible if you do.)
This issue bothers me too. The OP may be wrong in that all Christians don’t believe in a non-believers-tormented-eteranlly hell, but many do. And it makes me wonder what sort of sick bastards they are.
Eternal torment is so horrible as to be completely uncomprehendable by human minds. Every bit of pain ever suffered by humanity - every individual, from torture to disease to being heartbroken or stubbing your toe - all of that pain and anguish added together since the beginning of humanity cannot hold a candle to eternal torment.
No one could possibly do anything in their life which could even come close to reasonably justifying that punishment. No one deserves hell - not Hitler, no one, not even close.
So it makes me wonder - if your true belief is that most people that have lived will suffer this fate - will suffer incomprehensible pain - if you don’t save them, how could you do anything in your life except try to save people? If I sincerely held that belief, I would spend every waking moment I possibly could trying to save people - I would practically have a nervous breakdown at the thought of all the suffering that would inevitably happen, and all the people I couldn’t save. It would consume my every thought.
But the people who hold this belief don’t display this behavior. Could anything they do with their time possibly be worth more than even a remote attempt of preventing someone else from suffering greater pain than has ever been experienced? At best, they’ll occasionally try to reach out to neighbors and loved ones and even strangers and make some effort to prosetylze. But how could you possibly live your life and stay sane with the idea that most people will come under this fate?
Seriously . . . how do you ***know ***that I don’t?
We’re all pretty sure you lack experience or reports back on this-
That’s probably because they don’t feel the need to save you - you are already one of them. Of course I know lots of Christians who aren’t obnoxious about their beliefs. Its not like we are talking about some obscure sect here, you can’t swing a dead cat anywhere in America without hitting a half dozen Christians. Christian is the default here. Most of the people I meet during any day (like most of my family) are nice friendly people and most of them are going to be Christians because I live in America.
What percentage of pushy jerks does a religion need before we can claim they exist? The OP seems to believe that Christians are a quiet lot who rarely mention their beliefs and, when they do, don’t seem to worry about whether non-Christians care or not. From where I’m standing they look like a large, quiet majority who are comfortable in the belief that everyone believes exactly as they do with a substantial percentage of vocal members who see it as their job to aggressive spread the word using whatever scare tactics necessary, including threats of eternal agony, which sounds pretty scary to me.
Nothing can make a mild Christian witness as fast as finding out someone around them is an atheist, and they can be pretty aggressive in their shock and fear.
See my post #7 above. It’s quite likely that most Christians realize that warning you that you are on a path to perdition is not an effective method of winning you over. Actually modelling a Christ-filled life, refraining from judging others, and being open to questions about our faith… that usually gets a much better response.
C’est moi. I’m a technical agnostic and practical atheist, but I still go to church because I think First Congregational is a force for good in the world, despite the fact that I think the god my fellow members pray to is, at best, a metaphor.
I don’t know that “mild Christians” are all that keen on hassling atheists. Maybe it’s just my experience with my friends, but none of the “mild Christians” I know – and I know and work with all sorts of folk, including one who crosses himself before every meal, which is slightly jarring to see at Wendy’s – hassle their atheist friends about it unless someone else starts making it an issue. They don’t bring up their religion unless asked. They just try to live blamelessly and as good examples, and that in itself is witnessing: “Gosh, Bob doesn’t stress out about his work and he ALSO doesn’t smoke pot! Where does he let off his steam?”
If you ask, most of us will say something. We just don’t want to be dicks about it because we have all experienced people who shove others away from Christianity by being big festering asses.
As far as Hell: I (perhaps a bit naively) don’t think we burn in fiery lakes of torment, but perhaps if we’ve been real dicks we need to do a bit of spadework once we’ve gotten up there. If you actually believe Jesus did it, if you accept His help, he went through all that before you got there and sneaks you in through the side door. Otherwise, you experience all the pain you’ve ever caused in the world that you’ve never made up for and have to finish with that before you pass through.
This isn’t anyone’s doctrine except my own, though, so it doesn’t have much chance of being true. 
Wouldn’t it be funny if there really is a Heaven . . . but only for atheists?
Hey Greg - Go to hell.
(kidding)
I’ve heard that used as an occasional comeback to people pushing a version of Pascal’s Wager. “Oh, I should believe in God just in case? Well, what if he only likes skeptical people who use their own judgement and believe what the evidence shows them even if it’s unpopular?”
Although my favorite response to Pascal’s Wager would be in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels :
What-blind faith in what he says isn’t good enough for you?