"Christianity is the only religion that sends people to Hell for not believing."

This was a statement that two of my coworkers agreed upon when discussing religion at work the other day. 

Is it true? Well yes, but mostly no. It may well be fully "no", for the reason that there exists that there is another religion that sends people to Hell for not believing - not sure, probably depends who you ask. But lets just consider that there are no other religions that are in contention. 

It is true that everyone in Hell will be there because they do not "believe in" the Jesus Christ revealed God. But that is not the message of Jesus. Three points are important to understanding the Christian message:

1. Jesus suffered a torturous and completely unjust death and more importantly bore the spiritual burden of the sins of every person who ever lived (incomprehensible!). So if there was another way for which people could be saved and to be restored to relationship with God wouldn't God have chosen that way instead? A different way of putting it would be: if people who didn't "believe in" God could go to heaven apart from Jesus Christ then why did Jesus have to die? 

2. Jesus came because every person in the entire world was desperately in need of a savior and miserably enslaved to sin with no hope of being restored to relationship with God. The Bible teaches that everyone is not born into the world inherently good, neither are they neutral with regard to sin. This is birthing a very big discussion about sin and human nature that will have to span a discussion at another time, but this is the Christian belief. Many other religions and philosophers would agree that there is something deep in the heart of humanity that is bend towards doing evil. What is that and where does it come from? So in brief conclusion, Christians aren't saying that everyone who otherwise are "good" are now simply going to Hell because they don't "believe in" God. Christians are saying that ALL people are spiritually dead and have no hope - thus enters Jesus, the Christ. Christians are in desperate need of Jesus' blood as much as any other person in the world. 

3. What does it mean to "believe in" God? 

"You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe - and shudder." James 2:19

Yet demons will not go to Heaven, in fact Hell has been reserved for them. This shows us that it doesn't mean simply an intellectual belief that a God exists. So then what kind of belief is that the God desires? To "believe in" God in the biblical sense is to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Paul sees himself as a "servant" of Christ. A belief that permeates every aspect of your mind, body and soul. 

"Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord God, and not rather that they should turn from their ways and live?" Ezekiel 18:23