I have these feelings about God sometimes and wanted to give my take on some issues. I must be careful giving these opinions because I don't want them to be misconstrued as teaching. They are just opinions based on my understanding and years of Bible study.
1. Who is Jesus? You mentioned Lewis, and he--among other probably--said that Jesus was either lord, liar, or lunatic. He can't just be a "good" man saying good things. He claims to be God--Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6), I and my Father are one.(John 10:30), and more. Either He said these things knowing they were false and He has deceived millions, or He believed these things, but they were false meaning He deceived millions including himself...or He is who He said He is. It's the last option we have to be concerned about. I believe Him.
2. Why believe the Bible over other religions? 2Peter 1:19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts. When you are feeling bored, scour YouTube and Google for prophecies that have been fulfilled about Jesus alone. This is strong evidence that His Word is True. When it is mentioned that we don't know right from wrong apart from God, we are talking about the Holy Spirit. It's the Holy Spirit that convicts us and leads us to Jesus--and ultimately to the Father. We are incapable of understanding the Bible or even approaching God without the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. As I build my case this isn't a bad thing for those who were raised in a different religion. If they were never spoken to by the Holy Spirit, they haven't had their chance yet, but this is between the person and God as they are the only ones who know the facts of the matter. It is the proper reason why we shouldn't judge people. We very well should judge behaviors as wrong when they are against the Bible--including all this SJW and "Progressive" non-sense--but the person may not have been convicted by the Holy Spirit yet, so they don't know any better and have yet to be condemned.
3. Why Hell? Some atheist will try to be clever and ask a question like, "If God is so powerful, can He make a rock so big that He, Himself, can't lift it?" Well, the answer is yes, and it would blow our mortal minds. Paradoxes pose no problem for an omnipotent being, but there is something God can't do. He can't abide with sin because He is Holy. Psalm 5:4 For Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness; neither shall evil dwell with Thee. Hell is essentially separation from God and the place we all deserve to go because we can't measure up to God's standard. The Good News is that Jesus--who is God--was willing to take on the human form and sacrifice Himself for us. John 10 17-18: 17This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. He and He alone was worthy and outside of the sin curse. He and He alone could lay His own life down and take it up again. All we have to do is believe.
4. Sticky Situations: So, is God torturing people for all eternity? Possibly. He is Holy and cannot abide with sin--not even a little bit. We do have the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) but this takes place before Christ rose from the dead. This was when the souls were in Paradise or Hades which we believe are empty now. Burned for all eternity very well could mean continuously burning, but it might mean burned from existence forever--as in not coming back/wiped out. Remember Romans 6:23 the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Matthew 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. It doesn't sound to me like the condemned are getting the gift of immortality. It sounds to me as if they are destroyed. Keep in mind that this non-existence isn't something to be desired as Christ Himself said, And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell (Matthew 5:30)
There is also a question of timing. I believe in a literal thousand year reign of Christ. Revelation 20:1-3 Then I saw an angel descending from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the abyss and a huge chain. 2 He seized the dragon—the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan—and tied him up for a thousand years. 3 The angel then threw him into the abyss and locked and sealed it so that he could not deceive the nations until the one thousand years were finished. (After these things he must be released for a brief period of time.) I believe everyone who is not incorrigibly wicked will have their chance in a perfect environment with Christ at the helm, so that there is no doubt who He is and what He is willing to do for those He created. I believe those of us who accepted Christ in their natural lifetime will play leadership roles during this time. This will shut people like myself up about "Why were all those cute Japanese girl being born into a world where they had no chance to be saved?" because like all things, God has it covered. The gospel was for all people, not just the Jews. “God is no respecter of persons” means that God will provide every person with the opportunity to receive the blessings available through the plan of salvation. Romans 2:11-16 11 For there is no respect of persons with God. 12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; 13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. 14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) 16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. Also, even if I'm overstepping my bounds we have this passage from Luke 12:47-48: And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
That's a lot to take in, but do you know even after God does all of this for an ignorant--yet still obstinate--people who should be condemned that He will prove Himself once again when the whole world knows who He is and they still turn on Him...Even though the number who rebel with Satan are said to be "as the sand of the sea" (Revelation 20:7), they may still be a minority compared to the number who do not rebel. It will still be a large number of souls who join Satan.
I would like to wrap this ranting up in a bow for you, but I can't. There are a lot of things that God has not revealed to us on this side of Heaven. There is plenty of evidence in the case for Christ if you go in looking for it with an open heart, but we see through a mirror darkly and cannot always discern His ways, but you can be assured everything He does is for good.
