Why does God create souls he know will wind up in hell?

[Gorgias]

Sounds like annihilation to me. Do you think God annihilates souls?

To have the power to do it is not the same as doing it. Christ isn’t threatening annihilation, as you seem to be suggesting; He’s talking about God’s power, of which we should be in awe (i.e., “fear”).

Besides which, you should read more carefully: in that passage you’re fond of quoting, Jesus twice says “do not fear.” So… we’re supposed to fear, according to you, in contradiction to what Jesus tells us?

 

[Julius_Caesar]

Jesus twice says “do not fear.”

People, not God.

 

[Mmarco]

When a child has done something wrong, he fears to be punished by his parents, while when he has done something good, he has no fear, because he knows that his parents are happy with him.
For unrepented sinners, God is the righteous Judge who will punish them; therefore they must fear God.
For the repented sinner, God is the loving Father who is filled with compassion for him, while he was still a long way off, the Father who runs to him, throw his arms around him and kisses him.
The more we love God and keep His commandments, the more we feel loved by Him and the less we fear His punishments.

 

[oliver109]

I never have feared any authority, I do good because I feel I have a duty to do good but I don’t think that being terrified by an authority is the way to go, maybe I am too lax but not living life in fear I feel has served me well.

 

[stpurl]

Perhaps the word ‘fear’ is throwing you off.

When you were a child, you might not have ‘feared’ your parents’ reactions if you made an error, but you probably (since most children do this) truly wanted them to be proud of you. You wanted to please them. And it is possible, is it not, that you may have, as you were growing up, thought of doing something wrong and decided not to because, “My parents brought me up to be honest so I’m not going to keep this wallet I found” (as an example). It might have been a brief, fleeting thought. It might not even have come to your conscious mind, it might have been a, “Oh here’s a wallet lying on the ground, I’ll go turn it in to the police” because you had your values so well and thoroughly instilled it seems ‘second nature’. But for most people, it is our parents who start when we are extremely young to teach us to behave, and we want to please them first, because we love and trust them and want to show them our love and trust by doing what they ask, and as we grow, we want to do good things because we know (from our parents) that they are good, and even that virtue is its own reward.

Again, it is not ‘fear of punishment’ but an unwillingness, having had our parents (and by extension, God) show us how and why to do good actions, to disappoint them or to show disrespect by ignoring or disobeying their good teachings.