I'm trying to say that there are other motivators than "you'll either get a reward or you'll be punished."  We're not dogs looking for treats.  That's shallow thinking.

according to the Bible there is no burning hell. According to scripture Jesus was in hell for 3 days. I believe hell is the state of being dead not conscious of nothing at all. None of the apostles or Jesus believed in it and it is man made to scare people among other things. It has pagan origins

This really isn't the place to go into it.  I could speak a lot on this, but am not going to.  

What I will say is I am reading one of NT Wright's latest books, "How God Became King" so what he has, would reflect close to what I would end up saying.  The short is that, because of an inability to be relevant in this life, heaven and hell get preached, to fill in gaps.  People who are even said to be Christians will throw out the return of Christ, and speak about people having their own personal judgement when they die, and then off to heaven or hell forever.  In this, no thought of the return of Christ is given at all, and how one is to live here, and getting good fruits, is spoken.  Oh, the closest may be Jesus as "best buds", and so on.  But, if I go into the gospels, there is said to be a final judgement and people will be surprised by the outcome.

Torment as described in the bible and scholars I've read.

Yeah. It's all the same place. While hellfire isn't described as Gehenna (which is more like a total desolation), it's still going to be all in the same place. Total desolation, hellfire, garbage, all in one place. It will be so bad.

No, that's logical thinking. When a mentally sane man is faced with two options he will choose whichever seems to be the overall most beneficial option. With the definition of "benefit" obviously being determined by previous experiences/our memories, human nature and instinct, subconscious thoughts and feelings and our ability to reason. (Not sure if that's what it's called in English, but it's the best I've got.)

Even if your intention with helping an old lady across the street is not to avoid hell or enter heaven, fact remains that there are reasons for you to do so. Not helping her may result in you not losing time and energy, but you also know that helping her will make you feel good due to being more or less sympathetic, while not helping her may result in guilt (punishment) and a wasted opportunity for you to feel good about yourself. Possibly through a reward as simple as a "Thank you." from her. Then of course there are a lot of other factors such as whether you are having a shitty day or not which may skew your reasoning, but fact remains that you will consider both options and select what seems to be the most beneficial at the time.

We, like dogs, are constantly driven by motivators. The difference is that our needs and reasoning capabilities are far more complex.

I quoted the wrong post. This is what I was referring to, "..Why would they spend years on their knees before God..."

So yeah, you did act as if every Christian religion has you on your knees. Literally, of course.

of course hell exists. how else would people know about it?

Burning hell from a loving fair God? Bad for 60 years so God makes you suffer forever in a fiery torment that is despicable
It would be like a parent disciplining your child by holding his hand over the stove. Makes no sense

It's easy to make up things. And to convince people that they are real.

According to this thread, at least. I don't have a definite opinion on the matter.