[beatgammit]

The torment part is from the individual guilt of knowing you could have received greater glory, and damnation is the halting of eternal progress. It's the same type of thing that leads people to want more and more things in this life, and knowing that you can never have the nice things your neighbor has is unacceptable to many and is why (IMO) so many people with good jobs live paycheck to paycheck. If your content with a pretty good eternal state and don't want to put in the effort to get to the highest state, then you have your reward (and it'll be pretty nice too), but you'll likely wish you did more at some point.

That being said, the whole point is that Jesus isn't trying to punish anyone, he just wants you to be as comfortable as possible, while meeting the demands of justice. What would be worse, the guilt of knowing you could have done better, or imposter syndrome of knowing you don't deserve to be in the presence of those who were more faithful?

Honestly, I find the binary nature of the afterlife of most religious traditions to be inconsistent with the idea of a merciful God. What does God get out of punishing you? Why would his love for you end just because you died? Is not getting baptized really bad enough to warrant eternal punishment?