"This generation is an evil generation . . ."
If this passage scares a you bit prompts you to do good because you it make you afraid of eternal damnation, then you must be missing the whole point.
Remember, the Bible is a book of faith. In other words when a person reads the Bible, the intended outcome is that his faith increases.
Thus, if by reading the Bible makes you fear about hell, then it is not serving its purpose. We have to do good not because we fear hell but because we love God.
This passage should be read in conjunction with more fundamental Christian priniciples, i.e. God is Love, God forgives 70 x 7, God is rich and mercy and compassion, slow to anger and quick in forgiviging.
Bear in mind that the Gospel is a written by a 1st century Christian whose idea of Gos is a punitive God, a Gos who brought forth the great flood and damnation to Sodom and Gomorah. Not everything in the Bible was actually said by Jesus but rather was put in Jesus mouth by the Evangelist because relative to their purpose and to the present historical and cultural context of the intended readers, his goal would be achieve, i.e. to bring faith.
The main point of this reading is that we should hate sins. We should repent because a person living in guilt will never be happy, will never have peace of mind.
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