There's a counterpoint here about Nietzche's thoughts eventually, please give me a moment. The Christian traditions as sourced in the Bible were intended as statements of fact about reality. Taken as fact, Scripture posits that humans as a whole tend toward (what a surprise) self-interest, and need to be informed of how their existence is owed to a powerful creator who condescended to live among them as Christ. This God desires reciprocal interaction with inherently lesser beings, and actually appears rather fond of His creations despite how they tend to use their limited free will.
"Hell" therefore is unrestrained self-interest, not a stick to pit against a carrot. If you do not desire to have a God with authority to declare how you should use the privileges you were given, you do not have to live with one. However, outside of the original source of Light, Love, Order, Beauty, etc., self-rule may ultimately not be as good as imagined.
From this viewpoint, humans are inherently equal before a common creator. Power and privilege count for very little when compared with the authority of the universe's designer, so kings and beggars live on a considerably leveled playing field. Equal worth before God is freedom: the beggar does not need to see his existence as worthless compared to the king, and may live his life as well as he can with the hope of citizenship in God's Kingdom; the king does not need to rule tyrannically so as to preserve his power as though it were the only thing of value, and in fact can treat all humans with equal dignity though they may not have equal ability and privilege to rule, because a greater authority than himself demands it. That's part of what is meant by "freedom in Christ". It draws humans toward good.
What Nietzche felt squashed the desire to succeed and grow as a person and as a society actually gives people freedom to pursue those things rightly. As idols of ultimate importance for a person, things such as power, wealth, and pleasure can quickly become rather ugly. As freedoms within a greater Kingdom, the human pursuit of greatness is actually strengthened. When a culture strays from this, then science, art, and government suffer. When they are seen as minor aspects of life before a God with the authority to say what is right and wrong use of creation, I believe it is then that you then see real greatness.
It's true that you don't need a god to have morals, but no one else has any obligation to follow them. Best of luck with that, honestly.
tl:dr? Sorry. I enjoyed writing it, and I enjoyed the general lack of vitriol and rants for or against Christian Theism so far. Taken as facts, some of what I said is highly offensive, and I apologize for glibly bringing up matters of life and meaning on a gaming website if it seems inappropriate.