But how do we really know that this is not hell? Are we already there and all just trying to leave it?


>>Actually, it would seem to me that (according to these ideas) the people who go to hell are all those who don't exactly believe in a certain set of beliefs (and, we might add, bear a certain name). In other words, there are lots monotheistic people who are not "saved", because they follow the "wrong" version of monotheism.
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>And the secret that nobody dares to tell them is that they won't go to their own hell - no, the hell is others. So Catholics go into Islamic hell, Muslims go to Jewish hell, Jews go to Orthodox Christian hell... etc etc, there's a great mix up down there. Hell wouldn't be hell if you could feel at home in it, right?