My Baptist upbringing said Hell was just separation from God, with all the symbolism being just that. I don't really know but find the whole thing quite fascinating. Good discussion.

We didn't have confession, not being good Catholics - not sure if that in itself is considered sinful in Catholic circles. But anyway, I think the idea was supposed to be that Jesus forgave your sins - that's why he died, as long as you repented.

So, even if you cocked up before you died, and didn't get to say sorry - again - it's not the end of the world because Jesus died to save us. But obviously, we're supposed to try to be good.

Here endeth the lesson.