Is There A Hell?

Mom says she doesn't believe in hell. She says she doesn't think God is a punishing God- that he wouldn't send anyone anywhere worse than Earth. I think she's right. That's why people see ghosts and that kind of thing- spirits trapped on Earth forever.
I just finished this book that consisted of ten short stories- gothic stories. Ghosts and vamps and witches. Fun stuff. In one of the stories, this girl is working on a haunted hayride in a barn where a house used to be built. A long time before, the house that had stood there had belonged to this total pedophile, who earned the trust of attractive boys and young men then strangled them with electrical wire. So one night she's in the barn, and there's a thunderstorm, and her walkie talkie type thing breaks. She gets the heeby-jeebies, keeps thinking something is watching her, like a ghost. She ends up seeing this young man (attractive, of course) who's a ghost, stuck in one spot. She offers to help the police find his body- he claims he was the one body never recovered. When she tells him her walkie talkie is busted, he tells her he might be able to fix it, since he USED to be good with electrical stuff. In the end, he strangles her with the cord from the headphones. He was the pedophile guy- he just "chose" to appear like he did when he was seventeen.
Reading this story, it reminded me of what my mom said about hell. This made me believe it all the more. Some mass-murdering creeper is banished forever on Earth- makes sense. I didn't like the fact that somehow he could still get his kicks from killing people, but hey, made for a nice story I guess.
I think that hell is just our souls wandering the Earth forever. Life is the biggest challenge there is- Anyone who fucks it up doesn't go to "hell." They're just stuck here.
As far as heaven, I have no idea. Maybe it's the highlights of life, but not stuck on Earth. In some alternate Earth where there's no war or anger or jealousy or hurt. Just the things you love in life- family, friends, lovers, whatever. Mom says heaven is a baseball field. Dad says heaven is a place where you stay with "holy people."
Honestly, Dad's version kinda sounds boring to me.
But from what I know of that man, his soul (if he's still got one) will be walking Earth until the end of time.
But who really knows?
Who knows what happens on judgement day?
I don't think it's nearly as fearful as everyone paints it to be. I agree with my mom- God isn't a punishing God. If there's one thing that alway creeped me out about Catholicism (besides my Dad's unhealthy obsession with it) it's how they always talk about your "fear of God." When your a kid, it's all "Jesus loves me, this I know" then they change it up on your not long after saying "Dwell in your fear of God." God shouldn't be something to fear. On judgement day, I think the only thing you would fear is your own guilt from your mistakes, and what your eternity will be like afterwards. There's not a fear of God- there's only a fear of yourself.
A breakdown:
Your playing football in the house, exactly like Mom told you not to. But hell, you're having fun. Then you break the lamp from Grandma as a wedding gift to Mom and Dad. Mom's favorite lamp.
What crosses everyone's mind?
"Oh no, Mom's gonna be soooo mad!"
That may be, but think beneath it.
"I wish I hadn't played football in the house."
Exactly.
Parents are like smaller versions of God, in a way, for us to grow to know. Yeah, they get mad at us, but we know they'll always love us. It's gone on since the begining of time.
Yeah, we break Mom's lamp, and she's mad, but she still loves us. All we have to really fear is our guilt and the consequences of our actions thereafter.
Yeah, we fuck up in life, and God's disappointed, but he still loves us. Same thing.
So I don't think God needs to be "feared", but trusted. He's not a hating God or a hurting God or a punishing God- and I honestly don't believe he would send us to any kind of "burning depths", but merely make us walk the Earth alone.