“Exactly, Anyway, for their punishment, these people must follow pointless orders without rest for all of eternity.”

            “Stack these blocks!” ordered someone who looked sort of like Engler—it might have been a demon. A man in a purple robe hastened to obey the order, even though the blocks appeared to be made out of fire.

            “The other group of people,” Donald continued, “is everyone who was intolerant of others. All prejudiced people are here, including people who said that everyone except them was going to hell. For their punishment, these people have had rabies-infested rats inserted into their skulls. The rats keep scratching and biting, trying to get out, but they can’t, because their hosts don’t have open minds.”

            Finally, we descended one last ladder to reach the deepest level of hell. The ladder led to a small observation desk suspended in midair; around us stretched an endless sea of a strange purple liquid. “The liquid is a mix between lava and lava’s extreme opposite, which is cold instead of hot. Those inside it are burned to death and frozen to death at the same time, except that they’re already dead, so they never get any relief. This is the punishment for the most evil of people, those with no regard for human life—people like murderers, rapists, and terrorists. They caused immeasurable pain to their victims; now they must experience it themselves.”

            As we headed back toward the surface, Donald began to regain some of his cheer. “So that’s hell,” he concluded. “What’d you think of it?”

            “It was pretty unsettling,” I replied. “What really bothered me was how many people there were. Isn’t God supposed to be forgiving?”

            “God is happy to forgive those who are honestly sorry,” Donald explained. “But too many people take his forgiveness for granted and use it as an excuse to commit the same sins over and over without trying to change. They think they can have the pleasure of sinning but avoid the consequences. Now they have to take responsibility.”

            “There must not be too many people in heaven, then,” I commented.

            “There are some, but it’s probably pretty quiet compared to here.”

            “That must be why they call it heaven.”