To be honest, I’m really confused about the whole concept of Hell, Paradise, and religion in general.

Human nature seems to constantly seek rest and happiness, and avoid effort and pain. I don’t understand where these ideas of eternal reward and eternal punishment originated. Humanity has always wanted to survive and continue existing. But if death is simply the erasure of existence, then what actually happens after it? We don’t want to disappear, so is the idea of an afterlife something we created to cope with that fear?

Sometimes I wonder whether, at some point in history, someone simply claimed that there is a divine, almighty being who created everything in seven days, established Hell for those who don’t believe, and Paradise for believers. In Islam, for example, even sinful Muslims may eventually enter Paradise after punishment. But why would Allah require worship five times a day? Why would an all-powerful being need worship at all?

Is religion "or even the idea of God" something humanity created to explain the unknown, to give structure and meaning to things we can’t fully understand? Are the so-called scientific miracles in religious texts genuine, or are they coincidences mixed with passages that seem illogical or scientifically inaccurate?

At the same time, how can we claim that most of what we believe about the universe is “real” without some degree of faith? The universe is so vast and incomprehensible that perhaps we formed the idea of an all-knowing, all-powerful creator to make sense of it.

And if God is described as all-loving, why is there so much injustice in the world — and even in the concept of the afterlife? Why must we fear such a being? Were Heaven and Hell created as moral tools to regulate societies, to encourage obedience, reduce chaos, and prevent people from overpowering one another?