My opinion is there is no hell - that entire idea is absurd if you really think about it - hell is just a control mechanism. The only judgement you face is that of your own - there is no cosmic courtroom where some God counts and weighs out your sins and punishes you for all the things you did wrong. Instead, you judge yourself from a completely new, detached perspective - one that is not weighed down by human emotions. You learn how your actions impacted others, and you see things from all perspectives, not just your own. Nobody forces you to do anything.
That said, I do believe that consciousness is the creator of everything, only in physical existence our thoughts and beliefs remain largely internal. When you die, your focus simply shifts away from physical reality. When your consciousness is no longer chained down by an extremely limiting physical body and senses, your thoughts and beliefs are what create your environment. The afterlife is not a "place", it's a state of mind.
So your beliefs are what immediately create your environment. If you watch a lot of NDE testimonials, you will notice that Christians often see Jesus, Catholics see the Pearly Gates, people who believe they are going to hell indeed might find themselves in a hellish environment. Still others, who think nothing happens after you die might find themselves in a void of sorts. It would not be fair to call these illusions, anymore than we can call physical life an illusion. These are all temporary environments, however, until you realize that it is your beliefs that are creating the environment you find yourself in.
One of the original purposes of religion was to provide a familiar framework that souls could understand immediately on transitioning from physical life. The crossing of the River Styx was also an example of these roadmaps provided to give a familiar comfort to those who have recently crossed over.
The immediate after life environment is created to provide maximum comfort, and there are Guides who will be there to help. The people who have problems transitioning, are the ones who will not accept anything and insist their belief is the correct one. They are basically attempting to swim upstream against the current.
It is my opinion that death should be approached with curiosity and an open mind. Do not let fear create these unnecessary burdens on yourself.
Most likely, you have already died many times before, and birth is a much more traumatic event than death. Birth implies taking something that is always expanding and purely creative (consciousness) and weighing it down with an imperfect physical body. Birth and death are doorways, not a beginning and ending.
The above are simply my opinions based on what I've personally experienced and eventually studied. I do not expect anyone else to agree with it, and am well aware that some of it sounds crazy. Go to Youtube and search "suicide NDE" for testimonials of people who died and brought back to life. Not one of them talk about going to some hell for trying to CTB. And if everything I wrote was simply based on NDEs or OOBEs, I too would probably dismiss them as a trick of the brain, however right after my wife died I had some absolutely bizarre things happen that proved to me that physical life is more akin to a classroom than a courtroom.
As long as you are not 100% locked in to your religious beliefs and absolutely insist that this religious perspective is how everything is, you will be fine. You have nothing to fear whatsoever. Dying is simply waking up from the dream that is a physical existence.
