Devil/evil

[Falloutdude]

I was just wondering if anyone had any advice to stave off fears that there is some evil presence or that things that are scary are evil (like somewhat dark tv shows, books, horror, etc). I ask because i started becoming afraid that maybe they were right about the devil and stuff because i started thinking about how some stuff was creeping me out, or how sometimes I watch violent things/bloody things, then i started being afraid that maybe this meant there was a devil/demons or things that were evil and bad for the "spirit". Now i'm scared that maybe there is a devil influencing things or something....Or that liking violent or dark movies means i'm being influenced by evil. I know this is weird, but for some reason i started thinking about how a game trailer i was watching was violent, and all the killing and blood (even if they were monsters) and thinking that maybe all this killing and action/violence stuff, then i proceeded to pick out possible evils in a movie that was kind of dark. Now i'm concerned that there might be that evil invisible force and i'll have to be scared of it again.

 

I was just wondering if people had any stories they could share about this. Like have you ever had these same fears? How did you overcome this? I mean other than not believing in the bible anymore? This just upsets me, because i don't think i really believe the bible, but i'm concerned that maybe there is a devil anyways and therefore maybe christians are right in their paranoia/fear. I'm just wondering if anyone has any advice in this category. i'm just scared, and feel like there's a cloud over everything now, like everything i enjoy might me evil like i'd been told....I'm just scared there actually might be an evil/devil, and in turn then there must be God and now i don't know what to do. It's a lot easier to not believe the God of the bible is good, but it's not so easy to refute some boogeyman i can't see. How do you get over this (again)? For some reason I hadn't been afraid of this in a long time.

 

PS Sorry if i'm not helping much so far on the forum :/ I'm not in a confident enough place to help others right now, i could try, but since i'm so unsure right now, i don't know what to do...

[par4dcourse]

C'mon. A fallen angel with nothing better to do than try and get you to piss off a god? Every fable has to have a bad guy.

[user_0168486295]

First off Fallout, the evil you're describing....the bloody murder, the violence, and the darkness is not proof for an evil entity even in the bible. In the bible, that stuff is the doing of the all-loving, all-powerful and all-merciful god, Yahweh. [Let's all do three cheers -- hip hip, hooray! hip hip, hooray! hip hip, hooray!] Secondly, you have to train your mind to stop going down a familiar path. Understand why the bible is a bunch of steaming dung, not just that it is. The best way to shed the fear is to educate yourself. And to honestly evaluate it and responsibly investigate it with as little bias as possible. I know it's easier said than done, but try this

for starters (the website appears to be down). Good luck shedding the fear, and hang in there! It does go away!

[Falloutdude]

C'mon. A fallen angel with nothing better to do than try and get you to piss off a god? Every fable has to have a bad guy.

 

Yeah i know....even still though it's harder when it's the one you grew up being afraid of i guess

[Falloutdude]

First off Fallout, the evil you're describing....the bloody murder, the violence, and the darkness is not proof for an evil entity even in the bible. In the bible, that stuff is the doing of the all-loving, all-powerful and all-merciful god, Yahweh. [Let's all do three cheers -- hip hip, hooray! hip hip, hooray! hip hip, hooray!] Secondly, you have to train your mind to stop going down a familiar path. Understand why the bible is a bunch of steaming dung, not just that it is. The best way to shed the fear is to educate yourself. And to honestly evaluate it and responsibly investigate it with as little bias as possible. I know it's easier said than done, but try this

for starters (the website appears to be down). Good luck shedding the fear, and hang in there! It does go away!

 

Well it seems like i know a little about how the whole new testament is essentially hearsay (no one who wrote it actually met jesus), i've looked up a few prophecies and stuff which don't make sense/ don't come true, but i forget a lot of it quite easily. Also a lot of the stuff i research i can't be sure of because people don't take the time to fact check before they spout "information" so i look up something about a religion that predates christ and some of the information was stretched a lot more than it should have been. Also there's always some sort of apologetic that can harmonize things, and this makes me worry sometimes if they are right, i mean i know the bible's so damn cryptic it's not hard, and people will do whatever they can to protect their perceptions or to prevent cognitive dissonance, but even still i wonder sometimes if they're right all the same. There's also all these creationist stuff that i'm bombarded with when i search stuff, a lot of it is misinformation of course, but i don't know that when i'm reading it.

 

As far as being unbiased it's harder to do know admittedly, i am genuinely afraid of becoming a christian again because of what it did to me, or how much i hate that mind set that i tend to be scared of looking at apologetics arguments or "evidence", as pathetic as that sounds....I'm genuinely afraid they're right, with or without reason much of the time. Most of it being irrational though of course....

 

I just hate how easily i forget my reasons, or at least they don't feel as potent when i'm afraid/anxious. I don't understand how christians can say this is an easier path by any means though. I am genuinely afraid sometimes that i may be wrong about it all, or i'm afraid i'll forget my reasons or my mindset will change, but that might just be the OCD talking. Probably a mixture of my own fault and it. Especially lately i've been having issues with waking up from my sleep anxious and my thoughts already being on christianity, probably dreaming about it, don't know.

[Suzy]

@ Falloutdude

 

If you read the Bible the Devil seems to be harmless compared to the bloodthirsty and evil God.

 

 

[Margee]

Hi again Fallout! My whole house of cards began to fall when I started looking at the Adam and Eve story. First thing I asked the pastor was if they were the only 2 on earth in the garden with the talking snake...............who stood outside the garden and documented the whole thing? Who was the person that saw this whole account written in the bible? He could not answer me.

 

then I started to see a real stupid, cruel god as I continued to read. A god who didn't even know how to work a good 'plan' with humans. Set us up to fail and then cursed us?????

 

Then I stared to read about all the 'fallin' angels and the most evil one of all...of course was lucifer............ AND GOD DID NOT HAVE THE POWER TO STOP HIM???

 

An all powerful god, omnipotent, omnipresent, omni, omni, omni?????? The god who knows the past, present and future and he couldn't stop all this foolishness from happening including humans eating off the 'tree'?

 

Something was very wrong in this picture for me!

 

Satan was one of the first characters to go in my 'deconverting' and I haven't had trouble with him since! I used to lay hands on everything to protect me from this devil.

 

My opinion (for what it's worth) is that blood, evil, killing, bombing, massacre, mutilating, slaughter, destroying, and all the like, ARE a bit on the dark side - so if you are getting bad feelings - it may be a small gut intuition that you are going against your own morals and that is why you might possibly feel bad when you see these things in movies or games, etc.............. that what happens to me when I watch anything 'dark'. Actually - I can't watch anything like this anymore. (never really could, but that's just me)

 

If you are not going against your own morals - then you must learn how to enjoy the movies and games without the fear that it is an invisible devil leading you to do evil. This again, was part of our brainwashing..... that the fight between good and evil were constantly playing out in the atmosphere at all times.

 

My life has not changed one bit since I told the old devil to go back to hell where he belongs!!

[Foxy Methoxy]

You could always hang garlic near windows and keep a horse shoe over your front door.

[ogilvy]

Falloutdude I'm sorry you're going through all this. I haven't gone through the exact same fears, but similar things. You sound like you're obsessing over one thing and then another. Religion is having a bad effect on you. It does that. Meditation is better for people like us who tend to worry excessively. When I was a christian I thought meditation was 'of the devil', but now I don't have to worry about that, and meditation helps me a lot. Thankfully I don't believe in God or the devil and demons any more. I think we have to find happiness where we can, and value it, and make the most of our lives, getting what enjoyment we can and not feeling guilty. All the best. I sympathize with you.

[nolabeltam]

First off Fallout, the evil you're describing....the bloody murder, the violence, and the darkness is not proof for an evil entity even in the bible. In the bible, that stuff is the doing of the all-loving, all-powerful and all-merciful god, Yahweh. [Let's all do three cheers -- hip hip, hooray! hip hip, hooray! hip hip, hooray!] Secondly, you have to train your mind to stop going down a familiar path. Understand why the bible is a bunch of steaming dung, not just that it is. The best way to shed the fear is to educate yourself. And to honestly evaluate it and responsibly investigate it with as little bias as possible. I know it's easier said than done, but try this

for starters (the website appears to be down). Good luck shedding the fear, and hang in there! It does go away!

 

 

He has some great videos--thanks for sharing! I wonder what's up with his website though? I really wanted to take a look at it.

[♦ Fuego ♦]

You might stop watching videos that are intended to scare you. It's the same reasoning that parents use when preventing nightmares in kids. I stopped watching horror films years ago, and my fear of the dark eventually faded, and that was while I was still a believer. I also used to have dreams of demon attacks, though I was then taught that they fear us because of the Holy Spirit inside of us, so the fear attacks were just a propaganda move on their part, so I learned to not try to react but to simply relax, turn my attention to god and worship silently. That helped a lot when I was still a believer and even my scary dreams faded. I stopped taking in stressful stuff like political TV, took up singing and relaxing to incense and a quiet environment. Our minds respond with how we program them. The emotional/primal parts of the mind can't tell the difference between our imagined fears and real ones.

[Guest Marty]

I don't have the information here with me, but get the book called "The History of the Devil". It shows exactly how and when the devil was invented and why he was created. When you realize that a being of pure evil was invented for xtianity, it makes things a lot easier to deal with. Other religions before xtianity had a "bad guy" but he played the part of a trickster, not a pure evil genius. Look up Lokki, I believe he was a Norse "devil". Even Satan is translated from the Hebrew as "adversary" and played the part of "devil's advocate" (for lack of a better term) in pre-xtian Judaism.

 

As with anything we fear, knowledge is the key to conquering that fear.

[Falloutdude]

Hi again Fallout! My whole house of cards began to fall when I started looking at the Adam and Eve story. First thing I asked the pastor was if they were the only 2 on earth in the garden with the talking snake...............who stood outside the garden and documented the whole thing? Who was the person that saw this whole account written in the bible? He could not answer me.

 

then I started to see a real stupid, cruel god as I continued to read. A god who didn't even know how to work a good 'plan' with humans. Set us up to fail and then cursed us?????

 

Yes, i have often thought of this, my zealous aunt professed how we would never discount a first hand report in a court of law and used this as justification for the validity of the bible, on the other hand, who recorded the story of noah or adam and eve? I imagine someone has some sort of an answer like how god was there and inspired it

 

Then I stared to read about all the 'fallin' angels and the most evil one of all...of course was lucifer............ AND GOD DID NOT HAVE THE POWER TO STOP HIM???

 

An all powerful god, omnipotent, omnipresent, omni, omni, omni?????? The god who knows the past, present and future and he couldn't stop all this foolishness from happening including humans eating off the 'tree'?

 

Something was very wrong in this picture for me!

 

Satan was one of the first characters to go in my 'deconverting' and I haven't had trouble with him since! I used to lay hands on everything to protect me from this devil.

Yeah, my family used to be big into the "rebuking", my dad still does it if he wakes up from a nightmare or something. I remember dreams where i was struggling to say it but it never came out. weird

 

My opinion (for what it's worth) is that blood, evil, killing, bombing, massacre, mutilating, slaughter, destroying, and all the like, ARE a bit on the dark side - so if you are getting bad feelings - it may be a small gut intuition that you are going against your own morals and that is why you might possibly feel bad when you see these things in movies or games, etc.............. that what happens to me when I watch anything 'dark'. Actually - I can't watch anything like this anymore. (never really could, but that's just me)

 

If you are not going against your own morals - then you must learn how to enjoy the movies and games without the fear that it is an invisible devil leading you to do evil. This again, was part of our brainwashing..... that the fight between good and evil were constantly playing out in the atmosphere at all times.

 

My life has not changed one bit since I told the old devil to go back to hell where he belongs!!

 

 

Yeah, well i mean it's weird. I mean i'm an advocate for treating people humanely and cringe at the idea of even hurting a bird, but in games i guess i just see it as, i don't know. Not real i guess, but in a way i treat it with my morality, that is, i apply my moral code to decisions (never kill when i don't have to, save innocents, etc). So in a way i guess it's real, i like these kinds of games or movies because they tug at your heart strings/tap some deep emotions. I guess it's all how you think about it when you do it

 

 

Yeah it really sucks, i even look at my friends differently when i start thinking about what christians say are evil, like my friend is one of the best people i know, but he loves horror movies and stuff. In real life he's really kind and full of integrity. I think all of us like to indulge in fantasy at some point or another. Which is another reason i didn't like christianity, it seemed like fantasy was almost frowned upon if it had different creatures than from "god's creation" or scenarios which involved sci-fi (guess it kind of goes against the idea that the world will collapse without god or the end times scenario)

 

thanks Margee it helps when people remind me of the things i forget, for some reason i have trouble retaining all the reasoning i've come up with when i need it the most, guess i should write it down or something...ha ha

[Skwerl]

I think i can help.

I grew up believing the devil is real. I believed it so much that i would scream "blood of jesus" in my head after scary movies. It FREAKED me out. i would avoid dark places like windows and under the bed. But recently i have come to realize the falseness of the bible. i believed it cause i was told to believe it. once i started realizing it was fake i studied and studied... i have proven that it is MORE logical that there is no god. and that everything came from nothing so to speak. with things like flat universe meaning zero energy, to god being the only thing at one time, meaning all that existed (god) was perfect and to add or take away weakened the perfection. thus he wasn't perfect...

 

Anyhow now that you know my story here is my advice. I am in Afghanistan for war. the only fear is rocket attacks. that is REAL fear. in america (or any free country) your life is so cake, you make certain things worse than they are... so i logically over power the fears. i face them and tell my self they aren't real. This is truth and you can do it. i purposely grab my shoes in dark areas. i stand by dark windows, i walk down dark corridors. I know this sounds childish, but remember i spent 28 years CONVINCING myself these things are as real as the fingers on your hands....

 

The reasoning behind the fear and belief of realism is the same as the reason the theists believe god is real...

think about it.

They want to believe god is real, so they make him real and that is where you get "personal experiences" i know god is real cause i've experienced him... etc....

Well you are "experiencing" the evil. the devil etc...

Any how its not real and you are convincing yourself it is.

If it was you would "invite" evil in and it would stay in... it wouldn't fade away in time. anyhow that wouldn't imply proof but it would be more than what there is..

 

I know this is long but you can do it. trust me there is NO supernatural, only what we don't understand. there is no god, no devil. just our heads and emotions.

Fear is for survival, and you don't spend your life needing survival like your our ancestors did

[Falloutdude]

The emotional/primal parts of the mind can't tell the difference between our imagined fears and real ones.

 

Yes, i have learned this very well....it may have been useful before, but being neurotic in this day and age is just plain a burden

[Falloutdude]

I think i can help.

I grew up believing the devil is real. I believed it so much that i would scream "blood of jesus" in my head after scary movies. It FREAKED me out. i would avoid dark places like windows and under the bed. But recently i have come to realize the falseness of the bible. i believed it cause i was told to believe it. once i started realizing it was fake i studied and studied... i have proven that it is MORE logical that there is no god. and that everything came from nothing so to speak. with things like flat universe meaning zero energy, to god being the only thing at one time, meaning all that existed (god) was perfect and to add or take away weakened the perfection. thus he wasn't perfect...

 

Anyhow now that you know my story here is my advice. I am in Afghanistan for war. the only fear is rocket attacks. that is REAL fear. in america (or any free country) your life is so cake, you make certain things worse than they are... so i logically over power the fears. i face them and tell my self they aren't real. This is truth and you can do it. i purposely grab my shoes in dark areas. i stand by dark windows, i walk down dark corridors. I know this sounds childish, but remember i spent 28 years CONVINCING myself these things are as real as the fingers on your hands....

 

First of all i'd like to thank you for serving, it takes guts, courage. I admire it, especially because you don't believe there's some place you'll go if something happens, i freeze when i'm afraid, even of non-life threatening things.

 

You're right though, my fears are not real. However, fear isn't quite rational. It helps us to survive when real danger exists. In the situation you're in fear keeps you alive, in a civilian's situation it usually does nothing but stress you out. At some level i really don't think i believe in it, it's kind of just like a "what if"/"it could be" sort of thing

 

That doesn't sound childish, i went through the same thing, i used to be afraid of dark hallways and what not (even in my old church) i forced myself to go in even if i ran in and out. Then progressively you stop fearing what's not there.

 

The reasoning behind the fear and belief of realism is the same as the reason the theists believe god is real...

think about it.

They want to believe god is real, so they make him real and that is where you get "personal experiences" i know god is real cause i've experienced him... etc....

Well you are "experiencing" the evil. the devil etc...

Any how its not real and you are convincing yourself it is.

If it was you would "invite" evil in and it would stay in... it wouldn't fade away in time. anyhow that wouldn't imply proof but it would be more than what there is..

 

I know this is long but you can do it. trust me there is NO supernatural, only what we don't understand. there is no god, no devil. just our heads and emotions.

Fear is for survival, and you don't spend your life needing survival like your our ancestors did

 

I agree, i also think that evil helps to keep people in line. Aka, if there was no "boogeyman" there'd be no need for protection. It reminds me of a protection racket. We'll torture you (hell) if you don't pay (submit), but we'll protect you from others who are out there to hurt your business (the devil)

 

Nice to meet a real "atheist in the foxhole" and thanks for the help

[Skwerl]

Well thanks for the kind words, and i dont know how old you are but i can tell you have a great head on your shoulders.

You're right its different when a fear is dark vs the fear of actual death.

 

funny thing is i was christian when i deployed. i have a lot of free time to study, (doesnt mean im safe) but i spent my time learning about god. trying to find/question him. and my questions led to disbelief. luckily my wife is on my side

 

you are also right that it is not rational to be fear, and i think that is why rationalizing/facing the fears helps.

But if i was in the darkest place ever and faced with death i will still not believe in god. it makes too much sense that he doesnt exist. Some people believe to let go of reality, some believe because they dont question, and some cant understand the depth (however simple) of abiogenesis, evolution etc...

[Falloutdude]

Well thanks for the kind words, and i dont know how old you are but i can tell you have a great head on your shoulders.

You're right its different when a fear is dark vs the fear of actual death.

 

funny thing is i was christian when i deployed. i have a lot of free time to study, (doesnt mean im safe) but i spent my time learning about god. trying to find/question him. and my questions led to disbelief. luckily my wife is on my side

 

um....i'm only 18, thanks ha ha. I try, although i've noticed that my good head loses quite a bit of rationality when i start being afraid or believing that maybe there was a god and there was "evil"

 

 

 

That's particularly interesting, it quite contradicts the preconception that serving induces belief rather than contradicts it (well i guess if you merely served without studying like you did that could be true). your very lucky to have your wife on your side as well, it sounds like atheist marriages are almost more unified when both parties de-convert together, perhaps even stronger than christian marriages...go figure, ha ha