Please help me.

[cb1500]

On 5/21/2020 at 1:50 PM, Hierophant said:

I completely understand the struggle. I too dealt with the same issues you are going through. I do not know exactly what will do the trick for you, but my fear of hell subsided as I dove into higher criticism (especially Robert M Price and Bart Ehrman) and it undermined the "authority" of the Bible. Hell is a concept that was extrapolated from the Bible. If it was not for the Bible, i.e., really people, it would not even be a concept you considered. You, and the rest of us, were indoctrinated/conditioned to believe hell is actually a thing. There is no evidence it actually exists.  I recommend attacking the foundation, that is, the Bible, and realizing it does not hold up to scrutiny. It is a book written by men. There is no reason nor evidence to believe there is any kind of deity that inspired it. Any "evidence" you will come across will be convictions, anecdotal, etc. There is not sufficient evidence to suggest there is an anthropomorphic, magical, invisible being that has any power to reincarnate people and shoot them to some dungeon where they get roasted forever. There is not even evidence we have a soul. These are all concepts and ideas passed down from our ancestors who thought some really weird stuff - those guys were not scientist. Even those we tout as being the great minds, the philosophers, they came up with stupid stuff all the time. I attribute that to the idea that their philosophy was NOT based on good science, it was based on religion, intuition (a terrible device for determining reality), casual observations, and cultural norms.

 

For me, therapy and medication has helped a lot, along with researching the true history of the bible and recognizing all of the errors.  I'm doing much better now than I was, but it still pops up every now and again.  Medication helps keep the panic attacks from happening.  Recovering From Religion has also been very helpful.  Trying to reconcile hell doesn't really help me at all, it actually makes it worse.  It really sucks because I know it's all BS, but the indoctrination seriously messed me up.  One of the things I'm trying is to associate the religious threats and fears with something nonthreatening.  Thanks again everyone for the helpful replies.  I'm still here, but I've been doing better which is why I haven't posted in a while.       

[AntiChrist]

On 12/17/2019 at 12:37 PM, cb1500 said:

Hello.  I posted here a few times about 3 years ago, but I'm relapsing.  At the time, I was having some major anxiety issues being caused by leftover fears from religion.  After a while, I was able to put the fears out of my mind and live normally, and I was fine until last week.  The doubts and fear of hell came back worse than ever, and I've been thinking about it constantly.  I am absolutely terrified, and I don't know if I l'll be able to overcome this.  Words can't really describe how bad the panic is, and I've been having thoughts of suicide. 

 

This all started years ago because I "blasphemed" god, which I was convinced was unforgivable.  I did tons of research on it, and most Christians said that it's only unforgivable if you continually blaspheme god without repentance, but that didn't help either.  I have no idea what to think, and nothing is helping.

 

I'm going to be talking to a doctor about my anxiety issues, but I need help now.  Please help reassure me that this is all nonsense, because I really can't take it anymore.

 

Thank you.

If hell is real, why is it expected to be believed in? 

 

Just look directly at the fear, and you will see that there is no monster under your bed.

[◊ DestinyTurtle ◊]

On 12/16/2019 at 8:37 PM, cb1500 said:

Hello.  I posted here a few times about 3 years ago, but I'm relapsing. 

Hello! I'm sorry you're experiencing the fear again! 3 years might seem like a long time but trauma, including religious trauma like the fear of hell, can take lots of time and effort to heal. I think for me it took about 10+ years. Anyways, don't fret.

 

On 12/16/2019 at 8:37 PM, cb1500 said:

I'm going to be talking to a doctor about my anxiety issues, but I need help now.  Please help reassure me that this is all nonsense, because I really can't take it anymore.

There's no shame in looking for medical help or guidance about anxiety. A lot of people struggle with this and there are a variety of ways to handle it. Like I said - what you're experiencing is a form of trauma - it's going to have some ups in down in the progress of recovery.

 

I wish you well! I'm no medical professional so in the meantime I can recommend looking at cat videos or listening to some music! Most of all I want you to know that this is normal and that you can overcome it! Deep breaths!

[Guest KrysLostInSpace]

I've been fully de-converted for a good amount of time but even I still experience the occasional spike of anxiety surrounding hell and biblical events. I'd say the first step is to obviously consult a therapist and see if you have an anxiety disorder that plays up these fears. Managing an anxiety disorder depends from person to person but typically it's a combination of CBT and medication. As for the fear of hell, I usually tackled it by looking at it's hypocrisies and logic problems. My favorite one was just a phrase I'd repeat. Infinite punishment for a finite life. That was the main hypocrisy that filled me with rage when I still thought my fight was with an actual god rather than simple religion. 

 

I coped with religion by using spite. I wanted to give the biggest fuck you to the asshole that is the Christian god. When those suicidal thoughts come up, spite can be a powerful motivating factor to keep moving forward. A person can only have so many fucks to give. Where do yours end? (Keep in mind spite and anger are healthy emotions to have but should not be your main coping method.)