Fear Factor

rachellynneblin
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Fear Factor

Ok...so this isn't completely humorous, and I guess that this is sort of an introduction of myself (as it is my very first post here). This is somewhat a general topic, so here goes something Sticking out tongue

 How did any of you who grew up christian get over those instilled fears?I have fought these horrible "demons" within myself for quite a few years now and I am still battling with them. For example: HELL AND DAMNATION! What if God really does exist? Yadda Yadda Blah Blah Blah. I know that these fears stem from two main things. One is the fear and awe I have for the entire universe...and the other from my history with christian dogma which played on the fears and awe I have of the universe. Sometimes this makes me so angry I could spit...and sometimes this makes me feel so irrational I could shave my head, don a robe with wings and go out into the street "preaching" my own version of "HELL AND DAMNATION!" (hee hee)

 Any suggestions?

The people have always some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness...This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector. ~~Plato- The Republic


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I cannot tell you that I

I cannot tell you that I know completely how you feel nor do I think I can give you an answer I know will work. I didn't grow up with religion so I never had to deal with those things. The closest thing to this I can say I had was around in middle school were a buddy of mine took me to this church event.

I wrote:
I guess the point of it was to have a fun gathering of people and, oh yeah, reinforce faith. At one of these the church had a speaker that used fire and brimstone to scare the kids in repenting. I felt something then, but it was not love or kindness as many Christians say the lord really is, it was fear. I now believe that if someone must scare you in to believing something they are doing something underhanded and should not be trusted.


Maybe if you try to some how desensitize yourself to the idea. Watch a little Exorcist or learn more about the dangers of such ideas. Perhaps try to learn the psychology side of things, maybe if you learn something really interesting you could give us a little report Sticking out tongue

I hope that helps you a little, but I'm sure others here can give you a little something better.


rachellynneblin
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Ha! I have tried to watch

Ha! I have tried to watch the Exorcist numerous times and I can't sleep for days! But I will do all I can handle to rid myself of the lingering fears...they don't effect my stance on religion or god other than  confirming that I am correct in my beliefs against them. They are the stumbling block to their own faith.

 

The people have always some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness...This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector. ~~Plato- The Republic


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I was in the middle of

I was in the middle of writing to you, Rachel. lol.

I thought of something else too. It feels good to know guys like voiderest will take care of me during my mid-life crisis later. Somebody has to pay for my parties after the kids leave home. 

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rachellynneblin

rachellynneblin wrote:

Ok...so this isn't completely humorous, and I guess that this is sort of an introduction of myself (as it is my very first post here). This is somewhat a general topic, so here goes something Sticking out tongue

 How did any of you who grew up christian get over those instilled fears?I have fought these horrible "demons" within myself for quite a few years now and I am still battling with them. For example: HELL AND DAMNATION! What if God really does exist? Yadda Yadda Blah Blah Blah. I know that these fears stem from two main things. One is the fear and awe I have for the entire universe...and the other from my history with christian dogma which played on the fears and awe I have of the universe. Sometimes this makes me so angry I could spit...and sometimes this makes me feel so irrational I could shave my head, don a robe with wings and go out into the street "preaching" my own version of "HELL AND DAMNATION!" (hee hee)

 Any suggestions?

Oh, it's very simple. There are several possibilities:

- take the path of no return. Blasphemize in such a way that you'll never be forgiven. You know there's no turning back from that, no matter what you do.

- watch/play horror movies/games themed on religion and belief for 20 hours in a row. It will take you about one week to get back to normal, but you'll feel a lot better afterwards.

- read the apocalypse ("revelations" - on newer grounds) and see who will be the ones who will inherit Heaven. Once you've proven without any doubt that you won't fit in (the first condition seems to be of Jewish origin; if you aren't, like me, then regardless if you believe or not, the outcome will be the same, so there's nothing you can do)

- spit often

- think that the main argument against religions is just that they exist... and that there is a chance bigger than 80% for you to go to hell because of choosing the wrong confession

- think of the religion your people had before they were force-fed Christianity, and wonder why you should embrace a different one

- think that no matter what, the current Church people aren't by any means more righteous than you, and that they will never be able to follow the teachings of their own books perfectly... because if they do, they become new messiahs... and nobody wants that

Last, but not least:

- think that when people of a religion realize why they dismiss all the other gods, they will realize why you dismiss theirs as well

Inquisition - "The flames are all long gone, but the pain lingers on..."
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Hi rachellynneblin, A lot

Hi rachellynneblin,

A lot of people go through exactly what you're going through now.

There are a couple of excellent blogs here and here that might shed some light on the subject for you.

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First I want to thank all

First I want to thank all of you for your time and care. Second, I plan on keeping up my stuggle until it isn't a struggle any longer (mind you, it isn't nearly as bad as it was a few years ago.) I plan on spitting often, reading (or educating myself) often...(I'm sure once my schooling re-starts, as I will be learning how to teach impressionable children Biology, that this will make life easier Sticking out tongue)

I spent last night,  indroducing a friend (another atheist) to the world of tea and we watched Richard Dawkins' "The Root of Evil?" There were quite a few times I wanted to jump through the tv and sucker punch some of those insane liars. I have found that over the last few years my fears have slowly been replaced by anger and resentment for these lies I was told as a child. How the HELL do these people think believing in such doctrines will be the key to my survival or the survival of the human species? It's sick!

I read the recommended blogs and I found them somewhat enlightening. I had very little doubt that others struggle with the same HELL and DAMNATION fears that I have suffered from. But I must say that I was never physically abused by either of my parents. My father once considered himself agnostic (a high school biology teacher) and now prefers to consider himself a non-theist. I relate to this the most..go ahead and call me a daddy's girl; I'll take it as a compliment. My mother and her family is an entirely different story. A lot of my own "spiritual" insecurities stem from the mental and verbal abuse so common to fundamental, charismatic christian dogmatic beliefs to which my mother and her family holds dearly (one of my favorites is that it is a sin to pray to the dead...laugh my ass off everytime with that one.)

 

Again, thank you all. It's is very nice to know that I am not completely alone.

The people have always some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness...This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector. ~~Plato- The Republic


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rachellynneblin

rachellynneblin wrote:

(one of my favorites is that it is a sin to pray to the dead...laugh my ass off everytime with that one.)

Huh?  Tell that to the Catholics that pray to long-dead saints.  Or the Mormons that pray to all their ancestors.

Or any theist that prays to Jesus. 

So who do these people pray to if they don't pray to dead folks? 

 I've never heard that one before.  It's a real eye-roller (not to mention, a good chuckle!)

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Praying to the dead

Yeah, I was about 11 or 12 years old when one of my aunts took me to Grandma's grave for remembrance. This was shortly after she had passed away...I was in such shock of her passing during her funeral that it all seemed surreal to me. But when we got to her grave, it hit me that I never said goodbye to her. So, I sat down on her plot and I said, "Grandma, if you actually can hear me, I wanted to tell you that I love you and I will miss you," (with of course some apologies for some stuff I did). My aunt absolutely had a fit and told me that it was a sin to pray to the dead. That you are only allowed to pray to God through Jesus Christ. It took me along time to realize it, but I finally understood that she was in the wrong for trying to stop my healing process because of her own superstitions. Don't take me wrong, I love this aunt dearly...["Forgive them Father for they know not what they do" somewhere in the Bible when Jesus is being crucified (one of the gospels)] I think that such a phrase can fit in to how I feel about  many of these beautiful brainwashed sheep. They just don't see the wrong or the harm they do (a good many of them, that is.)

The people have always some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness...This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector. ~~Plato- The Republic


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Interesting, too, that you

Interesting, too, that you weren't praying to your grandmother, you were talking to her. I don't know about your aunt, but I see a difference.

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Ha! That's just it, though.

Ha! That's just it, though. Many of the christians I know and have met "Talk to Jesus." To them, there really isn't a difference between prayer and talk. For many of them that's all it is...Talk. For instance, when the entire upset about the "Ten Comandments Monument" was going on...my aunts and a handful of my other christian friends became irate and that's all I ever heard about from them. I stated that if it upsets you that much go there and help voice that oppinion...well, they had other obligations.  

The people have always some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness...This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector. ~~Plato- The Republic


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Had Jesus existed and these

Had Jesus existed and these folks are talking to him, they're talking to a dead guy. Doesn't that make you wonder just a bit? Smiling

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I'm late chiming in on this

I'm late chiming in on this thread, but I figured my two cents might be worth... um... two cents or so.

I think it took a good five or seven years for me to get over the worst of the irrational fears that Christianity instilled in me. Hell wasn't really tough, because at some point, I was able to internalize this statement:

"If God knows everything, and created the universe in such a way that his existence defies logic, and created me with a mind that cannot accept illogic once I discover it, and he is going to send me to hell for eternity because I cannot believe in him, considering my nature, then he is a dick and I could not spend eternity worshipping him, knowing how many other good people are in hell."

That was it. End of hell fear.

What was much tougher was ridding myself of many of the "truths" taught by christianity, particularly the ones regarding morality. I had to literally examine as many of my beliefs as possible and put them through the logic test, and decide what my own morality is. This, I suppose, will go on for the rest of my life, because the most dangerous "truth" taught by Christianity is that it is possible to know an ultimate truth with complete certainty.

 

Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin

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Oh! It does and it has.

(In response to Hammbydammit): Actually, I need to remind myself of that statement (or something very similar to that statement) often...you know, re-condition my brain.  I spent a good 10 years studying and practicing various pagan religions or tenets, so to speak. That helped quite a bit in the ethical challenge. My ethics changed quite a bit after that. I actually agree with some of the moral standards or guidelines in the Bible...like it is probably a bad idea to sleep with another man's wife (probabilities of possible outcomes don't bode well with that one...though, I have also dealt with "cheating" in my life and have seen other people's consequences with those types of actions.) I guess some of my re-conditioning started when I began doing the sin. My senior year in high school, a friend and I recorded ourselves burning a small New Testament Bible. After that was done, I put the remainding ashes and pieces into an envelope and mailed it to my church with a letter stating that what they taught was horrendous and abusive and that I was no longer going to attend their services. (Mind you, I was 17 and just realized how angry I was at the negative impact religion had on my life.)

Anyway, the images of Hell that seem to be imbeded in my brain have faded but still remain. They are none-the-less frightening to the core and, well, freak the living crap out of me.  Part of the problem with all of this is that fear seems to feed off of its own possibility or the question of its own possibility.

Thank you for responding. It is greatly apreciated.

The people have always some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness...This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector. ~~Plato- The Republic


rachellynneblin
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Oh! It does and it has. That

(In response to Susan): Oh! It does and it has. That is partly what causes me to laugh at such statements to this day. It's absolutely ridiculous. Sticking out tongue

The people have always some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness...This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector. ~~Plato- The Republic