Question:
I am in constant fear of Hell I need help?
?
2012-11-27 13:27:38 UTC
I want to get more involved with agnostics or atheists, but my former christian ways, and my Dad and family, who are christians, continue to talk about hell, and the old fear comes over me. I know the dumb Bible, most of it is not true. But I still have that fear. Or what if I die, and I really do go to Hell? Help me atheists.... Somebody!! Help?
Nineteen answers:
2012-11-27 13:53:22 UTC
Ok I'm an atheist. First things first: RELAX. You're not going anywere when you die. Many people stay in christian organizations even though they're not personal believers. In my country for instance 95% are members of the former State Church, but only ~15% are actually believers. If you want to see it in this way, the atheists is by far the largest group compared to any religion. So most of the population do not think there is such a thing as hell.



Next I want to state that I agree with you when you write: " I know the dumb Bible, most of it is not true.". The Bible is a collection of books. Many books. But who decided exactly which books should be in the Bible? The answer is Emperor Constantine. He wanted to make Jesus seem as a "godlike" person, but actually many of the books about Jesus never decribed him as a God. Unfortunately Emperor Constantine elliminated most of the evidences of those books.

So you see not even some the very followers of Jesus considered him as a God. Nor did they believe in hell. BTW Lucas didn't even live at the same time as Jesus.



My personal opinion is that people aren't questioning things enough. They just read and shut their brains off. It has never been a single evidence of Hell, nor will it ever be. And basing our actions, decisions, and emotions just on BELIEF dosen't make ANY SENSE imo.



And hey, if this rubbish is true (which it isn't) You would have great odds to meet me in real life!
David Z
2012-11-27 13:37:07 UTC
That is one of the last things they have to cling to, to keep their flock in line. "Try to leave, and you will be tortured for eternity." It is so obvious that the majority of the bible is fabrication, at some point you have to doubt nearly all the claims made within it. Don't let them use fear tactics on you to keep you in their faith. If you are just "believing" it because you are scared, you aren't really believing it, are you? An omniscient god would be able to see the facade of you hedging your bets, and not truly believing.

So here's the deal, be good because it is what you want to do, not because some deity will reward or punish you. Live your life the way you want to. Avoid talking about religion with people who will just not get it, or piss you off. And choose not to associate with people who have a negative impact on your life and well being. Live a long happy life. The end.
?
2012-11-27 13:36:56 UTC
Hi Frank. I got stuck there too. Intellectually an atheist but psychologically still very fearful and anxious about Hell. Its horrible, isn't it? Its very difficult to get that deep rooted fear out of your psyche cos its really embedded itself. I really recommend The God Delusion and you can search for some other books which dissect christian belief. You need to pull out all the fears you have and apply logic to them methodically until they lose all their power. I did not think it would work as intellectually I was already an atheist and my fears were irrational but in fact I had never really broken my fears down and looked at them and I needed to do that to get past them. The God Delusion did it and I was free at last. It comes on audiobook read by Richard Dawkins too which is wonderful.
Роберт
2012-11-27 13:50:56 UTC
.

Why do you fear DEATH ?



Because that is the ONLY way to goto HELL -



Your GRAVE is described as Hell in the Bible



The word “hell” is used 54 times in the Bible. It is translated from several different words with various meanings, as indicated below:

In the Old Testament:

• 31 times from the Hebrew “Sheol,” which means “the grave”

In the New Testament:

• 10 times from the Greek “Hades,” which means “the grave”

• 12 times from the Greek “Gehenna,” which means “a place of burning” (This was the city dump where the dead beggars were thrown, i.e. a burial place.)

• 1 time from the Greek “Tartarus,” which means “a place of darkness” specially prepared for angels that have sinned.

.
?
2012-11-27 13:30:35 UTC
There is no hell. But even if there was, and even if it were the fiery pit described by some theists, I for one would far rather be there than floating around in some disembodied form (incapable of any feeling, emotion or physical interaction with any other being) constantly worshiping the most evil creature ever to have been imagined ... and with no possible escape!
?
2016-11-03 06:59:02 UTC
I felt like that once i turned right into a Christian and it extremely messed me up. extremely concerning something sexual because our organic and organic urges let us know one element, then Christianity tells us we are sinners for even wondering about it, no longer to prepare doing something. yet sometime I sat down and analysed what motives there are to trust that Christianity is real, and after I realised that there have been not any good motives I knew i ought to provide it up. Now i'm a lot happier. i recognize i'm no longer an evil sinner like Christianity tells me and that i have no worry of hell. And now that i'm no longer tied all the way down to an previous e book with previous, prejudice options, i'm actual a extra moral human being. it really is the appropriate replace in my existence i have made. the element to be careful of with many Christians even with the reality that, is that maximum want to seem good and strong in the front of others. they don't need to prepare weaknesses, lack of religion or conviction, or something equivalent to others, exceedingly different Christians. because of this a wide share of Christians have sex earlier marriage yet almost none of them admit it brazenly (i recognize a few).
Eclipse-girl
2012-11-27 13:31:25 UTC
YOu have to accept that the fear you have was brought about by indoctrination into your former christian ways.



It was done as a way to control you. The christians believed that the fear would keep you from leaving the faith.



You should be angry that those people indoctrinated you. You should use that anger to overcome the fear.
spectrum_of_shadows
2012-11-27 13:34:47 UTC
Do you really think a benevolent god would allow that to happen? And if he isn't benevolent, none of us are safe anyway so there's nothing you could do.



Do you really think if there was a god, religion would be so confused and chaotic? It's hard even to get two Christians to agree on religious matters. let alone bring other religions into it. Whatever anybody on this site tells you about how to get to heaven, it wouldn't be difficult to find a bunch of others who say he's wrong.
?
2012-11-27 13:32:33 UTC
Right, First off my good sir. Don't worry yourself with what other people say to you, It's your business what you believe in and no-one else should try and change your mind.

The concept of hell is of course incredible scary, So I can't really help you with that, because I would just be lying

BUT

Science and the bible combined has proven that-should they really exist-heaven would actually be even hotter than hell would be: http://wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/blogs/exploringourmatrix/files/2012/10/proof-that-heaven-is-hotter-than-hell-resized-776x10241.png

hope it helps ease you a little bit

and best of luck with your spiritual journey
KAZ K
2012-11-27 13:30:32 UTC
Look at it this way, is your life now not hellish enough? Don't you think they only made up hell so that you and others follow there path, the path they believe is true, to steer and control you?

Live your live now, live in harmony with the planet the nurtures all and you'll be better off.
ACR613
2012-11-27 13:35:17 UTC
You're seeing how ignorant it Is to take that chance. Sorry, I'm not an Atheist...But I'm not calling myself a Christian either. You've decided to become an Atheist probably because you're annoyed by religion. I am too. It's good to be afraid of Hell, but if you were really afraid of God you wouldn't call the Bible dumb. In order to avoid Hell, you must be afraid of God. Most of the "Christians" today aren't truly afraid of The Lord. So instead of rebelling against them by turning against God, rebel by going against their ways that they think will save them.
Fuzzy
2012-11-27 13:31:53 UTC
If you have fear of hell you surely know not the Bible at all!



Please go to my profile to find my web- address. On the website (once you get past the annoying adds for it is a free site) in section Basic Bible Two on the main page, find the link called 'Sheol and Judgment' - this will give you what information you need not to have fear. Naturally, you are welcome to study the additional material there is around that link.
BIll Q
2012-11-27 13:34:52 UTC
Hell makes no sense. Would an all-loving all powerful God send people to hell when he can just magically transform them into non-sinning people? Would an all-loving God create people just to send them to hell for eternity? This idea makes no sense.



Eventually you'll realize there is no God either. But you can start by realized Hell does not exist.
Goldy Aluminy
2012-11-27 13:42:55 UTC
How about a documentary about Hell?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5mYFJ4irxM



In the end, you are the master. You decide who you want to believe. What you want to believe. What you want to make up.



Keep in mind that there are real things to fear. Cancer, going blind, big car accident, planet crash, ...
auskiwi101
2012-11-27 13:30:18 UTC
Hell is imaginary.

It is just the stick of the christian cults carrot or stick.

Email me and I can give you info to help you out.
kev
2012-11-27 13:32:15 UTC
the bible does not say that after death you will be punished or spared



when you're dead you're dead



Ecclesiastes 9:5,10

For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten



All that your hand finds to do, do with your very power, for there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in She′ol, the place to which you are going.



First, let us look at the word itself. The Greek word Ge′en·na corresponds to the Hebrew geh Hin·nom′, meaning “valley of Hinnom,” or more fully geh veneh-Hin·nom′, “valley of the sons of Hinnom.” (Joshua 15:8; 2 Kings 23:10) This geographic site, known today as Wadi er-Rababi, is a deep and narrow valley located to the south and southwest of Jerusalem.

In the times of the kings of Judah, from the eighth century B.C.E., this location was used for pagan rites, including the sacrificial burning of children in fire. (2 Chronicles 28:1-3; 33:1-6) The prophet Jeremiah foretold that the same valley would become the place of slaughter for Judeans at the hands of the Babylonians in judgment from God for their wickedness.—Jeremiah 7:30-33; 19:6, 7.

According to the Jewish scholar David Kimhi (c. 1160-c. 1235 C.E.), the valley was later transformed into a garbage dump for the city of Jerusalem. The place served as an incinerator where fires were kept burning to dispose of rubbish. Anything thrown into this dump would be completely destroyed, turned into ashes.

Many Bible translators have taken the liberty of rendering Ge′en·na “hell.” (Matthew 5:22, King James Version) Why? Because they associated the pagan-inspired notion of an afterlife of fiery judgment for the wicked with the physical fire in the valley outside Jerusalem. Jesus, however, never associated Gehenna with torment.

Jesus knew that the very thought of burning people alive is repugnant to his heavenly Father, Jehovah. Referring to the use made of Gehenna in the days of the prophet Jeremiah, God said: “They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, in order to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, a thing that I had not commanded and that had not come up into my heart.” (Jeremiah 7:31) Moreover, the idea of torment for the dead conflicts with God’s loving personality as well as with the Bible’s clear teaching that the dead are “conscious of nothing at all.”—Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10.

Jesus used the term “Gehenna” to symbolize the utter destruction resulting from God’s adverse judgment. Hence, “Gehenna” has a meaning similar to that of “the lake of fire,” mentioned in the book of Revelation. Both symbolize eternal destruction from which no resurrection is possible.—Luke 12:4, 5; Revelation 20:14, 15.
Death to Rational Discourse
2012-11-27 13:29:23 UTC
You're talking about Pascal's Wager, and all you have to do is remind yourself that hell doesn't actually exist.
L K
2012-11-27 13:30:33 UTC
Yes, there is indeed a hell. If you do not confess your sins and confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and that he died on the cross and God arose Him three days later...then you are in danger of hell fire. You have to lead a Godly life the best to your ability. Jesus is the only way to Heaven.
Valos of Science
2012-11-27 13:29:23 UTC
I honestly don't know what to tell you.


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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