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I'm terrified of hell, but would likely never have any level of faith that would be required to avoid it due to my many years as an agnostic. Is this situation common?

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Why should you be terrified of it? You'd get accustomed to it quite fast, as people can adjust to everything, then you'll start to cheat the diable, pretending that you suffer, while you relax =).

Seriously, though, you probably need to reconsider your childhood believes. Your situation is not common, I never was afraid by the perspective of the hell, more that of the perspective of the nothingness. I'd gladly exchange nothingness to the hell from any religion. And I attribute it to being raised in an atheistic family (in former Soviet Union).

As one of the posters noted, the choice is between intellectual honesty and lack of it. I would really like to believe, as it would make my life simpler. I just don't have any evidence of any superior being existence, and I can delude myself into the faith.