Stuck Between Agnosticism and Christianity

[Learning]

I've just started college, an obvious major turning point in my life, and have spent some time evaluating my personal beliefs. I was raised in Christan home, but had my fights with religion from youth through today. I always felt as if something was being imposed on me, and am uneasy in churches or religious areas/gatherings in general. During highschool I read a lot of Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Burtrand Russell, and agreed with the vast majority of things they had to say. I've spent a great many years as a "true" agnostic, rather than using it as a stepping stone from theism to atheism.

However, I've lately been extremely concerned about the existence of Hell and the implications of my agnosticism after my death, should I end up wrong. I've actually tired to believe in Christianity/Jesus, but my prior knowledge and opposing viewpoints shoot doubt through the entirety of the religion.

I'm actually having a fairly difficult time articulating the deeper sentiments here, so I'll get to the point. 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?

[MidGe]

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I'll get to the point. I'm terrified of hell,

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Courage dude, it is an illusion, or you cannot do anything about it! No other possibilities! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Alex-db]

Wikipedia tells us that "hell" is described by all these religions:

2 Religious literature & views
2.1 Bahá'í Faith
2.2 Buddhism
2.3 Chinese religions
2.4 Christianity
2.5 Deism
2.6 Greek Mythology
2.7 Hinduism
2.8 Islam
2.9 Japanese religions
2.10 Judaism
2.11 Maya faith
2.12 Norse Mythology
2.13 Taoism
2.14 Unification Church
2.15 Zoroastrianism

So even if you could force yourself to believe in this Jesus character, you'd still be 14:1 against avoiding hell, on the unlikely (silly!) assumption that these are the only options.

The fact that you are living you life in this psychologically induced terror is a very good example against the claim that "moderate" religion is beneficial - evidently its more like child abuse.

[ChrisV]

I don't think the situation of wanting to believe but not being able to is that uncommon. I know several of the posters on this forum have been through it. I went through a period of fear of hell myself, but I was only a kid at the time. I suggest you reflect on the fact that the only reason your post isn't titled "Stuck Between Agnosticism and Islam" is your place of birth. If no amount of rational reflection fixes the problem, you might have underlying anxiety issues. There are therapists who specialise in fear of hell if it becomes a real problem. If there is a God and he is just and you live a moral life, there shouldn't be a problem anyway.

[Taraz]

[ QUOTE ]
Wikipedia tells us that "hell" is described by all these religions:

2 Religious literature & views
2.1 Bahá'í Faith
2.2 Buddhism
2.3 Chinese religions
2.4 Christianity
2.5 Deism
2.6 Greek Mythology
2.7 Hinduism
2.8 Islam
2.9 Japanese religions
2.10 Judaism
2.11 Maya faith
2.12 Norse Mythology
2.13 Taoism
2.14 Unification Church
2.15 Zoroastrianism

So even if you could force yourself to believe in this Jesus character, you'd still be 14:1 against avoiding hell, on the unlikely (silly!) assumption that these are the only options.

The fact that you are living you life in this psychologically induced terror is a very good example against the claim that "moderate" religion is beneficial - evidently its more like child abuse.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just to clarify, many of the religions in the above list don't subscribe to the type of hell that any of us would recognize. If you read the actual wikipedia article you reference, you would see that the Baha'i Faith, some Buddhist schools, Chinese religions, Hinduism, Judaism, Taoism, and the Unification Church don't believe in eternal (or sometimes even transitory) suffering after death.

[Archon_Wing]

[ QUOTE ]
Wikipedia tells us that "hell" is described by all these religions:

2 Religious literature & views
2.1 Bahá'í Faith
2.2 Buddhism
2.3 Chinese religions
2.4 Christianity
2.5 Deism
2.6 Greek Mythology
2.7 Hinduism
2.8 Islam
2.9 Japanese religions
2.10 Judaism
2.11 Maya faith
2.12 Norse Mythology
2.13 Taoism
2.14 Unification Church
2.15 Zoroastrianism

So even if you could force yourself to believe in this Jesus character, you'd still be 14:1 against avoiding hell, on the unlikely (silly!) assumption that these are the only options.


[/ QUOTE ]

vnh sir! And to think of all the sects within them too. [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]

[Taraz]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Wikipedia tells us that "hell" is described by all these religions:

2 Religious literature & views
2.1 Bahá'í Faith
2.2 Buddhism
2.3 Chinese religions
2.4 Christianity
2.5 Deism
2.6 Greek Mythology
2.7 Hinduism
2.8 Islam
2.9 Japanese religions
2.10 Judaism
2.11 Maya faith
2.12 Norse Mythology
2.13 Taoism
2.14 Unification Church
2.15 Zoroastrianism

So even if you could force yourself to believe in this Jesus character, you'd still be 14:1 against avoiding hell, on the unlikely (silly!) assumption that these are the only options.


[/ QUOTE ]

vnh sir! And to think of all the sects within them too. [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

As I already pointed out, most of the religions on this list don't subscribe to a notion of hell that we would be at all familiar with. Most of them describe an afterlife of some sort however.

[Archon_Wing]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Wikipedia tells us that "hell" is described by all these religions:

2 Religious literature & views
2.1 Bahá'í Faith
2.2 Buddhism
2.3 Chinese religions
2.4 Christianity
2.5 Deism
2.6 Greek Mythology
2.7 Hinduism
2.8 Islam
2.9 Japanese religions
2.10 Judaism
2.11 Maya faith
2.12 Norse Mythology
2.13 Taoism
2.14 Unification Church
2.15 Zoroastrianism

So even if you could force yourself to believe in this Jesus character, you'd still be 14:1 against avoiding hell, on the unlikely (silly!) assumption that these are the only options.


[/ QUOTE ]

vnh sir! And to think of all the sects within them too. [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

As I already pointed out, most of the religions on this list don't subscribe to a notion of hell that we would be at all familiar with. Most of them describe an afterlife of some sort however.

[/ QUOTE ]

That is true, but wouldn't you agree that with the potential of so many afterlifes that just focusing on one possibility might not be that productive?

[Taraz]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Wikipedia tells us that "hell" is described by all these religions:

2 Religious literature & views
2.1 Bahá'í Faith
2.2 Buddhism
2.3 Chinese religions
2.4 Christianity
2.5 Deism
2.6 Greek Mythology
2.7 Hinduism
2.8 Islam
2.9 Japanese religions
2.10 Judaism
2.11 Maya faith
2.12 Norse Mythology
2.13 Taoism
2.14 Unification Church
2.15 Zoroastrianism

So even if you could force yourself to believe in this Jesus character, you'd still be 14:1 against avoiding hell, on the unlikely (silly!) assumption that these are the only options.


[/ QUOTE ]

vnh sir! And to think of all the sects within them too. [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

As I already pointed out, most of the religions on this list don't subscribe to a notion of hell that we would be at all familiar with. Most of them describe an afterlife of some sort however.

[/ QUOTE ]

That is true, but wouldn't you agree that with the potential of so many afterlifes that just focusing on one possibility might not be that productive?

[/ QUOTE ]

Of course. I was just trying to point out that believing in Christianity doesn't put you at risk for alternative forms of hell because there aren't really many alternative hells. So if you are the most scared of the Christian hell, perhaps it would make sense to bet on Christianity because the consequences aren't as bad if you got it wrong.

Then again, I think it's pretty silly to live your life in fear of a place that we have no evidence for other than ancient texts.

[Drag]

[ QUOTE ]
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?

[/ QUOTE ]

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.