Having been involved with various religions over the years, I left Catholicism earlier this year. I considered myself a traditional Catholic, attended the traditional Latin Mass and deplored the modern situation in the church.
However, recently I've been gripped with an increasing fear of being punished in hell due to the fact that I have rejected the faith. Now while it's possible that the current pope doesn't believe in eternal torment in hell but rather that the wicked are annihilated, according to traditional Catholic teaching, the church has infallibly taught that outside the Catholic church there is no salvation.
I have done extensive reading on criticisms of Christianity and do not think that a God who not only tortures people forever but creates people knowing that most of them will be tortured forever is good. I have read about the history of the Bible and have discovered that there is no historical evidence for the Exodus.
What is the best way to convince oneself that the Christian faith is not true? Is it to read the history of the early Christian church and the historicity of Jesus? Read about the historical errors in the Bible? Read about the history of the church (the Catholic church claims to be the church started by Jesus and has continued without erring to this day)
I suspect that my current fear of hell may be due to my obsessive-compulsive disorder. I suspect it is this that has led me from religion to religion and caused me extreme scrupulosity in Catholicism (worrying whether certain actions are mortal sins).
How have those here who are ex-Christians (whether Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox) managed to deal with this problem?
However, recently I've been gripped with an increasing fear of being punished in hell due to the fact that I have rejected the faith. Now while it's possible that the current pope doesn't believe in eternal torment in hell but rather that the wicked are annihilated, according to traditional Catholic teaching, the church has infallibly taught that outside the Catholic church there is no salvation.
I have done extensive reading on criticisms of Christianity and do not think that a God who not only tortures people forever but creates people knowing that most of them will be tortured forever is good. I have read about the history of the Bible and have discovered that there is no historical evidence for the Exodus.
What is the best way to convince oneself that the Christian faith is not true? Is it to read the history of the early Christian church and the historicity of Jesus? Read about the historical errors in the Bible? Read about the history of the church (the Catholic church claims to be the church started by Jesus and has continued without erring to this day)
I suspect that my current fear of hell may be due to my obsessive-compulsive disorder. I suspect it is this that has led me from religion to religion and caused me extreme scrupulosity in Catholicism (worrying whether certain actions are mortal sins).
How have those here who are ex-Christians (whether Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox) managed to deal with this problem?
