The Fear of Being Wrong

[Jericho]

I understand what you are going through, since I am a recent deconvert myself. Everyone else has some good points for getting through this rough time. The only thing I will really tell you is that you are not alone. I fully recognize that religion is manmade and not worth following, since all are false and illogical (that is my opinion). Even I have feelings sometimes that beckon me back to Christianity, but I overcome them. Just breathe, truly think about it, and you'll feel better.

[Brakeman]

All you can fear is an unjust hating god. A god with perfect justice would understand how feebly minded you were created, would understand all of your extenuating circumstances and would judge you with love. Your mother would be a harsher judge.

If your god is an unjust god, then there is nothing you can do, you're f*cked. Strangely, or perhaps, tellingly, we're not inclined to believe in a unjust, bully god anymore. Why has this changed?

What have you done in the past 15 years that deserves a vicious flogging? A sentence of 10 years hard labor? A firing squad? Yet you fear a "Good, just god" would burn you in a lake of torturous fire forever??

I would never fear perfect justice, only a dick god, and thankfully there's never been any evidence that he exists other than in the imaginations of evil con men who like to prey on children's fears.

[Longhorn]

Oh boy oh boy, do I know how that feels dahrling
So sorry you gotta deal with this crap

The only advice I can give you is test it. Curse god, challenge his power
when you see he's not answering, it's like shining a flashlight on that scary shadow

It'll pass with time. Stick to reason and facts, and remember that it's all just emotional blackmail, they have to do it, otherwise no one would believe this crap

I hope that your time here will help you somehow, hang in there

I've been and am still going through the same process, so if you wanna talk it out, you can always PM me

Have an internet hug *hug*

[AFTT47]

If you mean fear of ending up in Christian Hell or the equivalent in another religion, no. Not the tiniest bit of concern.

[Surgenator]

Does anyone else have it?  

I have it. That fear is what forces me to examine my beliefs and statements.

[robvalue]

I've never been under religion's spell. But from every story I've heard, this fear is something that fades with time.

The thing is, even if there is "a god", there is no reason to think that it in any way correlates with story books such as the bible of the Quran. They're just books of superstitious nonsense. Think how big the universe is. If "God" is in charge of all that, it's ridiculous to think he would be paying any attention to what's happening on one tiny planet. And if he was watching, then he's surely going to respect people for using their brains to their full potential rather than believing whatever fairy tale is most popular in the area.

Have you spent any time worrying about going to Islamic hell, or any other of the infinity of possible other religious yells that could exist? Christianity just happens to be the most popular load of garbage with no bearing on reality. Not even Christians can agree on whether there is even a hell or not.

You're right though, the fear of being wrong is one of the primary weapons of religion. Because it cannot use rational arguments, it resorts to dirty tactics such as bullying, emotional manipulation and flawed logic wrapped up in fuzzy words.

[Faith No More]

What you're experiencing is your unconscious mind's inability to accept the conclusion that your conscious self has reached. Repetitive, conscious reinforcement of the fact that the god you fear does not exist will help to get the parts of your brain beyond your control to accept that there is nothing to fear. You could do that by reading books about the arguments against god, participate in this forum, or even just keep reminding yourself on a daily basis that your consciousness surviving death only to be punished by a bearded man sitting on a cloud is just silliness.

It takes time, but if you work at it, you can speed up the process of alleviating the fear.

[robvalue]

Have you read the bible right through? It's bloody hilarious. It may help you to laugh at Christianity and lose your fear.

There's also a cracking internet series where two guys read through it bit by bit and then rip it to pieces for comedic effect. God is played by pictures of Morgan Freeman. Highly recommended! They've done over 70 episodes so far and they are up to Kings. Here is episode 1:

http://youtu.be/ZQ8tMApaEK0

[RobbyPants]

Does anyone else have it?  

I don't the way I used to. When I was Christian, I knew that I would not honestly evaluate any position that would result in my beliefs being wrong. When I got to the point where I knew I didn't believe, I was scared I was wrong for a good six months, or so. It took a while for me to shake that.

Now, I just don't see any evidence for all of the crazy claims. I'll wait for someone else to prove themselves right, and sleep much better, in the mean time.

[Saxmoof]

Even if you subscribe to one particular religion there's still the possibility that you could be wrong and therefore going to hell, there's not just one God and good luck trying to figure out which religion's idea of God seems the most plausible