The Fear of Being Wrong

[dahrling]

Does anyone else have it?

I think this is the primary way religious organizations keep themselves afloat.
They intimidate people into accepting their ways by telling them they'll be punished by a god a.k.a the daddy in the sky if they don't comply to their rules.

And it creates a vicious circle, because parents pass on these very same fears to their children.
And it can be very hard to completely get rid of such fears.
Plus there is Stockholm's syndrome. I feel like I had it for awhile, between my time as a fervidly religious person and the time I was "questioning".

Sometimes it feels like religion has short-circuited my brain. It is like it keeps calling me back
And then everything I learned and believed in for a time begin to haunt me: "You are just sinful and you want to do whatever your body tells you to do", "You just have no understanding of god and his plans" "Who are you to question god?" "Can't you see god everywhere?" "You're just being tempted." "This is just a case of the prodigal child. You'll come back" and it goes on and on and on.

Help?

[Minimalist]

They intimidate people into accepting their ways by telling them they'll be punished by a god a.k.a the daddy in the sky if they don't comply.

Not the muslims....they threaten to throw rocks at their heads if people resist.  Even more effective than xtian fairy tales.

[dahrling]

They intimidate people into accepting their ways by telling them they'll be punished by a god a.k.a the daddy in the sky if they don't comply.

Not the muslims....they threaten to throw rocks at their heads if people resist.  Even more effective than xtian fairy tales.

As far as I understand based on what I have read a person can convert to Islam but they can never leave it, according to their own law.

But in the case of Christianity the great fear is what happens after death. I think the Jews have it best, they believe a person cannot remain in "hell" for anymore than 12 months. For awhile I wanted to convert to Judaism because of this particular belief 

[Minimalist]

But the food is terrible.

[Aoi Magi]

Logic and rationality is your best friend. Be open to your doubts, don't just avoid them, and then counter it with logic.

By the way, if god exists, then it is he who gave us logic and reason and total BS in the name of proof, so it is he who wants us to not believe in him, and so the atheists are the ones who are actually following his will.

[Salacious B. Crumb]

Thankfully, I have absolutely no fear at all anymore if I'm wrong, because religion is man-made, and it shows.

What you're going through is perfectly normal, especially if you're in the process of de-converting. All I can say is, knowledge is power. Research your bible, look at it critically, look at how much evil is in it, the myths, and the contradictions. Look at how religion has plagiarized material from previous religions. The way you look at other religions, is the way you should be looking at yours. If you think something sounds insane, it probably is. I feel doing research, will put you at ease after awhile. Brainwashing from a young age is very powerful, but you can overcome it.

[Alex K]

The world is full of people who believe differently, the notion that your particular group knows the plan of the creator of the universe, that's absurd.

[Red Economist]

I get the same fear of being wrong; but it is just that- fear. And thats not how I want to live me life honestly. I deserve more than that.

[Homeless Nutter]

I might fear being wrong, if there was only one option, opposing atheism. But there are thousands different religions and orders of magnitude more mutually contradicting interpretations of their doctrines, so even if I am wrong - so is practically everyone else. If god's supposed to judge humans on the basis of what denomination they happen to belong to - atheism/agnosticism seems as good a bet as any other. And way more honest and humble than most.

[Hatshepsut]

I think this is the primary way religious organizations keep themselves afloat.
They intimidate people into accepting their ways by telling them they'll be punished by a god...if they don't comply....

One can call that "negative control." But I think religions have generally switched their emphasis away from fear as tool for coercion. People just aren't afraid of hell the way they used to be. They need to see a benefit to belonging, a positive reinforcer. Even Islam in its mainstream incarnations relies more on affirmations of faith such daily prayers, alms, and the pilgrimage to Mecca than it does on fear of damnation. (IS is a brutal exception of course; they've brought hell right up to the Earth's surface for immediate terror. Fortunately they're still a minority.)

What you're going through is perfectly normal, especially if you're in the process of de-converting. All I can say is, knowledge is power...

The Egyptians thought so. They didn't bother much with conversions and de-conversions, simply plastering each new deity into their increasingly syncretic system. Since afterlife judgment was by a panel of 42 gods who asked the blessed deceased a series of questions about wrongdoing to which the latter invariably answered "no," the heart-eater Ammit didn't get too many meals; Thoth, the ibis-headed god of writing, found every heart lighter than the feather of Maat. Having a committee of gods to make the afterlife a routine bureaucratic affair is much smoother than dealing with a capricious guy who keeps making smoke on Mt. Sinai.