Hello All

[C.J]

If this is due to OCD intrusive thoughts you need to address/treat the underlying OCD, not try to rationalize it away. I suggest that you speak with your therapist.

Yes, we do speak about it. I've been in and out of therapy for years, and it's regularly come up in discussion. Not for a while though because I've been fine - up until this week.

[C.J]

Welcome, CJ.

Boru

Thanks Brian

[C.J]

Hiyas and welcome, CJ. Maybe you may adopt the outlook of only worrying about what you control, and letting go what you can't. Ask your therapist about mindfulness, and that may be helpful to you as well. Good luck.

https://skepticsannotatedbible.com/page....ook=q&id=2

Beat me to the punch!

Mindfulness is a major component of my therapy and I've been practising it for 226 consecutive days (20mins once a day), according the Insight Timer app on my phone. It helps to calm the mind so I can think rationally.

Thank you for the advice.

[Nay_Sayer]

Salutations

[Angrboda]

I don't think you can reason away fear.  You just have to accept that you're afraid.  I suspect whether you do something or not, it will fade with time.  Your struggling against it keeps it alive.

I suppose it's like grief.  It just takes time to reach a peace with your feelings.

Fear can sometimes be a dread of the unknown. Like when walking through a dark forest at night. During the day time, you can see much better, and so the fear is greatly diminished (possibly gone completely). I like the anaology of shedding light into a darkness to illumiate what's really there. That's the strategy I used when Deconverting from Christianity at least. I'm hoping it will work here, too.

Thanks for the reply.

Sorry. I misunderstood. Anxiety over hell is different from fear of hell. Knowledge might help, but I'm skeptical. I have anxiety issues as well, and have no good suggestions.

[PaperSun]

Hello everyone

I'm C.J and this is my first post. I'm basically asking for your help to put my mind at ease concerning eternal punishment.

My story is a long and complex one which involves my eventual deconversion from Christianity (I'm Agnostic-Atheist).

My troubles are to do with my phobia of hellfire, and while I am not affiliated to any religious group, I still worry about that from time to time. It used to be the Christian hell, but recently I have begun worrying about the Islam hell. It terrifies me just as much :/

My anxieties stem from the idea that it "could exist." Again, this is a very long and complex story cut short. Over the years I have posted numerous times on the old Rational Skepticism forums (I thought it had closed down but it seems open again), and the Ex Christian (.net) website, And for years I have been feeling fine, but this last week, old horrors have resurfaced (in the form of the Islam hell).

I have been diagnosed with ADHD, OCD, and Social Anxiety, and am about to go through a series of tests for Autism (high functioning). I am currently in therapy (due to a less than secure childhood) and I'll readily admit my emotions can sometimes run roughshod over me. Sometimes it feels as if I need someone else to think for me because my anxiety makes logical thinking very difficult.

This is my third day in researching things like errors, contradictions, false prophecies, etc, in the Quran. I do this build up a knowledge base, enough so I can reasonably assume Islam is false. As an example, you can't frighten me with no presents on Christimas day because I don't believe in Santa Claus. I did the exact same thing with Christianity and even though  it took just over 10 years to do so, it worked.  

A lot of people over the years have been so very helpful and friendly to me and they have literally kept me sane during the darkest of times. I really don't want to go through this again, and so I've decided to build that knowledge base because knowledge is the best form of defence against irrational thoughts and ignorance.

I was wondering if anybody here might be able to point me to good sources of information that critiques the Quran? I might have already visited a few of the sites suggested as this is my third day of research, but anything would be most appreciated.

Thank you all very much for your time

Hello CJ. I am new to the forum as well. This is my second post. Glad you are here and that you find the answer(s) that you are asking.

[Leonardo17]

Hell in Arabic is spelled as Dje-hen-nam. It comes for the Hebrew Gehenna. The Gehenna Valley in Israel is a place where they made child sacrifices to Baal in ancient times.

The idea of the devil in Abrahamic religions has also its sources in the East. In Zoroastrianism there are two competing Gods the Gods that we know of (Ahura Mazda) and the God of Evil (Ahriman). And this is how the Devil has appeared.

And that’s all I can say about this subject. But in my understanding “sin” is an archery term. It means that you missed the mark. And as a result of such errors, you may be suffering issues right here right now (in this life). True religion (of any kind) is basically an attempt to show you how to rectify these errors.

But one thing that I have in common with you is this: I am kind of scared of the Hindu way of seeing the afterlife. They believe for instance that people who suffered violent deaths may stay in limbo in a totally painful situation for many years.

But I’m not an expert in that either. So talk to your therapist and do not worry about these things a lot. These are deeper subjects with deeper meanings. No one is going to devour your soul after you die, I can guarantee you that

[Paleophyte]

I never had to suffer from this particularly nasty facet of religious indoctrination, but one of the best suggestions that I've heard over the years is to make it deliberately ludicrous. The next time that your mind starts straying down these paths deliberately add in some dancing penguins doing showtunes. Or anything similarly silly. Eventually, your brain will start to do this automatically and hell becomes laughable. Once you can see it as truly absurd on an emotional level it'll be much easier to deal with.

[C.J]

Hell in Arabic is spelled as Dje-hen-nam. It comes for the Hebrew Gehenna. The Gehenna Valley in Israel is a place where they made child sacrifices to Baal in ancient times.

The idea of the devil in Abrahamic religions has also its sources in the East. In Zoroastrianism there are two competing Gods the Gods that we know of (Ahura Mazda) and the God of Evil (Ahriman). And this is how the Devil has appeared.

And that’s all I can say about this subject. But in my understanding “sin” is an archery term. It means that you missed the mark. And as a result of such errors, you may be suffering issues right here right now (in this life). True religion (of any kind) is basically an attempt to show you how to rectify these errors.

But one thing that I have in common with you is this: I am kind of scared of the Hindu way of seeing the afterlife. They believe for instance that people who suffered violent deaths may stay in limbo in a totally painful situation for many years.

But I’m not an expert in that either. So talk to your therapist and do not worry about these things a lot. These are deeper subjects with deeper meanings. No one is going to devour your soul after you die, I can guarantee you that

Thank you for the reply, it's much appreciated.

[C.J]

I never had to suffer from this particularly nasty facet of religious indoctrination, but one of the best suggestions that I've heard over the years is to make it deliberately ludicrous. The next time that your mind starts straying down these paths deliberately add in some dancing penguins doing showtunes. Or anything similarly silly. Eventually, your brain will start to do this automatically and hell becomes laughable. Once you can see it as truly absurd on an emotional level it'll be much easier to deal with.

That's a very good tactic. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you all for sharing and replying.