"Catholic Christianity has caused so many problems for me. As much as I hate to say it, a lot of damage has been done to me by it. I have not been able to attend church for a month because I panic there!!!! The more honest I am with myself, the less plausible my system feels to be. I've pretty much lost the faith part. But I have not lost the fear part. I cannot. Eternal damnation is not something I want to be wrong about. But staying in the system hasn't helped me either. Heck, I feel guilty simply by posting here. And there seems to be no escape from all this guilt...I am completely and utterly burnt out by believing in this stuff." ( A quotation from Ex-Christian.net / FAQs / Fear of Hell / Poster's username: Rosa Mystica ).
"I am Completely and Utterly Burnt Out by Believing in this Stuff."
by scout575 7 Replies latest jw friends
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tall penguin
Geesh. That sounds familiar.
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restrangled
Too bad this person does not realize that the former Pope claimed Hell was actually a figment in the imaginations of the masses. (Kinda like 1975). I'll try and find the write up of it.
r.
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restrangled
Here is a snippet out of the US News and World Report.
The latest round of revisionism was touched off last summer by a surprising editorial in La Civilta Cattolica, an influential Jesuit magazine with close ties to the Vatican. Hell, the magazine declared, "is not a 'place' but a 'state,' a person's 'state of being,' in which a person suffers from the deprivation of God." A few days later, Pope John Paul II told an audience at the Vatican that "rather than a place, hell indicates the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God." To describe this Godforsaken condition, the pontiff said, the Bible "uses a symbolical language" that "figuratively portrays in a 'pool of fire' those who exclude themselves from the book of life, thus meeting with a 'second death.' "
r.
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dedpoet
I've pretty much lost the faith part. But I have not lost the fear part.
Faniliar feelings, differrent religion.
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Abandoned
Yeah, I can understand your feelings. Think about the fear for a moment. Think about if from different perspectives.
If there were a god who wanted you to serve him, would fear be an effective tool of motivation? Well, have you ever been in a relationship with someone who used guilt trips? Were you impressed with this person? Were you drawn to them? Would you do anythign for them? I can't speak for anyone else, but I would answer "no" to all three of these questions. I'm disgusted by those who resort to intimidation, not impressed by them. In my opinion, if there is a god who cares about us, he isn't looking to control us. He could do that just by virtue of being more powerful than us. It simply doesn't seem logical that an all-powerful god would need to resort to intimidation and thus any fear would be unecessary.
Now, think about yourself. Do you have kids? Do you have nieces and nephews? What would you do if they liked things that you didn't like? Would you make it your life's work to make them feel miserable until they change? Would you want them to feel worthless until they changed? Now if we wouldn't do this, then why would an all-powerful god do it? It doesn't make sense.
If there is a god. If there is a distinct personality behind flowers, honey, sunsets, mountain vistas, and other wonderful aspects of nature, it just doesn't make sense that he's an emotionally unbalanced hard-ass, hell-bent on making all who don't follow a narrow-minded view of life feel worthless. And if that is the case, then nobody has any need of feeling guilty or hating themselves.
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BlackSwan of Memphis
The latest round of revisionism was touched off last summer by a surprising editorial in La Civilta Cattolica, an influential Jesuit magazine with close ties to the Vatican. Hell, the magazine declared, "is not a 'place' but a 'state,' a person's 'state of being,' in which a person suffers from the deprivation of God." A few days later, Pope John Paul II told an audience at the Vatican that "rather than a place, hell indicates the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God." To describe this Godforsaken condition, the pontiff said, the Bible "uses a symbolical language" that "figuratively portrays in a 'pool of fire' those who exclude themselves from the book of life, thus meeting with a 'second death.' "
Thank you for thie restrangled. I was watching Mother Angelica a few months back (or more) and I thought it was intersting how she described hell as being not just a "state" but of a place where the people go and are in such anguish etc etc etc.
When I sent out Christmas cards last year, with a beautiful pic of Mary and Jesus I received several back.
One was from a Catholic, who doesn't go to church anymore. She made a comment that has stuck with me:
"Religion and faith are two different things and I applaud your effort to expand your faith without the politics of religion. God wants us to use our heads to understand him-not blind following."
Maybe one day this guy mentioned in the first post will see that.
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Sad emo
Oooooh yes! Been there, done the guilt and fear - but found my basic faith eventually once I'd ditched all the man-made bits - which was basically what the fear was attached to. All that 'outside the church, no salvation' garbage and leaving me wondering if my sins would really get forgiven without going to confession
Now I believe in a loving and just God rather than some vengeful, angry monster who sits waiting for me to put one foot wrong!
(ps - Abandoned, Scout was posting someone elses words, not his own)