Last month I was in a bookstore doing some holiday shopping, and of course, I had to make my way over to the religious/philosophy/atheist section to get a gift for myself—I was looking for A Manual for Creating Atheists by Peter Boghossian but sadly they didn’t have it. However, during my search I came across a copy of The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins which appeared to have a note tucked between the pages and sticking out just enough to get someone’s attention. I thought, “This will be interesting”, thinking maybe it’s a note from someone religious attempting to “save a soul”. It wasn’t, it was a young adult asking for help. It read:
Please Help,
I’m 18 years old. I just started going to college and I feel exactly lost about who I am. I was raised Southern Baptist at First Baptist Church in San Antonio—but I feel almost entirely certain that I no longer believe in the Gospel. It doesn’t make sense—especially that people who were born in other cultures and were raised muslim or in Africa or wherever and either never heard about Jesus or just were taught by everybody that it was wrong are all going to hell and still because I no longer feel like I believe I am afraid I am going to hell—it’s like I’ve lost all the good parts of my religion and kept only the bad parts—the fear—I don’t know who to talk to—please write if you can help at knockthedooropen@gmail.com.
Please.
Obviously, I wanted to see if I could help, so I reached out to him and shared that I had a similar upbringing and was also brought up in a Southern Baptist church. However, I never had a fear of going to hell after coming to the realization that god was a myth—but I know it's extremely common for former Christians to have this fear. After a couple of email exchanges, he expressed that just knowing that there are people who have had similar experiences was really helpful.
I asked if he'd be comfortable with me sharing his story in hopes that others who've had a similar experience would be willing to share their story. He agreed and was very appreciative. I think hearing stories about other experiences would be really helpful—and there are a lot of similar experiences! The atheist/Humanist community as many of you know is amazing, and I'd love to show him that there are many people willing to talk to him that have been in the same position who understand.
So if anyone wants to help by simply sharing their story in the comments below—I and I know he would really appreciate it! Thanks in advance!
I had the same problem you are having. The illusion of the Christian proposition is not always instantly obliterated in an all-consuming fireball. It crumbles under reason, bit by bit, over time.
ReplyDeleteYour relief will come when you reach a tipping point at which you are comfortable with the completeness of the fallacy of the deity described in the Holy Bible.
Not sure if this is still useful anymore, but here's my two cents worth!
ReplyDeleteI agree with the previous post about there being a tipping point where I stopped worrying. I stopped being religious around 16 or 17, but it took a little while longer to reach the point where I didn't still worry that it COULD be true.
Personally, what got me to that point was learning about topics like psychology, behaviour genetics, and philosophical perspectives on determinism and free will. These fields challenged the conventional notion that humans are good enough decision-makers to be put in charge of their eternal fate. Our rationality is serviceable, but it's certainly not good enough that our eternal fate should depend on it. Any god that would punish you for not believing is either untrue or immoral.
Nowadays of course, I believe there are many more reasons to reject christian doctrine. But that initial realization was what gave me the peace of mind I needed to start thoroughly questioning and examining what I had been taught.
Your experience won't be exactly the same as mine, but still the best advice I can give you is just to learn as much about the world as you can. There are so many reasons to believe that the idea of hell and punishment are untrue. You will not have to live your life in fear. I wish you the best of luck with your journey. It's a well-trodden path, and there are people who can help you walk it.
You make so many great points here that I read your article a couple of times. Your views are in accordance with my own for the most part. This is great content for your readers. Bondage
ReplyDelete