Fear of hell

My mom sent me to church as a kid. It was actually helpful in a way because it was there that it occurred to me that the story was pretty unbelievable, the people seemed blinded and there was a lot of hypocrisy.

But....I did exactly the opposite. I didn't allow my kids to go until they were old enough to decide for themselves if they believed it without any pressure from anyone else. When my youngest son was 14 he asked if he could go to awanas with a friend. I said yes. He was there for maybe 10-12 minutes before he texted me with something like "Why am I here? This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard!" A couple of minutes later his next text was "That's it. I'm out."

Another thing I did was to keep a fairly large collection of books about all sorts of belief systems. They were right on the shelf for them to read any time they wanted to. I didn't push any of it on them at all though.

 

Great ideas. I've given A LOT of thought about my kids and how I'm going to be regarding religion in general (and also my moms... their Nana's.. influence in their lives in regards to this). I have taken my son to a Unitarian church a couple times but I will not take my son to a denominational Christian church at least til he's older. I go back and forth-haven't fully made up my mind yet in the sense of whether I won't ever take my kids to any church OR if I want to give them a taste of many diff churches/religions (when they are older!!) w advice to just listen to everything w an open mind, don't come to any snap judgments, etc.. there is a Taoist place of worship not far from here and that is one of them I may have interest in taking them to in the future...

In any case, I didn't think of the book thing! That's a great idea. I have a whole bunch of books as it is... various books on Taoism, Buddhism, ...books on just meditation and spirituality without being any specific religion, etc.--- I don't have all of them out in bookshelves where they can be seen currently, as most of my books are in boxes in closets right now bc of lack of space. But we are moving in the next year to a bigger place and I think I will def make sure,.... esp when they are getting older...to have them available (out in open) if they would have any interest.

But yea one thing I def know if I will NOT be pushing any one specific religion on them-just like I won't push lack of religion.
As for my mom, she hasn't tried anything yet but my oldest is only 3.5 so I'd hope not! (lol...kinda)... luckily we plan on moving further away from her in the next year so that should help. In any case, I just know I am their parent and not her and I know best in this way and will make sure I use my parental authority if and when the time comes that that needs to be done.

 

I think we must all come to a time in our life when we must decide what we believe, not our parents, or what we were taught, or even what the Bible says. Go on your own spiritual journey, then be at peace and comfortable in your own skin.

 

Well for starters I've always been interested in other cultures mythology so as I aged and learned and picked up ancient history in school I started to notice a pattern in ancient religion. I won't try and type this all down but what I discovered was the same stories were basically being reinvented or re fabricated to coincide with the different cultures of the world.

I'm of European origin. Dad's side of the family is of a Polish/Germanic decent and my mothers family is Dutch. I've always stuck myself in the middle and called myself German until recently I've decided to fly under the Polish banner mainly attributed to my long surname definitely ain't German. Researching old European traditions opened up the paganism avenue for me and I began to really relate to it all. Something was serverlly lacking in Christianity for me and though I went to church every Sunday with my mother and her family I just never felt right with it. It didn't feel like me, it just wasn't working and I had no interest in any of it. Compounded by the ideas that Christianity was a reinvented religion, I learned that many Christian stories followed European paganism tales and folklore. There's even a passage from memory in the bible that mimics exactly a journey of Greek Mythology and Hades. That right there told me that the vision of a Christian formatted Hell was quite hypocritical.

Also, all of the middle eastern crap isn't me, it's not my genetic make up and it definitely ain't my culture, so I turned my back on it and followed what I call my true calling which was European paganism. Though admittedly I'm influenced by many cultures and don't stick to one form of paganism just mostly revolves around the Norse, Saxon and Polish deities and folklore. And all that is me, it makes sense, it feels real.

So that's how I overcame a fear of Hell for being a non believer in it. If it's a recreated place in time it just doesn't exist. Also, pretty sure it's written that you don't go to Hell persay, you're written on a list that gets thrown into The Lake Of Fire. You don't actually go to Hell, you're just not reborn in the new world. No pain and no torture. No silly goblin with horns prodding with pitchforks it's just nothing, you won't even know you'd previously existed.

 

Interesting post, Yggdrasil.

Not to derail from thesamantha's topic but as for the last part of the previous posters last sentence .... "you won't even know you'd previously existed."---- is that thought/concept a comforting thought or a scary/sad thought to anyone? I have mixed feelings about it myself.

 

There was a once a man in a Nazi concentration camp that saw beauty in a fish head floating in a bowl of water. Yes, heaven and hell is in the mind. Without thought there is only bliss and freedom.

 

Well I'm going to be knighted as a Valkyrie when I die so I'll be up in the halls eating boar and drinking mead with all the warriors XD
My granddaddy once told me a story about the war where he was shell shocked from artillery battery so bad that he was knocked unconscious and saw himself laying there on the ground. Like cartoons he described floating back to his body but like a ghost he was mid air but could not move around like that he simply took the concussion, dropped, saw himself on the ground, came back to.
He's was not a religious man by any means but this did make him question an afterlife.

 

One of my more whimsical posts online that's for sure. Thank you.

And also serving mead and food to warriors like myself. Don't think it's all fun and games missy! Valkyries tend to the chores of the Golden Halls too. :2thumbsup:

 

That doesn't scare or sadden me. It actually sounds delightful. But, I view death as an escape/release from life, so someone who takes more pleasure in life than I do would probably think that's horrible, because it's the complete opposite of life. I mean the way some people think death is, is kind of like the synonym of life. But, the situation above, that is truly the opposite of life and living.

 

Nice. Thanks for clearing that up, bro.

 

Wo wo woah.. I need to bring you back from battle first big boy you might die like a coward! And I may overlook that. =p

 

You're so obnoxious.

 

The only hell is Earth.

 

Just out of curiousity, do you think "the village" or family tried to push it?

 

at least Im enjoying the ride..

 

I am glad someone is......

 

Mindfulness?

 

^^^ I am starting to see the same thing ^^^

Only believe you will go to hell if you don't behave well enough to go to heaven.
Ultimatums are given by ourselves to make gains from someone else, no god would do that, no god would say do or be sent to hell. He might say if you harm you will go to hell but again that's really all the bible says too unless you let someone else read it to you in their own way.
Quit letting others convince you there is no religious freedom, there is. Be yourself and quit asking us to tell you who to be.

 

Ouch. Thanks though.

 

We had some issues a few times but it mostly turned out pretty well.