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Converting from Catholic to UU: How to get over fear of Hell?
- Thread starter ZooGirl02
- Start date
GabrielWithoutWings
Well-Known Member
By using common sense and logic.
Would an omnibenevolent Being sentence a person who led a temporal, finite life for a finite crime for an infinite amount of time? Of course not. It would be neither just nor merciful.
Also, what can exist apart from God forever? Nothing. All came from God, all shall return to God.
You take it slow, now.
Would an omnibenevolent Being sentence a person who led a temporal, finite life for a finite crime for an infinite amount of time? Of course not. It would be neither just nor merciful.
Also, what can exist apart from God forever? Nothing. All came from God, all shall return to God.
You take it slow, now.
Do you worry about Valhalla or Hades?
Gabriel makes a good point. Think about it. Don't be dominated by your right brain.
It's only by the wildest chance that you happened to be born into a Catholic family at this particular time in history. Your religious indoctrination could just as easily have been Confucian or Muslim.
Reality is discovered in reason, not tradition.
Gabriel makes a good point. Think about it. Don't be dominated by your right brain.
It's only by the wildest chance that you happened to be born into a Catholic family at this particular time in history. Your religious indoctrination could just as easily have been Confucian or Muslim.
Reality is discovered in reason, not tradition.
3Cheers4Lilith
Member
^ Exactly.
Just as everyone else has said, the fear of hell definitely fades. For me, so did the believe that hell even exists.
I was raised a Catholic, attended Catholic schools, the whole bit. My whole life, the idea that everyone was going to burn for stupid mistakes in life unless they were followers of Jesus made no sense, because right along with that, "G-d forgives" was being pounded into my brain with a sledgehammer. I never went to confession, because (maybe this is self-righteous of me) I never felt that I needed forgiveness for anything, and I definitely never thought that I needed "saving".
I didn't understand it, and never agreed with it, so letting go of the fear of hell was pretty easy. The thing that was hard for me was (is) letting go of the idea of god watching me and seeing all that I do.
Just as everyone else has said, the fear of hell definitely fades. For me, so did the believe that hell even exists.
I was raised a Catholic, attended Catholic schools, the whole bit. My whole life, the idea that everyone was going to burn for stupid mistakes in life unless they were followers of Jesus made no sense, because right along with that, "G-d forgives" was being pounded into my brain with a sledgehammer. I never went to confession, because (maybe this is self-righteous of me) I never felt that I needed forgiveness for anything, and I definitely never thought that I needed "saving".
I didn't understand it, and never agreed with it, so letting go of the fear of hell was pretty easy. The thing that was hard for me was (is) letting go of the idea of god watching me and seeing all that I do.
Comicaze247
See the previous line
As a former Catholic, yeah, it does fade. It will take time, just like breaking bad habits. I'm still trying to break some of them. It's one thing to logically know something. It's another thing to train away years of indoctrination. But it'll get there.
Now to me, if I even think about hell, it's either in relation to what's going on in the world right now, or if a Bible thumper tells me I'm going there, it sounds like a party.
Now to me, if I even think about hell, it's either in relation to what's going on in the world right now, or if a Bible thumper tells me I'm going there, it sounds like a party.
Comicaze247
See the previous line
It's important to Save. Otherwise, you'll lose all your work
That's along the lines of what I'm gonna tell the next Bible thumper that asks me if I've been saved
seeker57
Member
I also was a practicing catholic in my youth.
The whole hell and damnation thing nearly caused me to commit suicide because gay and catholic don't mix well.
Gratefully, it has faded with time and considerable contemplation.
I hope yours will as well. I also hope you are as happy being a UU as I have been.
Mark
The whole hell and damnation thing nearly caused me to commit suicide because gay and catholic don't mix well.
Gratefully, it has faded with time and considerable contemplation.
I hope yours will as well. I also hope you are as happy being a UU as I have been.
Mark
applewuud
Active Member
I'm a little surprised that a contemporary Roman Catholic would have had a big emphasis on hell in their background; that's more of an evangelical Protestant emphasis. The truth is, there's not a lot about hell in Christian scripture, or in the Hebrew bible either. Most Catholic theologians have a very nuanced idea of hell or purgatory, mostly in an academic sense of needing something to "balance the moral books", to bring justice to the universe, not to scare little children.
When getting over theological toxins, it helped me a lot to realize that plenty of people from orthodox backgrounds have walked away from those ideas, and they have written some great books that will make you feel better.
Have you heard of Matthew Fox? (http://www.matthewfox.org) He was a Catholic monk whose studies convinced him that the original emphasis of the Christian church was very different from the hell-based one that tries to scare people into faith. The church didn't like it...he's now an Episcopalian. But I recommend his book "Original Blessing" for a person in your situation. Just check it out from any library.
On the Universalist side, you're now entering into a religion with a long, extensive history of pointing out the flaws in the hell hypothesis. In post-colonial America, the Universalist preacher Hosea Ballou's small book, "A Treatise on Atonement" was one of the most popular books of its time and lays out the basic arguments pointing out the contradiction between the idea of a loving God and the idea of everlasting punishment. If you can read a book written in 18th-century English, you might find some comfort there. It's on Google books.
A more contemporary study that might be helpful to study with other UUs is a book written by Rebecca Ann Parker and Rita Brock: "Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of This World for Crucifixion and Empire". Parker is the dean of the UU seminary in California, and one of the interesting points she makes is: "It took Jesus a thousand years to die. Images of his corpse did not appear in churches until the tenth century. Why not?" Like Fox, she points out that there are historical distortions of the original Christian teachings that can be overcome.
A more fun thing I'd recommend is that you watch the comedian Julia Sweeney's show "Letting Go of God". You can find the whole thing on Netflix (and pieces of it on YouTube). She grew up Catholic, and in the process of trying to deepen her faith after her brother died, wound up leaving the church. She has the best monologue on what that struggle between your head and your heart is like, and some funny observations on what it's like to come from a Catholic family.
But, these intellectual ideas are only part of the healing process. The fears you feel will be replaced by other feelings of acceptance and love as you walk the path with others, and rise to the challenge of building your own theology.
Peace be with you!:rainbow1:
When getting over theological toxins, it helped me a lot to realize that plenty of people from orthodox backgrounds have walked away from those ideas, and they have written some great books that will make you feel better.
Have you heard of Matthew Fox? (http://www.matthewfox.org) He was a Catholic monk whose studies convinced him that the original emphasis of the Christian church was very different from the hell-based one that tries to scare people into faith. The church didn't like it...he's now an Episcopalian. But I recommend his book "Original Blessing" for a person in your situation. Just check it out from any library.
On the Universalist side, you're now entering into a religion with a long, extensive history of pointing out the flaws in the hell hypothesis. In post-colonial America, the Universalist preacher Hosea Ballou's small book, "A Treatise on Atonement" was one of the most popular books of its time and lays out the basic arguments pointing out the contradiction between the idea of a loving God and the idea of everlasting punishment. If you can read a book written in 18th-century English, you might find some comfort there. It's on Google books.
A more contemporary study that might be helpful to study with other UUs is a book written by Rebecca Ann Parker and Rita Brock: "Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of This World for Crucifixion and Empire". Parker is the dean of the UU seminary in California, and one of the interesting points she makes is: "It took Jesus a thousand years to die. Images of his corpse did not appear in churches until the tenth century. Why not?" Like Fox, she points out that there are historical distortions of the original Christian teachings that can be overcome.
A more fun thing I'd recommend is that you watch the comedian Julia Sweeney's show "Letting Go of God". You can find the whole thing on Netflix (and pieces of it on YouTube). She grew up Catholic, and in the process of trying to deepen her faith after her brother died, wound up leaving the church. She has the best monologue on what that struggle between your head and your heart is like, and some funny observations on what it's like to come from a Catholic family.
But, these intellectual ideas are only part of the healing process. The fears you feel will be replaced by other feelings of acceptance and love as you walk the path with others, and rise to the challenge of building your own theology.
Peace be with you!:rainbow1:
I like to think that faith in God would include faith in that love conquers all.
Antiochian
Rationalist
OP, I can so relate. I come from a Protestant heritage, that was very fear-based, and took quite seriously the idea that the "unsaved" will go to hell. I can't comprehend that God would set up a system of belief that would leave most of humankind to damnation...
And for those who theoretically did make it to heaven, but who may have dearly loved family members in hell, how can the "saved" one be at peace knowing that Grandma, Uncle Bob, and Cousin Amy are burning forever? What a sad system of belief...
I guess I'll just admit that I don't know what happens after death. I kind of prefer the notion of reincarnation, and that we must go through a number of lifetimes to learn all the lessons we need to learn. And when we've all finished learning, perhaps we get to party at last in heaven. Just my take...
And for those who theoretically did make it to heaven, but who may have dearly loved family members in hell, how can the "saved" one be at peace knowing that Grandma, Uncle Bob, and Cousin Amy are burning forever? What a sad system of belief...
I guess I'll just admit that I don't know what happens after death. I kind of prefer the notion of reincarnation, and that we must go through a number of lifetimes to learn all the lessons we need to learn. And when we've all finished learning, perhaps we get to party at last in heaven. Just my take...