Fear of Hell | Teddy - Gainsville, FL | Atheist Experience 22.06

The Atheist Experience episode 22.06 for February 18, 2018, with Matt Dillahunty and Don Baker.

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[hildy]

I don’t know if that fear of Hell ever completely leaves you. I understand it’s all baloney but when you’re taught something like that from birth, it’s hard to shake.

[maxnullifidian]

Happiness is never again having to fear burning forever in Hell.

[darksoul]

This is one of the most useful things of this type that I have seen. When the caller talks about how fear of hell is interfering with his life, how true that is, it can destroy your life. I am confident that this caller will benefit from the experience of talking to you.

[godlessolddude]

I 'lost' the fear of hell, when I realized that eternal punishment for finite 'crimes' makes absolutely NO SENSE.

[rcchristian]

People are so afraid of dying, it prevents them from really living.

[AI-tcfv]

The fear of hell kinda made me an atheist, my friend and I go to the same church and are in the same computing class at school and we'd spend all the time discussing it, in the end we basically concluded that hell is just a fear tactic to keep people believing

[seanjones]

"There was an apologetics group that came to my school." Isn't Florida great? Poor Teddy. Somebody let a guy come to his school and scare the crap out of some of the students by spewing lies about eternal damnation and torture. Way to go. There are things to be truly scared of, but this ancient book of horrific stories of slavery, murder and genocide is not one of them.

[thesubjectofstars]

poor dude has an anxiety disorder for sure :(

[AZ-hgkw]

The fear of Hell is honestly just abuse. It's like having a volatile parent who constantly threatens to hit you but never actually does. It's an absolute mind fuck and a disgusting, manipulative concept to ever force on someone, let alone a child.
I feel complete sympathy and pity for this caller.

[RillianGrant]

Playing DOOM destroys any fear of hell

[gratefulapostate]

Without fearmongering, christianity would just be a silly story, that died off centuries ago.

[dianegaus]

Go to the gym, volunteer, work part/full time, read some literature - keep yourself busy, make friends, you won't have time to dwell on religion.

[rasaecnai]

Teddy was not even raised in a religious family and look how he struggled.
I am from the Philippines where everyone around me is drunk with the religious koolaid. I have a friend who was raised in a Pentecostal family...like hard-core founding members of the church. Imagine a world where everyone you knew growing up, the closest people knew, your parents, aunts and uncles, godfather godmother, grandparents, everyone you respect and believed in all tells you that you will go to hell if you dont believed. Dissent would be unthinkable because the consequence would be alienation. NOw that is a kind of real life hell i think...

[pauldhoff]

Yahweh, all powerful and takes 6 days. All loving and makes a hell. All perfect and needs to be worshiped. All knowing and does it anyway.

[simchi]

Poor kid was never taught how to think critically. He has no idea what to believe or how to determine what he should believe, so he just believes the last thing he heard and goes around in circles. I'm sure that's absolutely terrifying. Hopefully, he learned something from the call.

[texasforever]

I feel sorry for this guy. I couldn't imagine going through life that scared and unsure of himself unable to formulate his own personal opinions.

[Houseplant]

Teddy I don't know if you will read this or not or if you're still suffering with the fear of hell but I just want you to know that you are NOT alone. I honestly never comment on YouTube but your words really resonated with me. The fear of hell is an exhausting and consuming fear to have. It's something that is a personal struggle for me for a long time. The wish for the fear to just go away so I can get on with my life, the uncertainty that keeps me stuck because I can't know for sure, the back and forth between thinking it might be true and then it's ridiculous to think it's true. Especially when you're surrounded by reminders of the fear. I hope you found peace now and I want you to know that you made me feel less alone in my fear and the exhaustion that comes from such a horrible fear.

[MusicGunn]

You really should give this guy credit for asking questions rather than blathering on endlessly about the bible or playing the god of the gaps, special pleading, and circular arguments game. He is LISTENING. Give him some credit. Good caller in my opinion.

[oldtimer]

I actually feel sorry for this fella. Religion really is a poison.

[unix]

The fear of hell bothered me into my 50s. It took a great effort to remove it.