I'm sick and tired of every preacher Catholic to Cristanity telling me I'm going to hell
just because I dont believe in there relligion! I aslo dislike when they say that there belief is better than the next, I mean what makes theres better than the other?

I am sorry to hear that. My advice don't go back to that church because that isn't showing God's love. They are being hateful and bear rotton fruit. You can tell how good a person is by the fruit they bear.

The fruit of the Spirit is stated in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Why else would you keep comming back, Relgion uses Fear as its motivating factor, (not to imply tha all religious people buy into that) Maybe someone can find this but The Pope some years back publicly decreed that they would no longer be using Hell as a means to scare, yet they do, Because I share custody of a child with my ex and he is Catholic and everytime I get him he is worried about dieing and going to hell and he always thinks God is mad at him I have had to sit with him at nite many times and reassure him that There is no such place yet he is afraid to believe me. Not everyone is at an awareness where they can see through the Fear inspired Religions and sometimes these are parents and I would like to see some changes, Its so unfair to our children. And when you try to talk to a religious person they go into denial mode its not them they don't believe that way, not there church,yet where are are kids getting these ideas.

You're not the only one that feels or thinks that way. My advice would be to find what Truly works for you. Choose your own path, don't let others dictate what you should or should not believe. You have the power within yourself to Truly find happiness.

The idea is the way to salvation is following gods law. So by default the way you get someone to behave there must be a punishment for not doing as you are told....That is how it works with parents to children, so why would it work any different when you are using something as judgemental as the bible for you guide?

If you do not like being treated like that don't go...find yourself somewhere else and allow yourself to grow from your own minds and beliefs without having someone else tell you the right path to take...

For alot of people they need someone to tell them right from wrong for some reason. It seems to give them purpose and it allows them to be self-ritious and to put everyone else down who doesn't follow the same path that they choose...But who cares? why bother with anyone who thinks they know what is right for you? the problem that some people run into is the fear of what ifs, at least as far as I have seen in my own experiences with people....be strong find your own way and don't be bothered with people who tell you they know the right way because they know god, no one knows god for sure not like they know another person anyway, you must find your own way to believe and if no church can give you that.....so be it!!!

but that's just my opinion

If someone keeps saying mean things to you that you don't believe anyway, stop going near them.

Then stop going to church. Simple solution.

correction to amal's post.

that church.

Just because you are having a hard time at this particular church doesn't mean all are bad.

William Booth said, ". . . I consider that the chief dangers which confront the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost; Christianity without Christ; forgiveness without repentance; salvation without regeneration; politics without God; and Heaven without Hell." ~ The War Cry - 5 January 1901, p. 7, col. 2

And how right he was.

Well, look at it in a more positive light. By repelling you with what you believe to be an obnoxious statement of faith-they are sending you out into the right direction to find the way yourself. Sometimes it's things like that which truly helps a person to go out on their own and find answers.

Personally i think your just saying this to degrade the religon no Priests in the rigth mind would say that to you. It is a sin for them to say such a thing. Also YOU do not need to believe in god to go to heaven.

What religion states this?

ignore them, "They know not what they do."

Why go to church if you don't believe/agree with what they're telling you? Why not either [a] find another, less-judgmental church. or [b] don't go to church at all.

As Christians we (and by we, I of course mean me ) emphasize the loving and caring nature of God.....

But the Bible does say that Jesus is the only way to the Father. Making a statement such as this, as opposed to "You're going to burn in Hell for eternity for your sins if you don't repent this very instant" is vastly different. By saying the first, we are simply stating a cornerstone of our belief. The second is a judgmenetal and hateful attitude used for the sole purpose of scaring the listener into submission to God.

But back to the point. If the church you attend is teaching what you think is the wrong thing (and there are plenty of them out there), then what are still doing at that church? As I said, either find one that suits you, or leave altogether.

The suspicious individual may think you have an ulterior motive for posting this thread here.....

Ah well, all the best,

When you die, yopur spirit returns to god. How you get there, and how long it takes, is a different story.

And you know this from personal experience I take it?

No. I'm not just saying it just to degrade it. And not all priests are heavenly theyve done terrible things to people, I tried doing the religion it wasnt making me feel good at all, I felt like a phoney, and the people were not very nice when you say something wrong about there religion they get very defensive.(I stopped going now even when somone asks) So now I have my own, a mix of everything. But unfortunately for one of my friends she has to go to a Christian School and the priest tells her and her family that there sinners and they need to ask for gods forgiveness...and whatnot, we dont like that very much.

A guy i know got into the whole marilyn manson satanic thing, i dont think he was serious, more looking for attention but i was at church with my grandma and the priest gave a whole sermon on heavan and hell saying this guy is going to hell. Kind of sad really.

Thats exactly what I'm talking about, and it is a shame people are so rude, just because some one is different

With respect.


Something I just thought of.....Where do all of the souls come from when they are born. We know where they go (?) after death but what of before birth.

Its something we will never truely know unless were dead, or it was a life death experiance kind of thing; sure there many life/death eperiances we usally dont believe them because we didnt experiance it ourselves.......but who knows?

But it is a good question, and one often thought about.

No prizes for guessing what denomination this is *cough* Catholic *cough*

Priests, ministers, preachers, reverands, ect. all use these tacticts in order to make you fear the unknown. I grew up with this kind of mentality shoved down my throat. Perhaps that's why I searched for something different.
I had an experience the other day with a friend of ours. He was telling us a story about his 12 yr old daughter who was doing as all kids do, the blood brother thing and experimenting with the oiuji board. He said that he went off on her about going to hell because the bible borbids this and that if anything happened to her he wouldn't come to her funeral. I bit my tongue only because my husband asked me to. I did however explain that allmost every kid tries these things because they are forbidden by the church. It's his kid to raise how he wishes, but it's the way he went about it that bugs me. Cruel but some people just don't know any better I guess.

Are you saying the only religion to preach about going to hell is catholic? Because if you are you might want to check out some other religions and the sermons that are preached depending on the preach just like it depends on the priest how hell fire and brimstone it will get.....

How about we put it ths way, do not goto a place that makes you feel uncomfortable. I've been to just about every type of Christian service and most of them were not very friendly doing the whole "You're gonna burn in hell thing" but that was only because my family had not attended that church. IMHO find a non-denominational church. Every one that I went to was warm, friendly, and very inviting.

Was this question directed to me?

As I've said before, I don't know how it is in America. I can only go by my experience in Australia. And that experience tells me that it is the catholics, more than any other denomination which emphasize hell and judgment.

I'm not saying that Catholics are the only denomination to preach such either. Just that they are the most zealous in doing so.

Does that clear it up a little?

I understand that, that may be how things are there....I just find it odd that with all the churches/religions that it's automatically assumed to be catholic

Being from Australia you probably have never experienced a south baptist fire and brimstoning. It's quite an event. You may be able to find some on satellite.

Yes, you might catch them in white bedsheets riding black horse shouting "Lynch them niggers!!"

btw - I am from the south and have actually seen this happen so...

Relligion, was suposed to give confort and help people, but when people threaten with it is wrong. And no one should force respect into fear, if the other thinks not the same according to there belief. And when a person goes off on something about hell because the bible forbidds something, its pointless because its unnessisary, the child should practice what the belief in if it feels right and I think someone should not inforce something they dont care for in the relligon that there parents are, and your right every kid experiments thoes things as th ouiji and blood brothers, I know I did only because my parents were not relligious and my father thought half the stuff in the bible was inaccurate. So perhaps that was why I think the way I do...

I am having the same problem as you are Ancient sorceress, except my grandmother is sying that the only way to go to heaven is if you believe in god, now i ask this question to myself everyday, if god loves all creatures, why should he judge by the religion you choose or if you don't believe in any religion, i say god judges you by what you do in life, if you are a nice happy giving person who dosen't believe in god, wouldn't he let you in to heaven if you are an evil sadistic person who believes in god do you think god will let you in, now i don't believe in god but these questions bug all the time, and my grandma says you have to believe in god to be let into heaven so i was also wondering if someone could kinda help me out with my dilemma

The reason (I believe) that you grandmother is saying that the only way you can go to heaven is if you believe in god, is that those were the old ways of human nature if you notice the older the relative the stricter the belief in them. They are not use to all these new things because they weren't around back in the day.(I dont know if that helps the way I put it, it sounds confusing, but I think you know what I'm getting at.) javascript:emoticon(':)')

God does love all his little creatures but the whole point is that if you do not believe in Him then you are only further seperating yourself from God. By not believing you have only condemned your own soul.

I believe your wrong...... javascript:emoticon(':angry2:')

A lot of people think that. The only problem (that i see) is, I'm wondering how you can be sure you're a nice happy giving person? Is there a limit. If i give x amount of money to charity then I'm a giving person. Or if I donate x amount of my time to help out at soup kitchens. Or if I help x number of old ladies across the street. What if I think I'm doing the right thing, but obviously aren't (suicide bombers think they're doing the right thing)

You see where I'm getting at? What separates a nice happy giving person from an evil sadistic one? All we have are our own, subjective belief systems.



I'm thinking there's a difference between believing in God and worshipping God. "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder." (James 2:19).

An evil person is obviously not following a loving creator, right?

well as you said teh suicide bombersthink their doing the right thing and some also think that they are going to go to heaven for it, so i suppos they would follow a loving creator and do what they are supposed to do to get into heaven, or i could be wrong, i am just saying you never know how some people think

It truely depends on the person and the relligion, personally seven ways to sunday I think that if you kill a person no matter what,(Well except if the person is evil and going on a murduring rampage, they need to be killed the exact same way the killed the people) you did a bad deed, karma, but killing because a relligion says it right nnnnnooooooo it isnt right.... following something in a book that could possibly not exist well.........thats why you dont need to murder people it's unessisary, you dont know if the thing your worshiping even is out there...so your killing on a assumption, weirdo.

I think SAtan and Hell are very huge Scare tactics What other reason would you go to church if they didn't "scare you" into beleiving something that isn't true???This is my question we are all created in the image and likeness of the creator so lets assume for a moment everyone actually agrees to this Why would this "Creator" condemn itself, and how would it do that???Why would "God want to separate itself from itself??? Namaste Sheri

Howdy,


I'm new to this site but I wish to say a few things. I was born Catholic, but I left the church (I thought I knew everything) and then became an atheist. I hit an all-time low, and now I think I must have been under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary (what POWER she has!), for when I started to wonder if there was a God, different wheels were set in motion. I say different wheels because lots of wierd, bizarre and mystical things started to happen to me...I thought all were from God. My husband (a research scientist in pharmacogenetics) was experiencing similar occurences although I did not tell him what I was going through. Things got so creepy and strange that I was terrified to wake up in the morning. I did go to a priest after I prayed to Mary for help. It took me a while, but after I became fully obedient to what he said- I was able to reject these "manifestations" (it was the occult). The key was obedience to what he said. I can't stress it more.
Life is a battle. We have guardian angels- sure it is the dogma of the church but I had two incredible stories of how I was helped. What do they guard us from? You bet- beasts that hate, hate, hate- fallen angels. I met them in my own living room (figure of speech but true nevertheless). Close encounters
Hell is real. Don't leave your one and only true friend- Jesus Christ. Seek him in church and in prayer. You must have already heard His voice, since you are seeking answers. Just know you are in for one hell of a battle. Say a Hail Mary every day! She is Queen of Heaven and of earth, and she has the serpent under her foot.

Hail Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.
Amen!

Glad to talk to anybody.

Welcome to the asylum bindy .

Welcome bindy, I have heard of things happening to people when they turn away from religion. Usually it turns out to be no more than their own fear and guilt for turning away. When you're indoctrinated with so much fear by religion you are very afraid to leave it. That is exactly what they want to happen, it keeps you believing. Everyone whether they believe in an entity or not has good and bad things happen in their life it's really no mystery. These things would have happened to you anyway, but may have been magnified by your own guilt.

Yes indeed, welcome; You experiance are greatly magnified(as what Curiousity said) in you perspective of heaven and hell by removing yourself from the church so everthing that 'happens' is the demons doings! The only reason I can think you believe this way is....fear. You may think of youself as fearless and think I am wrong, perhaps, but every experiance you blame it on the rejection of going to go to church. But I'm happy that you like to believe in The Lord but trying to convert someone into the samething is not natural. I believe in things different from you, but your willing to believe is admirable. And that is something no one can take away, but you must understand the way we think as well guilt can do things to a person and make them believe in anything. But if your heartlies in something such a thing more power to you! There are others such as me cannot take an unwavering participation in such as that because we are different and have questions that we want answered. And we will mostlikely not stop till we find them.


Blessed Be

I think so too that Satan and Hell is a scare tactic. Interesting thought though "Why would god want to seperate him self?"

I 100% agree with u Priestes piss me off, oh u cant do this ur going to hell, oh u cant do that ur going to hell, yeah right!!!

Howdy again,

Did you know that the movie The Exorcist was based on a boy from New Jersey? Exorcisms and occultic manifestations are great ways to learn about the inhabitants of hell (although I think we can just turn on the news to see it). The Church takes care to limit what is available to see. My director also urged me to contain and be silent about what I experienced. What happened to me were EXTERNAL experiences- noises, smells, moving objects, extreme coincidences in voices and exact phrasing of words. The "power" of our mind is not an autonomous entity- it exists within God's limits, and those boundaries are awesome. PRIDE opened up the door to Hell in my own house. Internal feelings, such as guilt and fear...those are chapters in and of themselves.

God cannot separate Himself...nope, He cannot. Hell can't exist without God. Somehow it reflects His goodness. He did not create us to be brainless robots, nor did He create his angels that way. One sin (that is, the angel Lucifer said he would not serve) was enough to say that he would not like to be like God- he did not want to reflect goodness and love. God cannot tolerate anything but pure love in His presence in heaven. That is why Lucifer was CAST OUT but not annilated. Hell is for those who don't wish to love. We have free will, just like the angels.
Hell is eternal separation from God. Separation, in this sense, is like the separation of the land from the waters, or the separation of heaven and earth- it does not denote an AUTONOMOUS existence away from God's hand. No leaf can fall without the Lord willing it. And certainly hell would not exist if we -and the angels- choose only to love.

If no leaf can fall without God willing it, does that mean no human can go to hell without his say so?

If what you say is correct, bindy, then I'm definitely going to hell. i don't respect religion. I wouldn't say I definitely don't believe in God, but if I do I certainly don't like him very much and I don't worhsip him. I don't believe Jesus was the son of God, if he ever existed at all and my studies of the Catholic Church (and experience through visiting the Vatican) tell me that it is a false religion aimed only at maintaining control over others.

However, I would not say that I'm a bad person. I am not anti-social, I help people in need, I have rescued two horses that otherwise would've been dog-meat and I mind my own business. Am I still going to hell?

As a Satanist, and no real Satanists don't believe in Hell, Heaven, or any gods, I just ignore people who say I'm going to Hell. If they ask me if I'm deaf, I say "Nope, just tired of listening."

As for Hell, if it existed (which it doesn't), I'd be happy to go there. Don't worry, its a dry heat. Hey, and if you go there, say I sent you and you get upgraded to First Class. They have excellent BBQ ribs in Hell. And on Wednesday you get to nail Adolf Hitler in the ball, he only has one testicle.

"In heaven all the interesting people are missing." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Like the quote lol I'll have to remeber that one...

Welcome Nlt you little devil. I love BBQ ribs. Hey can we have fish on fridays too?