[PeacockAngel16]

I have lived with overwhelming religious obsession (scrupulosity) for a long time. No therapist seems to really get that (either they decide to utilize religion in session or avoid the topic altogether). My girlfriend has been really patient with me. I keep going between religions, but end up back at Christianity because, while I don't believe in all of it or even agree with all of it (no offense to anyone at all), the fear of hell stops me in my tracks. I was raised Christian (in an almost cult-like atmosphere) and the fear of hell was drilled into me. The fear starts overwhelming me and I end up right back there again. My girlfriend is Christian, but she doesn't shove it down my throat or anything, though her family are very strict Christians. I almost feel like I should just give up, be Christian, let it take over my life, but at least have less fear of going to hell. But then which denomination is right? I obsess over stupid little details. I don't know what to do. This is literally keeping me from functioning properly in day-to-day life. Help!

[CobolCapsule]

Originally Posted by PeacockAngel16

I have lived with overwhelming religious obsession (scrupulosity) for a long time. No therapist seems to really get that (either they decide to utilize religion in session or avoid the topic altogether). My girlfriend has been really patient with me. I keep going between religions, but end up back at Christianity because, while I don't believe in all of it or even agree with all of it (no offense to anyone at all), the fear of hell stops me in my tracks. I was raised Christian (in an almost cult-like atmosphere) and the fear of hell was drilled into me. The fear starts overwhelming me and I end up right back there again. My girlfriend is Christian, but she doesn't shove it down my throat or anything, though her family are very strict Christians. I almost feel like I should just give up, be Christian, let it take over my life, but at least have less fear of going to hell. But then which denomination is right? I obsess over stupid little details. I don't know what to do. This is literally keeping me from functioning properly in day-to-day life. Help!

I'm sorry you have such a deep fear of hell. I'm personally a non believer, so i don't have any fears when it comes to the after life. If it helps any, most Christians don't believe in hell anymore. It's only the fundamentalists who believe in hell.

Hope this helps and good luck.

[Skeezyks]

Hello Peacock: Honestly, I don't know anything about this. But what strikes me is that this doesn't really have to do with religion. It has to do with mental health... OCD presumably? (I'm not knowledgeable with regard to mental health diagnoses.) California therapist Kati Morton has a video on her YouTube channel where she talks about "Pure O" which, at least to my uneducated brain, sounds similar to what you're experiencing. Here's a link to that video:

Anyway... what occurs to me here is that this is really a mental health issue, not one of religion. If you weren't obsessing about religion & going to hell, there'd be something else you'd be obsessing about. So at least from my perspective, what you're experiencing needs to be addressed from a mental health perspective. And, at least in the short term, if you can't find a therapist who can successfully treat you the "fallback" position may be medication, if you're not already on something.

And then beyond that yes perhaps one solution is to simply dive head first, so to speak, into some Christian denomination. I would suspect that if one were to look back through the history of Christianity, one would find many examples of people who became committed members of their respective denominations as a result of having the kind of experiences you have. Nowadays, in our secular society, we generally discount such things. But there was a time when individuals with this kind of commitment to religion would have been viewed as having been touched by God. There is a book I read, many years ago, titled: Mysticism by Evelyn Underhill. I think many of the historical figures discussed in that book would have fallen into this category. However you decide to proceed, I wish you the best.