Does religion helps with your anxiety and fear of dying?

[star68]

"A review of studies by Soenke et al. (2013) found that "one variable showing particular importance in protecting individuals from anxiety about death is the belief in an afterlife" which was bolstered by "active commitment and practice" of their religion. The stronger the belief, the less the anxiety about death". Are any of you religious? Does it work for your anxiety?

[Hidden]

Religion did just the opposite for me. It terrified me that a God who is supposed to love us could throw us in hell to burn for eternity because we didn’t “think” the right thing. I do y consider myself religious. I consider myself spiritual. Last weekend I saw a sign at a church that read”if you think this is hot”. I just thought of someone like a child reading And asking about it and being scared about it!!!

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

I agree.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Let’s face it. It is terrifying. I could not even throw an insect into a situation like that —yet God loves us and he can do that? Something just doesn’t add up to me.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

I agree, some people in history have done bad things to other humans and it's classed as evil, but this god can do it and it's ok.

Not for me.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

I honestly think That maybe it comes from man trying to make God out in his own image and maybe it has something to do with controlling others too.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

That's what I think too, I agree.

There are about 5000 gods worshipped on earth these days, why is there not just one.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

And I read there are 70 bibles?? Wow. Makes it somewhat confusing. When my sister died I couldn’t even grieve her death because I was so ocd about whether she made it to heaven or not. It happened again when I lost my other sister. No—religion has not helped my anxiety at all—rather it probably is a major factor in causing it.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Of people want to have it then it's thier choice.

It's not for me, I believe in myself and other people and things i see all around me..

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Yes—if religion brings someone peace—that’s great—for them. It doesn’t bring me peace. I don’t feel like religion and God are necessarily the same thing. I think religion is mans interpretation of who he thinks God is.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Good point.. two separate things.

I don't believe in a god myself though.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Yeah. I get it. A lot of times I just say the universe.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Me too.

[star68 in reply to Hidden]

Hi, does any of you have fear of dying? If you do, how do you cope? Thanks.

[Hidden in reply to star68]

I think most people have a fear of dying. I have already almost died 2 times. When I was very ill at a young age—at the point where I was so sick I didn’t have the energy to fight any more—I think I let go and accepted it and I think that is one reason I lived.

[designguy]

Like some of the other posters, religion did the opposite for me. I read somewhere a few years ago that the majority of people in therapy had come from some religious or fundamental background, which I believe. Religion is really institutionalized spirituality and spirituality has helped in my recovery. What really started my path to recovery and getting over my fear of dying was experiencing the unconditional love of and from my dog. Reading and studying the great spiritual teachers, the true essence of all of their teachings is about unconditional love not fear like what religions teach. The fallacy of most Christian religions is that they preach that you must become "born again" to be accepted into heaven, etc..., which is conditional and judgmental. I don't think the true message and teachings of Jesus had any such message. What he really was teaching is unconditional love. When we experience life and see it through that lens, my belief is that our afterlife is going to be just as unconditionally loving and beautiful as it is here on earth and probably more so.

Having recovered from my anxiety disorder I'm also spending a lot more of my time and energy living and participating in life, which is also in itself part of the recovery process.

[Mcurls4]

Oh yes definitely believe in God. If it weren't for prayer and the word of God I would of never gotten thru some days. Ppl don't believe in something they can't see, which means they put faith in themselves or anything other than God. I choose relationship not "religion"

[Robert6 in reply to Mcurls4]

I agree with you, it takes Faith to believe in the unseen/God. Think about this. God spoke this universe into existence! I can’t imagine a God so power that His spoken word created man and the thousands of universes that are out there!

[Hidden]

I was really anxious about death as a child. I haven't believed in God since the 2nd grade but didn't come out completely as atheist until I was 31, didn't know it was an option until 16 (I went to Catholic School, and someone said "I'm atheist why am I here?" so I asked them what it meant, haha) Since I've finally declared atheism, I feel much better about death. I made sure to sign up for organ donation so a part of me would live on and actually be useful.

[Icanbeathis2016]

Hi to you. I haven't posted on the forum recently but I still drop by the forum often to respond and check others post. I am not a stranger to the fear of death and I have been focusing a lot more on growing spiritually. I do feel its important to our journey of acceptance of the inevitable. I hope things are getting better for you. And because I too have asked these questions because I still face the fear of dying, I recently took a big step to a new endeavor. I'd like to share my broadcast endeavor with you. Its merely to bring anyone like me closer to trying to accept what we cant change. If you still have these fears from time to time then check out my link. 😊

I wish us the best.

youtu.be/kReK2k5cSCw(Not working as expected?)

[John_Bean]

The anxiety starts when you lose the faith. Maybe the faith in God, maybe in a person, maybe in yourself. I went through this when I becomed an atheist but soon after that I gained self-confidence. I'm an open minded person, I allways look for something new. This way I discovered the numbers. Now I believe that numbers are everywhere around us, they lead us through life (it is called numerology). Each of us has a number that defines him, that helps him. The good thing is that you don't have to look for it, he will find you. You just have to recognize it. If you already have a number in mind, visit numerologyangel.com to find what it means and how it affects you. And remember that a human without faith is just a walking body. When we lose faith, we lose our life.