No, not really. Fear is something that is very difficult to get over. I will never go back to the church because it serves me no purpose. I'm not entirely sure of what your requirements for going to hell are, but if you treat others with respect and dignity, I don't think you have anything to fear about going to hell. Also, if you do not believe that there is a god character, then who is there to put you into hell?

Just joy here.

Nope.

I had a similar experience to yours in my late teens to mid twenties while I was slowly but surely breaking away from the dogma and superstitious mind control that Christianity had tried to indoctrinate me with. I never felt extremely guilty about leaving god or religion behind, but I did have that small inkling of fear about "what if Satan and hell really do exist?"

What you are experiencing is a perfectly normal human reaction to a text book case of indoctrination. One of religions main goals is to prey upon a humans genetic instinct of fear. Using a fear tactic is the most effective way to manipulate and control. You are fortunate to be part of the small percentage of logical human beings that can see through cognitive dissonance. You have a gift, and in my opinion, you are on your way to defeating the indoctrination that you were born into.

Did you feel guilty when you found out Santa wasn't real or the Easter bunny? Same thing. Don't fear hell, it doesn't exist.

I know exactly what you mean except for the “hell” part. I don’t fear death or the afterlife. However, raised in a very strong religious background, old habits die hard. I totally lost all faith about 10 years ago, can’t feel anything at all, but still miss the “community” of church. I loved socializing with the oldsters who knew my missionary grandparents, going out to lunch after Sunday service, etc.

if you don't believe in god, why do you believe in hell? blame isn't the right word. i'm not holding you in some kind of contempt or anything. i am just wondering. you know better, right? by the way, i never had a church to leave. i was raised in a secular jewish household. i still self-identify as jewish, but i am an atheist, which in judaism isn't a dealbreaker but even if it was, while judaism is a religion, jewishness is a cultural identity. so i understand about your upbringing's influencing you even after you've left that part of it, even though my situation is different. i mean, there was no rebellion or trauma involved for me. but let me ask you this: who would send you to hell if there is no god?

g

I don't think I have ever felt guilty about leaving the church.

NO.
I felt totally relieved when I realized that the Hebrew god was only a poor copy of "Anu" - the bloodthirsty alien Sumerian ruler described in the Sumerian texts, written 2000 years before the Bible. It tells many of the same stories that are in the Bible, except far better, and with more science.

For instance, in the story of the great flood, it was from a planet coming too close to the earth and breaking off an Antarctic ice shelf, causing a tsunami over a third of the earth. In the Sumerian texts, Noah and his family only brought copies of the DNA of earth animals into their boat..a submarine!

No blame, but here's how I view it: when you follow the progression of Yahweh, Satan, and Hell from early Old Testament through the New Testament, you see that the torture pit is a later invention that wasn't part of the earlier tradition and evolved as a recruitment tactic. I fully understand the emotional tether to fear of Hell, though, so I hope in time you'll be able to let that fade away and feel no residual anxiety.