I received the following message from an individual obviously in severe distress. He asked me for help in overcoming Bible abuse that had left him crippled with fear for decades. I sent him a copy of my book The Gospel According to Acharya S, which can serve as a bridge to my more scholarly works and which has been helpful to others caught up in biblical doctrines of greed for heaven and fear of hell.
There are support groups online for victims of cultic abuse, and there are professional counselors who deal with this sort of brainwashing, but not nearly enough for the amount of victims globally. My Bible-abused correspondent’s suggestion for specific deprogramming materials is a good idea. Reading about his state of terrorized enthrallment frankly appalled and repulsed me.
I have been a psychic slave of religions for decades since being brainwashed as a child. I break free on the surface only for brief times, and I then enslave myself again. Now, I am supposed to convert to Orthodox Christianity in a few months, and I have to accept Mary’s perpetual virginity to become a convert. That is insane, and evidence of a sex cult, as far as I am concerned. (Actually, it is all insane, but I just will not break free of the brainwashing due to fears and brainwashing.)
“The inner conflict is awful, and I am wasting precious little life I have left all the time struggling over it.”
The inner conflict is awful, and I am wasting precious little life I have left all the time struggling over it. Deep, deep down I still feel like if I walk away, I might burn in hell…. I just might end up wrong before a wrathful God. How sick.
I know it is wrong and sick, but I still can’t shake it. The brainwashing is so deep. I am going to dig deep, really deep, and liberate myself with your help and the good work of others. It is my life goal to die free and with as little brainwashing as possible. Thanks for your encouragement and kindness.
I am on disability and can only buy one of your books every few months. Do you think you could suggest your books one at a time in a way to be therapeutic and designed to help me liberate myself once and for all? Where would you suggest starting?
Have you thought about putting together a nice deprogramming book series? A “catechism” toward free thinking? The brainwashing is so deep in some of us. I spent (I shamefully admit) 20 years a Christian fundamentalist.
I will look at all this information too. I watched you on Youtube for two hours today. I loved it.
I am thinking about others like me too. I bet there are some prisoners, poor, shut-ins, etc., just like me who need some liberation. I am going to think it over and talk to someone about a what a non-profit consists of. Sending people books like yours can be very powerful and life changing.
Thank you so much for the book, the information on your sites and for all you do.
(Edited for content and reproduced with permission.)
I’m wagering this sort of suffering is a very widespread problem. I am fortunate not to have been abused by Christianity and the Bible, such that I do not fear the giant biblical bogeyman in the sky with his eternal hellfire and torment. In fact, as I write in The Gospel and elsewhere, such a “god” would not be a deity of any worth, terrorizing puny and powerless little humans into submission to “his” will. I reject such a tyrannical and hateful “god,” who is certainly not “loving” or “merciful” but is loaded with ego and the worst of human characteristics.
It is a shameful condition of the human species to rely on the stick more than the carrot as a motivational tool. If we wish to create a more healthy, loving and happy society, we need to focus on those aspects, not on punishment and fear. The bottom line is that no good god would go out of his/her way to bully and brutalize humanity.
In addition to support groups and deprogramming counselors, it sounds like a class-action lawsuit might be in order for various religious organizations that abuse people mentally, emotionally and sometimes physically. It would also be great to be able to provide copies of my books to others, as this individual suggests, through a non-profit organization.
As concerns my books, I do recommend anyone in this state read The Gospel, as it has been said to be very liberating. If one is a Christian, I advise moving next to Who Was Jesus?, which details the problems with New Testament and historical Jesus scholarship.
My book Did Moses Exist? The Myth of the Israelite Lawgiver dissects important parts of the Old Testament, for those tormented by bibliolatry. Reading The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold would also be helpful, but it should be kept in mind that I have a second edition in the works. Next would be Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled and Christ in Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection, which show the mythology behind the Bible stories, such that one need not take them literally.
Studying the concepts of heaven, hell and the devil around the world and in different religions and mythologies is quite helpful to understand the development of these ideas by human beings. These ideas about an afterlife depend largely upon era and location, and the different notions reflect these are manmade concepts, not ultimate reality.
Another resource that would be helpful is my video “Please respect my religion!”:
Studying the field of mythicism or the notion that many biblical characters are mythical rather than historical can also be helpful:
Further Reading
The Gospel According to Acharya S
The Healing Power of The Gospel (According to Acharya S)
Who Was Jesus? Fingerprints of The Christ
TruthBeKnown.com
What is a mythicist?
Cult Tactics: Resources for Help