I am not a Christian, but I force myself to believe in God because I fear Judgment. I always shiver and cry because I don’t know if I will go to hell or heaven. My fear is so strong that I became depressed and desperate for a few weeks. My grandfather is Buddhist but told me that he is more agnostic and told me that God is just an example for humans to follow, not a real being who guides us. I didn’t know what to believe and also I don’t know how should I feel about God (if He exists). I am afraid of God, so much that I don’t see a God who is going to forgive me, but a God who will throw me to hell.<\/p>\n\t
I’ve puzzled over your note for a while because there is contradictory information being given and I wondered how to best approach your question.<\/p>\n
As a Christian, I agree that you and everyone else should fear God. “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell<\/em>” (Matthew 10:28). The fact that you have fear of God and His Judgment tells me that on some level you understand and believe that God exists, that He created this world, and that we are accountable to Him. “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil<\/em>” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).<\/p>\n Fear ought to then become a motivator to check to see if your fear is justified or not. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction<\/em>” (Proverbs 1:7). However, it appears you have met your fear by locking up. You express doubt but you haven’t yet investigated.<\/p>\n Your grandfather appears to see God as a concept, which is very much a Buddhist way of thinking. Concepts are vague. They don’t demand changes in a person’s life. There is no accountability for individual actions to a concept. But then, concepts are individualistic. In reality, your grandfather’s idea of God is only of his own imagination. “O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps<\/em>” (Jeremiah 10:23). The result is that there is no higher being that your grandfather believes is over him. Yet, such a belief doesn’t match the world. How did this world come into being with so many parts interacting and dependent on each other without a higher designer and creator? Individual concepts don’t create universes.<\/p>\n What I would suggest is that you investigate whether it makes sense that God exists and whether that Creator has a plan for His creation. If you would like to study this with me, I would be happy to do so.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I am not a Christian, but I force myself to believe in God because I fear Judgment. I always shiver and cry because I don’t know if I will go to hell or heaven. My fear is so strong that I became depressed and desperate for a few weeks. My grandfather is Buddhist but…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[49,352,90,1260],"class_list":["post-44398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-faith","tag-fear","tag-god","tag-judgment-day"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":26601,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-i-love-god-when-i-fear-hell\/","url_meta":{"origin":44398,"position":0},"title":"How can I love God when I fear hell?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 22, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How does someone learn to love God? I know what the greatest commandment is, but I don't think I love God. I fear going to hell. If I didn't believe in hell, I don't think I would have become a Christian. Could I have truly repented? Was my sorrow\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35161,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-jesus-fear\/","url_meta":{"origin":44398,"position":1},"title":"Did Jesus fear?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The Bible teaches that we should not fear.\u00a0\"For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love\" (I John 4:18). We know that Jesus was the only man to live a life without sin. Did Jesus fear as he prayed in the Garden\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19970,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/am-i-loving-god-and-giving-him-glory\/","url_meta":{"origin":44398,"position":2},"title":"Am I loving God and giving Him glory?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: A few days ago, I was reading I Corinthians 10:31, the passage about \"do all to the glory of God.\"\u00a0 Although I'm still not 100% clear on the exact meaning, the passage really made me think hard about myself in relation to God.\u00a0 The entire time I have been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24418,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-the-idea-that-there-is-no-fear-in-love-applies-to-all-loving-relationships\/","url_meta":{"origin":44398,"position":3},"title":"Does the idea that there is no fear in love applies to all loving relationships?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I want to learn what the verse I John 4:18 is all about. Does this speak of our love for God or for our brothers and sisters? Or can this also apply to a relationship between lovers? My friend quoted this verse to me saying that when you are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10989,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/fear-of-the-lord\/","url_meta":{"origin":44398,"position":4},"title":"Fear of the Lord","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 30, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Randy Blackaby Guardian of Truth Volume 27: Number 4, pp. 118-119, February 17, 1983 Fear is one of those dichotomies of scriptural teaching. We are told, \"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/09\/fear.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":91168,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-i-john-419-make-us-blameless-at-judgment\/","url_meta":{"origin":44398,"position":5},"title":"Does I John 4:19 make us blameless at Judgment?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 10, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence (boldness) on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. (I John 4:17). Does this verse make\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}