Christianity and nightmares
Posted on: July 3, 2007 - 10:26am
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Christianity and nightmares
When I was a Christian I used to every so often have nightmares about going to hell. Once I stopped believing in that nonsense it stopped. Anyone else who used to have that happen when they believed (Former Jews, Moslems or other religions that have a hell welcome to respond here, too.) and have it stop when they became a freethinker?
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When I was a kid, I learned all about demon possession, and how if I had impure thoughts, I would be possessed. It was an unfortunate time for me to learn this, because I'd just discovered that my happy parts got a lot happier when I thought about how well they worked with girl happy parts.
So, for a few months, I would lay awake for hours, trying not to drift off to sleep, because I tended to have dirty thoughts when I let my mind wander. I figured if I stayed awake, I could control my thoughts and not get possessed. Of course, after a few days of this, I was pretty sleep deprived, and started seeing the demons floating around my room. That made it even harder to sleep, and I got even more sleep deprived.
Nightmares would have been ok. At least I'd have been asleep.
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Well I was always afraid of ghosts!
The whole "if I die before I wake" prayer at night bothered me so much I would also pray that I lived for some insane amount of years just so it would offset the death that might happen at night.
My nightmares had nothing to do with anything really. Example: In dream I would see a field with footballs in it all pointing in the same direction or tetris (yeah nothing major). I would then wake up scared and it would feel like every part of my body felt kinda numb all over but like my fingers were needles, I would be dizzy, and nothing made sense people would be talking, but I couldn't understand them. My limbs wouldn't move in the direction I wanted them to, but they would still move. After waking up from the tetris nightmare mathmatical problems be running through my head.
Edit: added a word for clarity
Sounds made up...
Agnostic Atheist
No, I am not angry at your imaginary friends or enemies.
I've never had a nightmare and I've never believed in god....coincidence?
I remember one weird one I had soon before becoming agnostic - I got there and found out I would eventually get to heaven but first would have to go through every single torture ever invented.
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For the longest time growing up, I had a repetitive dream. I would be sitting in a chair, watching an old black and white TV that wasn't plugged in.
My dreams (in black and white) would usually consist of running from much larger adversaries until I was trapped in a situation where I had to fight - and I would be invariably stabbed, shot, set on fire, had acid thrown on me, et al.
Every time the weapon of choice made contact, I'd wake up in a cold sweat. The usual advesary? A naked, two headed woman without faces.
Feel free to analyze that crap. I haven't had that dream now in about three years - which is about the time I became a militant atheist.
"Like Fingerpainting 101, gimme no credit for having class; one thumb on the pulse of the nation, one thumb in your girlfriend's ass; written on, written off, some calling me a joke, I don't think that I'm a sellout but I do enjoy Coke."
-BHG
I never dream about hell but do dream about law school. Perhaps there is a close association? I know most law professors are worthy of the title demon....
"Tis better to rule in Hell than to serve in Heaven." -Lucifer
How can that be? Do you even remember your dreams? If not, then you may not have "never seen a nightmare", because you may have never remembered it.
Trust and believe in no god, but trust and believe in yourself.
HHHAAAAA! I have a friend that's beating herself up over a full-time job and being first in her law class. She's an editor for the Law Review and has been published. She has one more year to go.
I'll have to tell her about this post. No doubt she needs a chuckle from time to time.
I remember my dreams, usually in vivid color. I had a few scares in my younger years (mostly being lost or forgetting where I was supposed to be), but never a dream where I woke up terrified.
No monsters. No bogey men. Even if I dream I'm falling, I'm not frightened. Baffled yes, but not frightened.
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Yeah, I remember my dreams when I first wake up. I just don't have bad dreams. I have a lot of weird dreams, but nothing that upset me or freaked me out or anything like that. In life things tend to not bother me so maybe that has something to do with it. I don't know. I've just never experienced that sensation of a nightmare. So this is odd? I just assumed a lot of people were like me
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From what I understand, nightmares are just scary dreams. Not like it freaks you out or upsets you. I have neither seen dreams like that, but I have been scared IN a dream, but not after it.
Not too long ago I saw a dream where I went to a spooky ghost mansion. I was pretty frightened, and I woke up to a sleep paralysis where I felt like something was pushing me toward the edge of the bed. I wasn't really scared of that, because sleep paralysis can create strange sensations like that.
Still, I wasn't freaked out after the dream or anything, but it still qualifies as a nightmare because I was afraid in the dream.
Last night a dementor from Harry Potter tried to kill me
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Trust and believe in no god, but trust and believe in yourself.