fear of eternity

[lyn87]

I am not sure where this idea came from, and why it consumes me so much and others fail to obsess over it like I do but I am terrified of eternity after death.  I am not afraid of dying, but of eternity afterwards.  Do we remain aware of things?  This notion, even the idea of being in a happy place like heaven forever, terrifies me.  Anything, no matter how good, that continues without end, is my worst fear, and thinking about it literally forms knots in my stomach and intense fear.  I know that the answer to this can not be proven, and most would find relief in the idea of eternity, but it is my worst fear.  Does anyone else share this fear?  What can I do?  

[anne1970june]

oh! I'd like to share what helps me EVERY time I begin to panic over eternity:  www.nderf.org
This gives me hope...

[Joseaodesigns]

The greatest cure to the fear of eternity is to seek after the one who is eternity, God Almighty. I believe him to be the God of the bible and for good reason I trust every word he says. I struggled with the fear of eternity for a long time but I can find peace in God through Jesus Christ.. If you don't know him, I invite you to . Message me with any questions.

[stevenk12]

Same as a lot of people on this thread, it was a really good feeling finding this thread. About 4 days ago, I was in bed thinking about weird paradoxes. At first, the things I thought about had nothing to do with time, but then I came across this thought. "What is it like to be dead for eternity?". When I thought about that I was absolutely terrified. I couldn't stop thinking about it. Just realizing that you might be dead forever and never wake up, is just horrifying. Scientifically speaking, you won't notice the time go by because you are not alive but I still can't stop thinking about these different paradoxes that are related to time. It's also this weird thing that is really hard to stop thinking about. I would like to believe that you reincarnate as a new living being after every time you die, but even the thought that you will do the same thing over and over again for so many years is scary. No matter what comes after life you realize that it is going to last forever. I do stop thinking about it so negatively when I realize that you could have been dead for billions of years or had different lives before you started this life, but it is still a really scary thought. I think about this for an hour or two, forget about it and then a day later I start thinking about this again and I just can't get this off my mind.  

[irene_peace]

It was so wonderful to come across this thread! I think it helps us all to feel more normal, if such a thing exists, when we can be real about what scares us and others can relate!
I am a biblical counsellor and have dealt with this fear. Just wanted to make two practical suggestions.
1. I re-iterate what others have said. This fear has more to do with your past than the future. Take time to figure out when from a younger teen or earlier you felt trapped in a situation and that it will never end. The fear of forever and the emotion from the past event have become entangled and you have to separate the two.
2. Secondly as a biblical counsellor the most helpful thing to remove fear of eternity is John 17:3 Jesus is praying and says, ' now this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God'. Eternity has more to do with a relationship and less to do with a place. My encouragement is figure out how to develop a relationship with God. Let me know if I can help in this area.
All the best!!

[Grubbz]

Hello!  I would love to talk to you. I am struggling very badly with this. PleAse email me
***@****

[trisha51]

Why would you all be scared of eternity in heaven? of all things i would be scared of eternity in hell. The thing that bothers me is not wanting to leave this earth yet i guess where i lived here for 51 + years and another thing that bothers me is my kids aren't saved yet, i can't bare the thought of them in hell but i know if they're left in the tribulation that they'll have a chance to get saved cause they know all about it, i've been taking them to church since they were born. Does anybody have this problem like me?

[Atkins1]

I had this fear ever since I was around 8. It triggered when I had a nightmare and couldn't sleep so I stayed in the living room at 2 in the morning.  The main thing I think of is if our souls live forever, will it one day cease to exist? The fear diminished until October my Junior year in High School.  I am going to graduate soon and this fear keeps on getting worse.  I am having it right now as I type this.  I just want this fear to go away so I can live a normal life and go to college.  Does anyone know how to stop it?