Religious OCD

you are needed on this earth whether you're a sinner or not for you can be redeemed and changed to fight on the side of good. i think scrupulosity comes from wanting to get rid of the guilt even tho you are already forgiven. no one is meant to dwell on their past sins in regret unless they are repenting. those dealing with scrupulosity are generally already repentant souls and they deserve to move on in peace from their mistakes because they're genuinely sorry. how is anyone gonna try to make up for their past mistakes by just beating themselves up all the time? isn't it better to be humble and understand that we all make mistakes and forgiveness is needed if we're ever gonna survive and live? a life of scrupulosity isn't a way to live at all and eventually it's time to say goodbye to the guilt and hello to a new heart you can use to heal those who have been affected by your mistakes. anyways, God bless

I honestly struggle a lot with it and it impacts my whole life. I worry about if God is telling me things or it’s my OCD. It’s hard to deal with this in therapy or with faith leaders because it is so obscure and neither one can really say one way or the other

It's really hard! My hardest theme. I was on Lexapro for 15 years and it recently pooped out. I got on Zoloft 2 days ago and hope it will help. Im also now in ERP therapy. I just keep reminding myself God is love and I cant come unto Christ while im in this OCD attack.

Trigger warning, I mention ideation. I use to feel extremely guilty, like better off not alive than sinful and alive. I explored other religion and spirituality with less harmful rhetoric on damnation and more in growth. Has really helped

Hi Anthony. I'm the author of Waging War Against OCD referenced above. (OCDMM - thanks again for the kind words!). This may sound overly simplistic, but I don't mean for it to sound that way at all, and I do think its one of the main things that can bring freedom. Grace is the answer. Once we start to grasp that our relationship with God is all b/c of His favor towards us....completely underserved by us.....then we start to see Him as a loving Father. And when we do, the fear of "messing up" what God had planned for us starts to go away. In my chapter on grace I give the anology of having a horrible ruthless boss, vs a loving one. If we have a horrible one we are watching our back, making sure we don't mess up, making sure we please him....if we have a loving one we have more freedom in making choices. We aren't so fearful to make the wrong one, b/c we know he is kind and merciful and will lead us in the right direction if we make a mistake. But FEELING this way is so foreign to all humanity b/c the world doesn't work this way....most people aren't kind and full of grace....so it takes consistent renewing of your mind until you start to live that way. I say that one of the hardest thing for an OCDer to do is to believe God is as good as He says He is. And I feel like once our hearts start to believe that then we begin to have freedom. Again, I hope this doesn't come across as a pat answer....grace is truly powerful in removing these types of obsessions - b/c it makes us realize its not our responsibility to make sure we didn't miss God's will, or somehow mess up so we won't get His blessings.

Mark DeJesus says some great things on this subject. I was listening to this one this week - I think you may find it very helpful....https://open.spotify.com/episode/4DG7l8ZCv2AGHMicbf4ZZ2?si=67GBm0mKQ_e6wHInt0lakQ

@Waging War Against OCD I would love to ask you a few questions if possible, I was praying/worshiping earlier today and as I was praying I heard this voice say “don’t” pertaining to the ceramics I want to get into and I tried to shake it off and while I was praying I feel like I was trying to find the “green light” from GOD that I could do my ceramic projects and so I started convincing myself that I was hearing GOD say yes to me then I felt super guilty and was like I can’t do the ceramics and then I was like maybe this is punishment for having a thought in my mind a few days prior when I was thinking how good and cool my ceramic pieces would be and playing out this interaction in my head if how my mom would think I was gifted and talented (and I repented that day too because I felt that thought was super prideful), but after that day I continued with what I was doing and felt good but now because I was in worship and prayer and heard “don’t” I feel I would be disrespecting and disobeying GOD if I did my ceramics! I know this is A LOT to take in so no rush to reply, it is a lot of digest but I just wanted a Christian perspective and background because I am also a Christian and wanted to move in the right direction! I also think it is so kind and supportive of you to come in here and share such encouraging wisdom and knowledge with us who are struggling! It is seriously such a blessing! Thank you! It touched my heart when I saw your response to @anthonycaronna Thank you!!