Religious OCD Pt 2
Have any of you gotten intrusive thoughts while reading the Bible, or a Church? Have any of you even gotten to the point where you avoided the Bible and/or Church?
Yes but I realized god knows our hearts, which is completely seperate from our thoughts, and he understands our struggles with the crazy brain. Your thoughts do not define you!
Hi Anthony.....yes, yes, yes.....my late grandfather was a theologian and I asked him about verses probably over 1,000 times over the years. At one point I read through the entire New Testament and wrote down every verse I thought might mean I will be damned to hell, or might be. Then I sat down with him and went through each one. He once told me the Bible is like a rose and all I did was try to find thorns on it instead of looking at the beauty of the rose. I eventually want to write a book that goes through some of more common verses and explain how they trigger the Christian OCDer, and why those triggers are ill-founded. Christ came to bring us freedom, including freedom from fear. The Bible is supposed to being us joy, not condemnation and the weight of responsibility....even when we are doing work for God, His yoke is easy and His burden is light....which is the exact opposite of what OCD tries to make our experience all about. I hope this helps!
@Waging War Against OCD Yeah that’s the thing I know that our God is not a punishing God and the Bible is a beautiful book, but OCD makes it seem so hard. It makes it seem like every divine thought is from God and that every body sensation is the Holy Spirit
@anthonycaronna - I think I understand - and I think the grace of God will help here....I can't remember if I've discussed this part of my book with you....but basically, I think what God wants us to learn is how much favor He has towards us INDEPENDENT of any level of obedience of getting things "right" that we can do or perform. So once we get even a little bit of that truth from our head down to our heart....really, only a little of it.....then we start to see how interpreting if something is from God or not is not as important as we think it is. Without a good grasp of grace, we place soooo much responsibility on ourselves to get everything right (like interpret His voice correctly, interpret our thoughts as from Him or not, etc). In college I was terrified I would make a wrong decision and eat at a cafeteria that God didn't want me too, thus potentially derailing His plan for my life, or someone elses. But that is an incorrect view of reality. I was never in charge that much. I wish back then that I could have seen I have a loving Father who watches my steps and helps when I make mistakes.....in short, understanding and experiencing grace takes our focus off of feeling responsible to do, think, act exactly right to make sure we don't anger God - to focusing on How much He loves and likes us....and when we do that we focus on Him and His goodness instead of the to do list we think we need to get exactly right. Does this line of thinking help?
@Waging War Against OCD Yes it does, thank you for this
Yes!!
Yes!
Hey there 🙋♀️, you're definitely not alone in this and it's apparent in your message how much you're wrestling with these intrusive thoughts, even in your most sacred spaces. It's really tough when you find yourself avoiding things like reading the Bible or attending Church, practices that are clearly important to you. There is nothing unusual or wrong with you for having these thoughts, I promise. When it's getting tough for me, something I found helpful is this AI OCD therapy tool called "unstuck", here's the link - unstuckmyocd.com/try. I discovered it through my own OCD support group and I honestly wish I'd come across it sooner. The really great thing about it is its ability to provide personalized step-by-step support when the OCD gets particularly difficult, very much like interacting with an OCD therapist. Seeing as it's a tool that you can use at any time, it might be especially handy given the complexity of your situation with the Bible and Church, since it can help manage those intrusive thoughts and avoidance behaviors whenever they happen, even if you're in the middle of a sermon or evening prayer. Remember, I'm here if you have any questions about the tool or if just want to talk more, okay? Hang in there! 🌟
Does anyone elses OCD involve religion? I'm a Christian, but I feel my OCD is causing me to stay away from my church and religious practice
Anyone here with religious ocd?
Does anyone else thats a Christian and struggle with religious OCD sometimes stress about preaching or reading certain books in the Bible because you know it will trigger obsessions? Because then I get frustrated because I want to know more and learn more and be able to worship without the obsessions and compulsions. If anyone has any advice i would be happy to hear how y’all do those things while having OCD.
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