- Date posted
- 1y ago
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?
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 I feel like I just have this evil like whirring feeling of anxiety and like “something bad is gonna happen” and feeling you’re going to do things against God or like you already have I guess?
I am starting to come to grips with intrusive thoughts, reading how your brain will think of the worst thing / or make you think of something that really distresses you. BUT, I’ve got something I need to get off my chest, not looking for reassurance but just to know I’m not alone I guess? I remember one time, I saw a girl I follow on Instagram go on a marathon, and then went straight out for dinner after without showering and I had the passing thought of, gosh she must smell, even worse, she must smell down there. That has got to be the worst intrusive thought EVER, and because it affected me so much, I have the urge to think of this horrible horrible thought most times I look at people. Wondering if they smell!!!! It’s disgusting!!!! :( I don’t know if this is because I also have contamination ocd and I do obsess about feeling and being clean.
Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with intrusive thoughts&images. At first i had intrusive thoughts around my partner, now it’s centred around me & I can’t be around window ledges or medication due to a story I read online(it’s too triggering for me) . Sometimes I feel like I can’t leave my bed due to the thoughts being so overwhelming I just break down and want to sleep. I aren’t taking any medication or therapy yet. I worry that if I don’t give my thoughts a reaction that my thoughts are true and not OCD. I’ve had these thoughts 24/7 for 2 months.
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond