Does anyone want to talk about something possibly being sin? I've been struggling with this... And btw I'm not talking about the unforgivable sin or things like that; although, I have had obsessions about those kinds of things.

I understand the kids' movies things 😅 Plus I can't even listen to Christian music sometimes... But again, (and I am not disagreeing, but just pointing out my thoughts on this, which can get intrusive) I would rather go with what God approves of than what man does. (Still plan on doing ERP, just saying that again. Plus, I'm also of course not looking for reassurance when I say this.)

By the way, what is your plan for getting better?

The stuff is kind of grey areas of sin, like what Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8 & 10 talk about.

@Anonymous Like is the erp you are doing a sin itself

@Overcomer Kind of, yes. I'm not doing anything that the Bible says directly not to do, but I do things I'm not sure are sin or not but could be. For example, I was playing Excite Bike on the mini NES that came out a while back for exposure of a game with a little bit of violence (and by that I mean the character could get hurt), and then I realized that on the same system were games like Zelda and Final Fantasy which were higher on my hierarchy, and I was thinking that if these really were not good for me to have then I would end up not keeping the system, as well as I wasn't so sure I should play any games on a system that came with games I might think are bad.

@Overcomer And for a better example, I was thinking about eventually watching the Lord of the Rings for ERP, but that has magic, dragons, violence, etc.

@Anonymous I deal with excessive thinking with a scrupulousity too can be difficult I would say start out my not playing for a few days out the weeks

@Overcomer You mean something like play a game every couple days or something like that?

@Anonymous Yeah like that

@Overcomer What I've been doing was just doing smaller stuff, like playing cardgames that might be able to be linked to something bad, but I'm thinking about stepping up to a higher exposure.

@Overcomer There are a few things that I'm worried about. First, I'm worried about going with what other people approve of rather than what God approves of. Second, I'm worried I'll try to do ERP but I'll just end up deceiving myself. I'm not looking for reassurance here, though; just saying what I'm worried about.

@Overcomer I'm also a little worried that when I step up in the hierarchy I'll spiral back down again.

@Anonymous Take a step back ask what God wants first idk much about erp. It’s going you are facing your fears little by little you will get there. But I understand what you mean

@Overcomer ERP is a way of bringing down anxiety without doing any compulsions; in my case, a compulsion would be trying to think through if doing something is a sin or not. That is why it kind of seems like I could be deceiving myself. What do you do to cope with OCD?

@Anonymous I see your stresssed.I am too. I try to think good thoughts to replace the older not very good with erp

@Overcomer With sin ask God to revel it to you and to help you

@Overcomer Yeah, I see what you're talking about. Focus on the good and commendable things in life. And I also agree that it is a good thing to ask God to show us our secret sins; I was going to trust God to do that for me with this obsession. That's kind of how this started, though... I had an intrusive thought that made me think God was trying to show me a secret sin, but that really opened up several new problems in my life -- one of which is this obsession. And that is the first intrusive thought since my OCD got worse and I realized I had it.

@Anonymous Also, I guess I'm a little confused, do you know how to do ERP? Or do you just try to focus on good things?

I know exactly how you feel I struggle with the same thing all the time. I’m here for you :)

@Anonymous I try to focus on thinking good which makes me worse n I end up correcting my thoughts. Idk

@ttheafterprty Hello! So, you joined August 2021, so that would mean...

@Overcomer So do you mean when you try to think good things instead of the bad jt makes you end up worse?

@ttheafterprty Welcome to NOCD!

@Anonymous Like I try to switch the bad thoughts for a good ones

@Overcomer Okay, I get that. How well does that work for you?

@Anonymous Worse than before I have to constantly do it to feel right.

@Overcomer OCD is tricky. Are you unable to work with NOCD?

@Anonymous They don’t take my insurance

@Overcomer They don't take mine either, but luckily I found the money. Would you like me to pray for you about this?

@Anonymous Yes please

@Overcomer And just so you know, suppressing the thoughts unfortunately makes things worse for us. You kind of have to let them be, but know that they don't define you or change who you are. As Paul says, "Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it," (Romans 7:20). I suggest reading Romans 7 for a bigger picture of this, but try not to let this become a compulsion for you. I would also suggest checking out Mark DeJesus on Youtube.

@Anonymous This sin I don’t want. I hope it’s not too late

@Overcomer N I watch his videos

@Overcomer So does your OCD tell you it's too late?

@Anonymous No I’m was struggling from not saying my intrusive thoughts. Controlling my mind.

@Overcomer Oh, you think you might accidentally do a compulsion? Or somehow give into OCD?