- Date posted
- 1y
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’ve been trying to grow in my Catholic faith, but my ocd makes it very hard. I read a passage about a saint going through a great ordeal and start panicking that I need to give up everything and be martyred painfully. I seem to always hyperfocus on unhelpful book passages that make me afraid of God and see Him as a tyrant. I admire those who can read others words on faith, but I get suicidal, self harm, or turn away from God because I get sucked in so deep. That’s the obsessive part of ocd. Do you have any tips on how to get past this?
I am a christian guy who grew up in a christian community and family. For as long as i remember, ive had horrible thoughts about all kinds of things that i dont know where to begin. Due to my extreme thoughts, i feel as if i am unworthy of practicing my religioin, such as praying, reading, meditating, etc. I feel ashamed when i go to church, as if i dont belong there because i feel like i am secretely evil, and that God knows i am evil and i am committing blasphemy by going there, and refusing to "repent", from my thoughts. But then again, my thoughts are just thoughts, sure. So whats the problem? - The problem is that in my faith, i have been taught that we must control our thoughts, so they do not get power over us to make us commit sin. Such as "If you think lustfully about a woman, you have already committed adultery with her in your heart". This verse has killed my self esteem, due to the constant unwanted sexual and disturbing thoughts. It makes me feel like a monster, who secretely just wants to abuse and be horrible to people, even though i know very well i do not want this. Sometimes i think horrible things about the people i love very much, such as my girlfriend. It feels so wrong and evil, even though i know it isnt my true will.
So I am a practicing Catholic, and I've gotten into reading the Bible this year, praying the Rosary, things like that, and while I love to do that, my OCD has been seeming to take over, in ways such as like I have to read the Bible for a certain amount of time before I'm satisfied with the time read, or something along those lines, and it's starting to make the thought of praying and reading the Bible unenjoyable, which is really hurting me inside, because I used to and want to enjoy it so bad, but now this is making it really hard to, because it feels like I don't have control over my own thoughts, and little things trigger the thoughts, it's just so annoying. If there's anything anyone thinks I can do to combat this please let me know.
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