How can I overcome my fear of hell and the one sin that can’t be forgiven with erp erp is obviously to expose those fears and sit in uncertainty but I can’t be uncertain about eternal life even tho I feel uncertain all the time
If you’re worried about the one sin then you most likely havent committed it. There’s an aspect of it too that OCD loves because it IS uncertain. OCD loves uncertainty… so accepting that you may never know in this lifetime is huge! A good exposure may be looking at illustrations of hell and then sitting with the discomfort that it causes. We can’t remove the thoughts but we can remove the way they make us feel… by sitting with the emotional impact:) Goodluck❤️
I do understand to a degree how you’re feeling. Remember, Jesus said, “anyone who comes to me, I will never cast out.” First, that’s a promise. Remember, the gospel is all about God providing a righteousness that is not your own, its righteousness that comes by faith in him. He was good enough for you and proved it by rising from the dead. The ERP that I believe will be most helpful for you is the certainty that comes with the truth of the gospel in that by faith alone in Jesus’ righteousness, you have nothing to fear because His love overcomes your doubt. You might be uncertain about his saving you, but if you believe in Jesus he certainly will save you and you will be rescued from the future reality of Hell, which is real, and anyone who claims true Christianity will believe it is eternal. While that’s true, even in your doubt, if you look to Jesus, you have NOTHING to fear. Stoke that fire.
@Robbie_7 Thank you that helps for sure :)
This is a tough one for me too. It got really bad last year when I had a flare up. I've found some websites that help but therapy is probably the best thing to help
Quick question are you in therapy right now?
@julianofnorwich No
@G C If you can I would see if you could get into therapy. But in the meantime what helped me was learning about different theories of hell. I was shocked to learn there are many Christians that do not believe in hell. Some don't believe there's literal fire. Some don't believe it lasts for all eternity. Some Christians believe people go in and then come out after they've repented. I've heard so many different theories of hell and they all have Bible verses and studies to back it up. Learning this helped me sit with the uncertainty that no Christian knows for certain if they are going to heaven or hell or if it even exists! That's just the reality of the uncertainty. And I believe even in that uncertainty God is still with you!
@julianofnorwich Yeah but the Bible talks so much about hell and hell is eternal separation from God and suffering. You can’t repent in he’ll
@G C The Bible does talk about hell, but not the way we think it does actually. Here's a theologian I like who helped me understand a lot of different things about the Bible in a more uncertain way. Preston Sprinkle talks about different theories of hell here. https://open.spotify.com/episode/0YPMQr0Qm4WjspIfAgca5K?si=8qHEnZqzT9O9pg8XLicOJw
I’ve been struggling with religious OCD for the past month or so (blasphemous intrusive thoughts, fear of going to hell, etc). I’m a Christian. I’ve been in ERP and I’m learning to let the thoughts just be which is hard, but I’m struggling with the overwhelming feelings of guilt about having the intrusive thoughts. I know the thoughts aren’t from me and don’t reflect my true self, but sometimes if feels like I’m bringing the thoughts on if that makes sense. Does anyone have any advice on overcoming the guilt? OCD is also telling me I’m never going to get over this and my relationship with God will never be the same. I just want to be able to praise God without all of this and it’s making me incredibly sad and lonely. Any words of encouragement are appreciated.
As ERP for religious ocd, I have allowed myself to pray for everything I might want. I don’t know how much I mean stuff, but it’s really hard, because I can easily rationalize why I would want certain things and maybe even agree in that moment that I want them
I’m thinking about doing erp but my ocd is so severe the thought of accepting my fears happening to me makes me sick to my stomach. I also believe in the power of my words and saying I accept this Bad thing will attract it into my life. I’m not sure what I should do🥲
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