Hello Everyone 👋, I hope youa re all doing well for yourselves.
This post is going to be a long one, but it's the biggest battle for me so far. I would love and appreciate some help.
It revolves around hell and whether me and my family are going to get a horrible punishment when we die. Before OCD got worse, I used to not be majorly religious but still consider myself a Sikh (An Indian Religion) in terms of my identity. I would pray to a 'God' for help and support as it was comforting to have someone out there.
Now, I'm worried crazily about questions such as theese -
Is there a hell?
If I'm not Christian will I go to hell?
Am I a good person?
Will I suffer forever?
My relative downloads pirated movies and games from the internet and I enjoy them, am I going to suffer forever?
Do I need to become a Christian?
Do I need an Abrahamic Faith?
What if I die with the wrong faith? Will I suffer horrible torture and my family?
What if I need a religion?
Do I deserve to be happy?
Is it just my condition, or am I going to disrespect a God?
Am I going to hell in the next second?
Maybe there is no punishment for me, maybe there is?
Will I go to hell if I watch porn?
I eat meat, will I go to hell?
I enjoy violent video games, will I suffer?
Do I need to accept Jesus of Mohammed, or will I suffer forever?
Are my family going to hell?
What comes after death?
Does God hate me?
Is there a God?
I'm not expecting answers to any of these questions, but I just put them here to illustrate my thought processes. Do they sound like OCD thoughts?
There is a constant fear for me to try my uncertainty strategies, because I feel like I'm going to to disrespect an angry god at the end of it, or there is a horrible punishment for me, my family and the people that I love at the end of it.
When my OCD got bad, I began to pray to a higher power for desperate help. My OCD didn't kick off again with religious thoughts, it started with the worry that I accidentally broke the law with child p*rn (I didn't, this worry is ok now)
Does this get better? I'm so scared.
Right now I'm trying some of the exposure things - looking at pictures of hell and then going about my day, accepting all the thoughts that come into my head, using phrases like, maybe I deserve hell, maybe I don't.
I'm just a regular kid, who enjoys books and life. I love and respect all the beautiful religions of the world. Before, I used to be able to deal with this concept quite naturally, even pondering hell just as a passing thought.
I believe everyone should be peaceful and live together in harmony. I think if you were to devote your life to being Christian, Muslim or anything else, you would lead a happy and beautiful life.
I'm really scared, some help would be appreciated. I know this ends with me finding my own path. I would want to go back to worshipping a God out of love and not fear of internal torture.
Thank you for all your continued help so far. There is some good news - it looks like I'm going to get OCD therapy very soon.
How can this get better if the threat of an enternal punishment is constantly ahead of me? I feel like I'm questioning every single action I do.
Love you all, thank you for your continued support.
XXX