I suffer from pure O, involving ruminating about the level of suffering in this world, this indicates there is a non-benevolent deity. I ruminate about the afterlife and the potential for the non-benevolent deity to subject me to eternal suffering ie hell. This robs me of the ability to be in the moment and enjoy this life.
Practising ERP is tricky for my issues. I imagine scenarios of eternal physical and mental suffering and how I might cope or not cope. I suspect this equates to ritual thinking. Difficult to know what exactly is the exposure in my case. I think response prevention is acknowledging the thought and moving on but worried if I ‘move on’ too quickly this is a form of avoidance.
Interested to hear if others have similar issues and how they cope
Thanks
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THL1
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The Bible and prayer are the best sources of therapy. Trusting in the sacrifice Jesus made on the Cross for your sins, my sins, and the sins of the world is what secures our eternal future, not confidence in ourselves.
A. Why we need salvation: We have all sinned and the consequence of sin is spiritual death (separation from God)
Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”
Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
B. How God provides salvation: Jesus died to pay the price for our sin.
Romans 5:8, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
C. How we can receive salvation: We must believe in Jesus and give our lives to Him
Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Romans 10:13, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
D. What the results of salvation are: If we believe in Jesus, God will forgive our sins and give us eternal life.
Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Romans 8:1, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Thank you for getting in touch Brighter_Days.I was raised a Catholic but nowadays I can’t relate to organised religion, scriptures and religious texts. They are not sources of solace or meaning for me I’m afraid.
You’re welcome…I do want you to know that it’s not about religion, it’s about a relationship with your Creator, who loves you and wants a relationship with you. And the way you get to know Him is through His Word.
Hi THL1 - I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone! And while faith and scripture can be helpful in live for those who find those areas value-driven, when it comes to OCD, ERP is still the best solution. However, I know this can be super super super hard when it comes to things like suffering in the world, death, and hell. I'm an ordained minister with OCD, and I totally get it - this is tricky stuff!
I lead a lot of our work around OCD/faith (iocdf.org/ocdandfaith), and our brand new resource addressing a lot of these topics should be up in the next month. You are also welcome to join the IOCDF Faith/OCD Special Interest group I lead with others navigating this topic - forms.gle/5EArrAeqSX1bsHq98
The biggest advice I would give is to acknowledge the thoughts when they pop up, say hi, and move on with your life. I don't think this is avoidance as long as you are recognizing they are there (without pushing them away) and letting them be there while you seek to joyfully live your life. It may feel irresponsible, but this is really where the "response prevention" portion comes in. Does this make sense? You're doing awesome!
THL1I have scrupulousity OCD (since I was 6) and in 2017/2018 went through an extreme case of religious OCD that I was only inches from committing myself to the hospital. When I was younger, I never thought I was "good enough" to make it to heaven and the least mistake I was doomed to hell.
Things completely changed when I was 24 years old and heard the Good News.
I won't go into big detail here, however Brighter_Days is 100% correct. I'm not sure where you are on your faith journey, and I do realize that you will probably still have OCD (I have had it over 60 years). You are welcome to private message me anytime and I can share more.
Please sign up with the link Katie gives us below. I think you will benefit from joining it. I intend to myself.
I still have OCD and believe I always will, but now I know how much God loves me and because of Jesus, no matter what I will live eternally with Him. Hope to see you in the Zoom.
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