Afraid of idolatry again

[Gingerine]

Hi again, I haven't been here for a while my journey with ocd has been going well mostly, but recently I've been trying to get back into my work as a novelist and I was struck my a thought that paralyzed me. When I was a child I used to spend so much time daydreaming and making up stories. I never thought much of it but yesterday I started thinking that I committed idolatry as a child. My fear is that if that is true then I can no longer use my mind to plan my novels or what not because if I turned it into an idol all those years ago using it again now might get me sent to hell. It feels silly writing it here but I feel condemned by the mere action of planning out how my day will go. But I don't know if I did turn it into an idol as a child, back then I didn't have ocd and wasn't worried about it. Oh, what should I do? Perhaps I should quit writing but I want to use it for God, I keep thinking this must be from God but I don't know, I don't want to go to hell.
I remind myself that people are still allowed to use money if they turned it into an idol, but it isn't working for me, I am still afraid of going to hell. I see a lot of people struggling with stuff like this, does anyone have any advice?

 

[seeking.IAM]

An idol is creation of false God, or worshipping an inanimate object. Unless you are praying to your money and offering a burnt offering to it I think you have nothing to worry about.

An idol is not just a thing that you value, although I'm sure you've heard some preacher expounding on it in this way. Perhaps it would be useful to change your thinking about the definition of what an idol is.

 

[Junia]

Hi again, I haven't been here for a while my journey with ocd has been going well mostly, but recently I've been trying to get back into my work as a novelist and I was struck my a thought that paralyzed me. When I was a child I used to spend so much time daydreaming and making up stories. I never thought much of it but yesterday I started thinking that I committed idolatry as a child. My fear is that if that is true then I can no longer use my mind to plan my novels or what not because if I turned it into an idol all those years ago using it again now might get me sent to hell. It feels silly writing it here but I feel condemned by the mere action of planning out how my day will go. But I don't know if I did turn it into an idol as a child, back then I didn't have ocd and wasn't worried about it. Oh, what should I do? Perhaps I should quit writing but I want to use it for God, I keep thinking this must be from God but I don't know, I don't want to go to hell.
I remind myself that people are still allowed to use money if they turned it into an idol, but it isn't working for me, I am still afraid of going to hell. I see a lot of people struggling with stuff like this, does anyone have any advice?

I
Doesn't sound silly at all. I also suffer OCD and have had a similar issue regarding hell and idolatory.

For me it helped to understand that God holds is secure in our salvation unless we decide to renounce it and fall away from the faith

 

[Junia]

Us not is

Also,.I love our profile pic!!! I think it is awesome that we both have guinea pigs in our profile pics!!

 

[ss51]

Hi, when we repent He remembers them no more, that we are "working out our salvation with fear and trembling" is how He would have us, seeking out and repenting and knowing He has forgiven. The journey with Him. That is how it looks from here. Best wishes

The "edit" function is available at the lower left hand corner under the 3 horizontal lines. Best wishes

 

[Tolworth John]

yesterday I started thinking that I committed idolatry as a child.

Jesus paid for ALL your sins, not just a few but every single sin you commited either knowingly or in ignorance his agonising slow bloody death on the cross dealt with them all.

 

[UnpopularOpinion]

Hi again, I haven't been here for a while my journey with ocd has been going well mostly, but recently I've been trying to get back into my work as a novelist and I was struck my a thought that paralyzed me. When I was a child I used to spend so much time daydreaming and making up stories. I never thought much of it but yesterday I started thinking that I committed idolatry as a child. My fear is that if that is true then I can no longer use my mind to plan my novels or what not because if I turned it into an idol all those years ago using it again now might get me sent to hell. It feels silly writing it here but I feel condemned by the mere action of planning out how my day will go. But I don't know if I did turn it into an idol as a child, back then I didn't have ocd and wasn't worried about it. Oh, what should I do? Perhaps I should quit writing but I want to use it for God, I keep thinking this must be from God but I don't know, I don't want to go to hell.
I remind myself that people are still allowed to use money if they turned it into an idol, but it isn't working for me, I am still afraid of going to hell. I see a lot of people struggling with stuff like this, does anyone have any advice?

You will not have relief of any sort of that unless you understand that
a) Salvation was done by Christ on cross when He died for your sins , not by YOU , you are nobody really and have nothing to do with it
b) Christ obtained salvation for mankind and gave it to us freely as gift , if you accept it you will have eternal life for free , again it does not matter how many or what sins you commited as child, if you commited one sin you alredy broke whole law and can't "repair it" by not commiting it again , same as murderer can't get away from being guildy by promising judge that he will not murder again in future...
Thats why you cannot save yourself and the only way you can be sure you are not going to go to hell after you die is when you accept Christ's gift .

example: Apostle Paul was Jew who would crucify Christians ( murder them ) before God called him and explained to him who Christ was and he was born again of God and changed from killing Christians to spreading good news of salvation to everybody and suffering as Christian himself.

 

[Junia]

You will not have relief of any sort of that unless you understand that
a) Salvation was done by Christ on cross when He died for your sins , not by YOU , you are nobody really and have nothing to do with it
b) Christ obtained salvation for mankind and gave it to us freely as gift , if you accept it you will have eternal life for free , again it does not matter how many or what sins you commited as child, if you commited one sin you alredy broke whole law and can't "repair it" by not commiting it again , same as murderer can't get away from being guildy by promising judge that he will not murder again in future...
Thats why you cannot save yourself and the only way you can be sure you are not going to go to hell after you die is when you accept Christ's gift .

example: Apostle Paul was Jew who would crucify Christians ( murder them ) before God called him and explained to him who Christ was and he was born again of God and changed from killing Christians to spreading good news of salvation to everybody and suffering as Christian himself.

This is
TRUTH

 

[Junia]

Hi again, I haven't been here for a while my journey with ocd has been going well mostly, but recently I've been trying to get back into my work as a novelist and I was struck my a thought that paralyzed me. When I was a child I used to spend so much time daydreaming and making up stories. I never thought much of it but yesterday I started thinking that I committed idolatry as a child. My fear is that if that is true then I can no longer use my mind to plan my novels or what not because if I turned it into an idol all those years ago using it again now might get me sent to hell. It feels silly writing it here but I feel condemned by the mere action of planning out how my day will go. But I don't know if I did turn it into an idol as a child, back then I didn't have ocd and wasn't worried about it. Oh, what should I do? Perhaps I should quit writing but I want to use it for God, I keep thinking this must be from God but I don't know, I don't want to go to hell.
I remind myself that people are still allowed to use money if they turned it into an idol, but it isn't working for me, I am still afraid of going to hell. I see a lot of people struggling with stuff like this, does anyone have any advice?

I

your piggie
Looks like she was expecting a big litter.. How many did she have?

 

[ss51]

Fear is not of the Lord, i've heard it taught "fear not" is in the Bible 365 times, seems He really wants us to be obedient in this area as well as all others.

 

[Gingerine]

Fear is not of the Lord, i've heard it taught "fear not" is in the Bible 365 times, seems He really wants us to be obedient in this area as well as all others.

Oh thank you so much, unfortunately that's not my piggy (mine died) just a cute one I made my icon.

 

[Gingerine]

Thank you everyone, I just keep having these bad thoughts. Today I was walking in the kitchen when I remembered that when I was a kid I thought to myself there were two things I do didn't want God touching my mother and storytelling, I was stupid and not thinking but I can't remember if I corrected myself or not, I keep thinking that this is why I am having this problem because of that bad thing I had forgotten about, I repented about this but I think that maybe I am being struck by this terror as a way of God letting me know that I am no longer allowed to make up stories. I am so saddened by that thought, how can I prove whether it's true?

 

[ss51]

God only does good. It is the adversary who only comes to steal, kill and destroy, stealing your peace is not of g-d, but is of the enemy. I have things come up a lot, and recognize that as the opportunity to repent and then they don't come up anymore.

 

[Mari17]

Thank you everyone, I just keep having these bad thoughts. Today I was walking in the kitchen when I remembered that when I was a kid I thought to myself there were two things I do didn't want God touching my mother and storytelling, I was stupid and not thinking but I can't remember if I corrected myself or not, I keep thinking that this is why I am having this problem because of that bad thing I had forgotten about, I repented about this but I think that maybe I am being struck by this terror as a way of God letting me know that I am no longer allowed to make up stories. I am so saddened by that thought, how can I prove whether it's true?

How do you deal with your other obsessions? What strategies do you use to treat them?

 

[Gingerine]

How do you deal with your other obsessions? What strategies do you use to treat them?

I try to ignore them, but then i get these strong feeling that God wants me to give these things up. But then I don't know if He does, then I worry that what if I can't give them up and them I feel like I need to give them up even more. How can I ignore these thoughts without feeling like I'm going to disobey God and fall away?

 

[Mari17]

I try to ignore them, but then i get these strong feeling that God wants me to give these things up. But then I don't know if He does, then I worry that what if I can't give them up and them I feel like I need to give them up even more. How can I ignore these thoughts without feeling like I'm going to disobey God and fall away?

Do you have a trusted person that you can go to, and who you can ask about these things? Usually OCD distorts our logic, so it helps to have a non-obsessive person whose advice we respect, and they can give us some perspective on whether or not we're thinking obsessively about something.

 

[Gingerine]

Do you have a trusted person that you can go to, and who you can ask about these things? Usually OCD distorts our logic, so it helps to have a non-obsessive person whose advice we respect, and they can give us some perspective on whether or not we're thinking obsessively about something.

I do, I talk to my friends and such and they think it's ocd. But I keep having these thoughts that say I wouldn't give up those things for God and when I imagine doing it, it seems do daunting and uncomfortable that I fear I wouldn't give them up after all.

 

[Mari17]

I do, I talk to my friends and such and they think it's ocd. But I keep having these thoughts that say I wouldn't give up those things for God and when I imagine doing it, it seems do daunting and uncomfortable that I fear I wouldn't give them up after all.

There are many hard things that seem daunting for us to do, and OCD would love for us to focus on them all. But here's the thing: I think that, in many cases, God leads us and prepares us gradually for what we are to do, even if it's hard. That's what those of us with OCD forget. We, like Peter, focus on the "waves" of our fears, on the things that seem so awful and scary and which OCD seems to be demanding that we do. But we forget that God is Emanuel - God WITH us. He does life with us. He's not leaving us to figure it out and do it all in our own power. Our OCD perfectionism gets a kick out of making us feel like we DO have to do it in our own power - like if we don't figure it all out ourselves and try to do it in our own strength, we're not good enough. But I think one of the key lessons we need to learn is to depend upon God to help us - to lead us, and guide us, and give us the strength and desire for what He wants us to do. And the emphasis is on what HE wants us to do - not what the OCD is demanding! As we spend time with Him and get to know Him more, I think we can learn more and more to discern His voice, versus the OCD's. But it's a matter of letting go of our obsessive fears and our need to be perfect, and practicing trusting Him, and spending time with Him, and learning to listen to Him and not OCD.

 

[Gingerine]

There are many hard things that seem daunting for us to do, and OCD would love for us to focus on them all. But here's the thing: I think that, in many cases, God leads us and prepares us gradually for what we are to do, even if it's hard. That's what those of us with OCD forget. We, like Peter, focus on the "waves" of our fears, on the things that seem so awful and scary and which OCD seems to be demanding that we do. But we forget that God is Emanuel - God WITH us. He does life with us. He's not leaving us to figure it out and do it all in our own power. Our OCD perfectionism gets a kick out of making us feel like we DO have to do it in our own power - like if we don't figure it all out ourselves and try to do it in our own strength, we're not good enough. But I think one of the key lessons we need to learn is to depend upon God to help us - to lead us, and guide us, and give us the strength and desire for what He wants us to do. And the emphasis is on what HE wants us to do - not what the OCD is demanding! As we spend time with Him and get to know Him more, I think we can learn more and more to discern His voice, versus the OCD's. But it's a matter of letting go of our obsessive fears and our need to be perfect, and practicing trusting Him, and spending time with Him, and learning to listen to Him and not OCD.

Thank you so much Mari and everyone your words mean a lot to me and have helped me put things into perspective. I have been feeling that I need to trust God and let Him lead but fear has been holding me back. I really want to get rid of this disease, if only it wasn't so convincing. I am doing better and thank God for that, I still have a long way to go though.

 

[Mari17]

Thank you so much Mari and everyone your words mean a lot to me and have helped me put things into perspective. I have been feeling that I need to trust God and let Him lead but fear has been holding me back. I really want to get rid of this disease, if only it wasn't so convincing. I am doing better and thank God for that, I still have a long way to go though.

It is definitely a process, but you're right, it's a great exercise in learning to trust God more!! Feel free to pm anytime if you're struggling!