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Question about forgiveness

fatherforgivethem

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Hi, please read everything with attention, it's important to understand my situation and I need help. I have OCD and many intrusive thoughts during the day and there is one thing about them that I don't know if it's OCD/intrusive thoughts or God talking to me on my conscience.

Unfortunately everyone sins, during the day sometimes I'm a bit arrogant and gives "bad answers" with a bit of anger to some people. Even though sometimes I think it's my OCD putting too much importance and making me worry SO MUCH for something I said that was actually NOT arrogant, sometimes I really make mistakes.

So I constantly keep questioning myself if I sinned or not, many many times. And for every single time I am arrogant, even the smallest ones without any intention, even without the "victim" not even caring or realizing I gave a bad answer to him and just continuing the conversation normally, in all this situations, there is always something inside my mind saying to me "go to your room and ask God for forgiveness" and I don't know if it is God in my conscience or if it is my OCD bothering me.

That happens MANY times during the day, even when I have a simple thought that is not arrogant at all, I go and ask God for forgiveness because "better safe than sorry". Anyway, during only one day I usually end up asking for forgiveness more than 10 times, somedays this number go up to 20 easily.


So I have 2 questions.
1- Do I need to ask for forgiveness every single time that I make or "think" that I make a mistake? Or can I ask for forgiveness only one time for all the things I did wrong during that day in a prayer at night before I sleep?

2- Is it the OCD bothering me or God telling me in my conscience that I sinned and need to ask for forgiveness? Because sometimes I don't think I did anything wrong and just said something normal but I end up asking God for forgiveness just because "better safe than sorry"... is it wrong?
 
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we walk in forgiveness ... sin is but a perception of lack whereby all things become of gain ...

ponder this ... Jesus speaking our Fathers words referencing Genesis 2:17 stated

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.

 
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Nova2216

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Hi, please read everything with attention, it's important to understand my situation and I need help. I have OCD and many intrusive thoughts during the day and there is one thing about them that I don't know if it's OCD/intrusive thoughts or God talking to me on my conscience.

Unfortunately everyone sins, during the day sometimes I'm a bit arrogant and gives "bad answers" with a bit of anger to some people. Even though sometimes I think it's my OCD putting too much importance and making me worry SO MUCH for something I said that was actually NOT arrogant, sometimes I really make mistakes.

So I constantly keep questioning myself if I sinned or not, many many times. And for every single time I am arrogant, even the smallest ones without any intention, even without the "victim" not even caring or realizing I gave a bad answer to him and just continuing the conversation normally, in all this situations, there is always something inside my mind saying to me "go to your room and ask God for forgiveness" and I don't know if it is God in my conscience or if it is my OCD bothering me.

That happens MANY times during the day, even when I have a simple thought that is not arrogant at all, I go and ask God for forgiveness because "better safe than sorry". Anyway, during only one day I usually end up asking for forgiveness more than 10 times, somedays this number go up to 20 easily.


So I have 2 questions.
1- Do I need to ask for forgiveness every single time that I make or "think" that I make a mistake? Or can I ask for forgiveness only one time for all the things I did wrong during that day in a prayer at night before I sleep?

2- Is it the OCD bothering me or God telling me in my conscience that I sinned and need to ask for forgiveness? Because sometimes I don't think I did anything wrong and just said something normal but I end up asking God for forgiveness just because "better safe than sorry"... is it wrong?

The alien sinner must follow (Rom 10:9,10)(Luke 13:3)(Acts 2:38,47 ; 8:5,12,13,26-40 ; 16:30-34 ; 22:16) and (Mark 16:16) to be forgiven of their sins initially by the blood of Jesus. (Eph 1:7) (Rev 1:5)

Thats done to become a Christian.

Afterwards what does the Christian do to be forgiven of sins committed?

Simon became a Christian in (Acts 8:13-24) but soon sinned.

An inspired man (Peter) told him to repent and pray for forgiveness. (Acts 8:22)

That harmonizes with what (1Jn 1:9) teaches.

Only Christians have the right to pray to God b/c the word of God says "God hears not sinners" (meaning alien sinners / those who are not christians).(Jn 9:31)

The Christian is covered by the blood of Christ for sin one occasionally commits. But deliberate continual sin is not covered b/c that is sin according to (1Jn 3:4) (1Jn 1:6-9).

This also prove man is under law today regardless of those who claim were are not under law. (1Jn 3:4).

Sin is transgression of law.

Today men sin so we must be under a law. (Gal. 6:2)

Ro 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

Jas 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

Check out - Could you explain "continual cleansing?"
 
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Tolworth John

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Do I need to ask for forgiveness every single time that I make or "think" that I make a mistake? Or can I ask for forgiveness only one time for all the things I did wrong during that day in a prayer at night before I sleep?

2- Is it the OCD bothering me or God telling me in my conscience that I sinned and need to ask for forgiveness? Because sometimes I don't think I did anything wrong and just said something normal but I end up asking God for forgiveness just because "better safe than sorry"

The thing about ocd and intrusive thoughts, those thoughts telling you to repent etc, is that they are not real.
Every time you get one of these thoughts telling you that you have sinned, that you have to go and say sorry to God or any thing else.
All you do is mentally say " yes you are right, O K.". And forget about that thought, carry on with what you were doing.

Please look up via Google:-
25 tips for successfully treating your ocd
Read it, re read and read it again so you understand how to deal with intrusive thoughts.
Please also discuss it with your doctor or therapist.
 
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Mari17

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Hi, please read everything with attention, it's important to understand my situation and I need help. I have OCD and many intrusive thoughts during the day and there is one thing about them that I don't know if it's OCD/intrusive thoughts or God talking to me on my conscience.

Unfortunately everyone sins, during the day sometimes I'm a bit arrogant and gives "bad answers" with a bit of anger to some people. Even though sometimes I think it's my OCD putting too much importance and making me worry SO MUCH for something I said that was actually NOT arrogant, sometimes I really make mistakes.

So I constantly keep questioning myself if I sinned or not, many many times. And for every single time I am arrogant, even the smallest ones without any intention, even without the "victim" not even caring or realizing I gave a bad answer to him and just continuing the conversation normally, in all this situations, there is always something inside my mind saying to me "go to your room and ask God for forgiveness" and I don't know if it is God in my conscience or if it is my OCD bothering me.

That happens MANY times during the day, even when I have a simple thought that is not arrogant at all, I go and ask God for forgiveness because "better safe than sorry". Anyway, during only one day I usually end up asking for forgiveness more than 10 times, somedays this number go up to 20 easily.


So I have 2 questions.
1- Do I need to ask for forgiveness every single time that I make or "think" that I make a mistake? Or can I ask for forgiveness only one time for all the things I did wrong during that day in a prayer at night before I sleep?

2- Is it the OCD bothering me or God telling me in my conscience that I sinned and need to ask for forgiveness? Because sometimes I don't think I did anything wrong and just said something normal but I end up asking God for forgiveness just because "better safe than sorry"... is it wrong?
This sounds obsessive to me. Do you have OCD in other areas of your life as well, or have you in the past?
 
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fatherforgivethem

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This sounds obsessive to me. Do you have OCD in other areas of your life as well, or have you in the past?

I don't know exactly what you mean by "areas", but I have a bit of OCD related to cleaning, but primarily is about religious things, I ask God for forgiveness many times a day because of my fear that I did something wrong even when I don't think it's wrong, also I keep asking myself if I sinned everytime in almost everything I do during the day, overthinking things, etc.
 
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Mari17

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I don't know exactly what you mean by "areas", but I have a bit of OCD related to cleaning, but primarily is about religious things, I ask God for forgiveness many times a day because of my fear that I did something wrong even when I don't think it's wrong, also I keep asking myself if I sinned everytime in almost everything I do during the day, overthinking things, etc.
Yes, I have mostly OCD/scrupulosity too, although I do struggle with the classic contamination OCD at times. I think religious obsessions are really common in Christians with OCD.

I'm curious, how would YOU answer the two questions that you asked? In your (non-obsessive) opinion, what is a reasonable amount of confession?
 
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fatherforgivethem

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Sorry if I wrote too much. I wanted to give you more insight on my OCD so you could understand better my point of view on the "non-obsessive answers" I tried to give.


I'm curious, how would YOU answer the two questions that you asked? In your (non-obsessive) opinion, what is a reasonable amount of confession?

Question 1- Just a further explanation of my OCD: of course we need to ask for forgiveness everytime we sin. But for example, everytime I have a sinful intrusive thought of any kind I just "run" from them, I try the best I can to abandon it the fastest I can. But sometimes it has the same "speed" as me, so instead of the intrusive thought staying for just 1 second, it lasts for 5 seconds, just an example. Then, I can't say exactly if I contributed keeping them for a bit more or if it was 100% OCD during the entirety of the 5 seconds. So since I can't distinguish, I just go for the "better safe than sorry" and confess, repent and ask for forgiveness for having that kind of thoughts, in this exact sequence on the prayer. That's the reason why I end up asking for forgiveness so many times.

-And during the prayer asking for forgiveness, if I distract a little bit for like 3 seconds and then turn back to concentrate I think I sinned so I also ask for forgiveness for that.
And if I repeat the name of Jesus and God like 2, 3 or more times during the prayer, I also think I have sinned because I'm repeating in "vain", so I also ask for forgiveness because of that.
Did you get it? It gets me in a "loop", where I can easily ask for forgiveness 7~8 in like 20minutes. To be honest I don't count them, so I'm guessing numbers. But to make you understand more, sometimes I ask for forgiveness so many times in a short period of time that I start to feel nausea, dizziness and mentally tired.

So, answering the question 1 in a non-obsessive way: I don't know the truth because only God knows, but because of the things I mentioned above, I think I can ask for forgiveness only one time at the end of the day before I sleep (that's when I make a "general" prayer).

So now you are probably thinking "if you think you can do that, why don't you do?". Because of two thoughts/reasons. The first is: "what if Jesus come back before I pray at night? Then I will not have confessed, repented before Him and asked for forgiveness and get condemned. So I will pray right now".
The second thought/reason: "what if I forget one of the things that I want to ask for forgiveness? I don't think God would condemn me for forgetting, but I chose the option to pray at night, so I took on the responsibility of forgetting. I put myself in a situation that I could forget and I was aware of that. Then, I'm guilty for forgetting, consequently also guilty for not asking for forgiveness because of that specific thing."
That's why I feel the need to ask for forgiveness in the first opportunity I have, what ends up resulting on the things I mentioned above, the "loop", the nausea, the repetition, etc...





Question 2- It contains two questions. First question: I really don't know. Second question: I don't think the "better safe than sorry" kind of prayer is wrong, since there is some things I do that I really don't know if it's wrong or not. For example, recently I read a notice about the company X re-releasing their content A, but with some upgrades on it. Then, in the comments, there was a guy joking saying "as long as they keep that specific thing on the re-release of the content A, it's all good with the world" (basically the punchline is the "specific thing" is something really irrelevant, but it's not the point of the discussion here haha). I laughed at the joke, but suddenly after, I got so many thoughts saying "you can't laugh at that joke, the only one that can bring peace to the world and make it 'all good' it's Jesus and God, you are sinning laughing at that joke", even though the "it's all good with the world" in the joke was completely figurative and ironic. Then... I asked for forgiveness for God because I didn't know exactly whether it was wrong or not to laugh at that joke, so it was a "better safe than sorry" kind of prayer.
 
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Mari17

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Thank you for your thorough explanation! I really do understand how you feel. Those of us with OCD tend to get very analytical with our thoughts, at least as they relate to our obsessions. It sounds like that's what you're doing in this case.

I don't have all the answers, but here are a few of my thoughts:

1. Are intrusive thoughts really sins? Are they something that you have to spend a lot of effort asking forgiveness for?
2. It sounds like you have a "common-sense," intuitive answer to your first question - 'cover' your 'smaller' sins by praying once for them at the end of the day - but OCD is overriding that with doubts and fears.
3. Those of us with OCD don't leave much room for God's grace. We think that WE have to do everything perfectly. But do we? Is our salvation dependent upon our perfectly remembering and asking forgiveness for every tiny sin? Or is God's grace big enough to cover the gap when we fail? If you decide to ask forgiveness once at the end of the day, does God not know that you have decided to do that, even if something should happen in the meantime? And in another vein....is it possible that you are spending SO MUCH time focusing on asking forgiveness perfectly, that you are neglecting other things He might want you to be doing....like enjoying Him and getting to know Him on a personal level, loving other people, doing your daily activities, etc.?

As I said, I'm not a theological expert, and I don't know all the answers. But these are some of the things that I've pondered in my own journey through OCD. One thing I'm slowly realizing is that, while it may sound righteous to do everything 'perfectly' and err WAY on the side of caution, it's actually perhaps not always the wisest choice to be so extreme. I think it's possible to be so fanatical about doing the right thing in every tiny detail that we overlook other, more important things that we should be focusing on. I'm still trying to figure all this out myself, but this is what I've been learning so far!
 
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sunshineforJesus

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I also have O C D and used to always worry about doing things that were offensive or bothering others,
but as time has gone by and with Jesus help,Ive been doing much better about it.
 
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St_Worm2

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Idk how post in anything Else can you help
Hello Jesuslove70708, sure, I'll try.

First off, if you want to start a thread about something, go here: Forums and look for the most appropriate board to start your new thread on.

Once you find the best board, click on it and then click on the "Post New Thread" button. Then fill out the thread title, write your post (and add a poll if you'd care to) and click on "Create Post".

Or, if you find a thread that says something that you'd like to reply to, just click on "Reply" at the bottom of the OP or post that you'd like to say something about, write your reply, and then click on "Post Reply" at the bottom.

The good news is, you can always edit your post and/or cancel what you wrote by hitting the edit button, so no worries (actually, you can't really cancel your own post, but if you want to get rid of it w/o bothering a mod, just click on edit at the bottom, do a Ctrl + A to highlight everything, click on the dot/period button and save it. Then all anyone will see is the dot :)

I hope this is what you were interested in knowing and that it all works for you. If not, let me know and I'll try again.

God bless you!

--David
p.s. - you could practice by replying to this post. Just hit the reply button at the bottom of this post, type a reply and post it :oldthumbsup:
 
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St_Worm2

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You're welcome :)

Good job on your reply, BTW :oldthumbsup::oldthumbsup:

You can also drop YouTube videos and/or pictures of all sorts into your posts with two of those buttons above, one that looks like a picture of a mountain, and the other that looks like film.

For instance,

SunriseandLam3.22-24_Webcopy.jpg


-or-

 
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