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Afraid of going to hell for knowingly sinning

Mari17

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I am glad that you posted on this topic. I too am struggling with these intrusive thoughts. They become so bad that they take over my life. I feel like the scriptures confuse me sometimes. On one hand they talk about how bad sinning is and why we should not commit sin. On the other hand they say Jesus has washed us of all of our sins by shedding his blood for us. I believe that Jesus shed his blood to cleanse us of our sins yet I still grapple with theses emotions. I will be praying for you and hope that you are able to find peace within your heart.
Do you have OCD/scrupulosity?
 
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Mari17

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I am not sure, but after researching this week I believe I do. Is there any treatment for this?
Yes! OCD is highly treatable. I'd be happy to share some advice and/or some of my favorite websites if you'd like. Do you know much about treating OCD, or about types of therapy for it (such as CBT and ERP)?
 
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jb8185

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Yes! OCD is highly treatable. I'd be happy to share some advice and/or some of my favorite websites if you'd like. Do you know much about treating OCD, or about types of therapy for it (such as CBT and ERP)?


I have just now been researching my options. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
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A_Thinker

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But please if you respond please put like verses or something because my ocd doesn't stop when people say its fine forget about it which is what other ppl say.

You were very wise to ask for responses to be accompanied by scripture.

The way that I see salvation ... is like going to AA.

In AA, you "learn" what you need to do to overcome your addiction ... AND you are "encouraged" and "enabled" to do so. However, despite your involvement in AA, ... you may or may not follow all of their rules, guidelines, and encouragements. But, as long as you continue to participate, you are displaying your desire and determination to overcome. And AA can continue to help yo.

God knows that we will not perfectly follow His plan for us, even once we become His children. But, as long as we keep communing with Him, admitting our faults and failures, and asking Him for help to do better, ... He keeps us ... and helps us.

God will not throw us out of His kingdom ...

John 6

37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and them that come to me I will never cast out.

38 For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but to do the will of the One who sent me.

39 And this is the Father's will which sent me, that, of all which He hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.

40 And this is the will of Him that sent me, that every one which sees the Son, and believes on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
 
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A_Thinker

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Yes! OCD is highly treatable. I'd be happy to share some advice and/or some of my favorite websites if you'd like. Do you know much about treating OCD, or about types of therapy for it (such as CBT and ERP)?

Bless you ...
 
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Mari17

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I have just now been researching my options. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I have so much I could say about OCD, I don't really know where to start! :) I've had it for most of my life; it started when I was a young child, and I've had many different themes, most of them moral or religious (scrupulosity). Some people benefit from medication; I've never taken it, but I can see how it could help if one is really struggling. The most important thing is to learn how to manage the OCD. Those of us with OCD will likely always be predisposed to obsess, because our brain chemistry is such that we seem to have excess anxious energy that tends to latch onto certain topics and start obsessing about them. It's like we "need" something to worry about, so when our brains come up with some crazy or fear-inducing idea (as everyone's brains do!), instead of using common sense and easily dismissing the ideas as "normal" people do, we start worrying that they might be true. Once we start worrying and hyper-analyzing, it becomes very hard for us to stop.

The key to getting out of the obsessive cycle is to learn to stop that which our brains very badly want us to do - our compulsions. Compulsions are whatever we do to relieve the anxiety. For some obsessions, these are outward things, such as handwashing to relieve the feeling of contamination. For many moral and religious obsessions, compulsions include asking for reassurance over and over, researching the obsessive topic to death to "try to figure it out," or doing mental compulsions like pushing a thought away or trying to cancel it out by repetitive prayers. All of these things only serve to perpetuate the obsessive cycle, because our brains are so afraid that they will not allow us to be relieved by any of our compulsions. For example, if we seek reassurance, we may temporarily feel better, but the OCD will soon come up with another "what if" to cause us to doubt again. That's why we have to refuse to do the compulsions - as hard as that is! - and allow our anxiety to rise without trying to relieve it. As we do this over and over and over, our brains gradually get the message that the anxiety signals it is sending us (which are false or exaggerated) are no longer working, and it will gradually send fewer anxiety signals and less distress. It's really an incredibly simple process, but SO hard to put into practice because the anxiety is real, and makes it seem like the thoughts the OCD is sending us are valid. We always have a reason for why the obsession is a valid concern; what we fail to see, though, is that even if it is a topic that stems from a seed of truth, as many obsessions do, our minds are WAY over-analyzing and exaggerating the fear, and thus we are unable to view the topic clearly and see the ways that we are distorting it.

These kinds of mind strategies are, basically, exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy. The most intense kind of ERP involves purposely putting oneself into situations that provoke the anxiety, while refusing to do compulsions. This presumably helps one overcome the OCD faster. Whether or not one chooses to do purposeful exposures, however, the basic mind strategies are the same - learn to live with the anxiety without giving into OCD's urges to do the compulsions, which in turn causes the anxiety to gradually go down.

There's way more I could say about this, and some websites that say it all much better than I can. If you like, I can share links to some of my favorite resources, or share more of my own experiences. OCD can be tough to deal with, but it's highly treatable and it's possible to live in victory over it even if one is predisposed to it. I pray God helps you in your search for freedom!
 
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