Can an OCD person ever get assurance?

[Bob8102]

I have been struggling with OCD and struggling with the gospel for decades. I ask the question because of what I read in a book on Christians with OCD. The book is called Strivings Within by Mitsy VanCleeve. The author talks about how the author of Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan, centuries ago, apparently had OCD. I have read about him and how he kept doubting his salvation and having other struggles. VanCLeeve said that he eventually gave up trying to seek assurance. He decided that come heaven, come hell, he was for ‘venturing all for the name of Christ.’ She said that only by making this decision was he able to continue ‘serving His Lord.’ This jives with other advice I’ve read which says that OCD people must learn to live with the OCD and its uncertainty.

If all of the above is true, then OCD people can never get assurance of salvation, right?. Yet one author I read said that your spiritual life will never really take off until you have assurance.

 

[d taylor]

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They should easily be able to. They just need to believe God's promise that anyone who believes in Jesus for Eternal Life (God's free gift) has that life at the very moment of their belief in Jesus and crosses over from death to life.

They must not look at themselves, but only God promise.

 

[Larniavc]

If you like I can send you some CBT resources that can be used to help manage OCD symptoms.

 

[fhansen]

I have been struggling with OCD and struggling with the gospel for decades. I ask the question because of what I read in a book on Christians with OCD. The book is called Strivings Within by Mitsy VanCleeve. The author talks about how the author of Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan, centuries ago, apparently had OCD. I have read about him and how he kept doubting his salvation and having other struggles. VanCLeeve said that he eventually gave up trying to seek assurance. He decided that come heaven, come hell, he was for ‘venturing all for the name of Christ.’ She said that only by making this decision was he able to continue ‘serving His Lord.’ This jives with other advice I’ve read which says that OCD people must learn to live with the OCD and its uncertainty.

If all of the above is true, then OCD people can never get assurance of salvation, right?. Yet one author I read said that your spiritual life will never really take off until you have assurance.

No one needs absolute assurance, with or without OCD, hyperscrupulosity, perfectionism, et al. Related to this, we don't need to be perfectly sinless. We only need to know that God is infinitely trustworthy, true, merciful, and good and has our best and highest interest at heart and that to the extent that we remain in Him with faith, hope, and love we have the Holy Spirit, by and through whom we're able to live out His will. Good fruit will be in evidence-and that faith, hope, and love will grow even stronger yet.

 

[Mark Quayle]

I have been struggling with OCD and struggling with the gospel for decades. I ask the question because of what I read in a book on Christians with OCD. The book is called Strivings Within by Mitsy VanCleeve. The author talks about how the author of Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan, centuries ago, apparently had OCD. I have read about him and how he kept doubting his salvation and having other struggles. VanCLeeve said that he eventually gave up trying to seek assurance. He decided that come heaven, come hell, he was for ‘venturing all for the name of Christ.’ She said that only by making this decision was he able to continue ‘serving His Lord.’ This jives with other advice I’ve read which says that OCD people must learn to live with the OCD and its uncertainty.

If all of the above is true, then OCD people can never get assurance of salvation, right?. Yet one author I read said that your spiritual life will never really take off until you have assurance.

The OCD people I have known in this life are very varied, though they have much in common, too. For the most part, I have found them very intelligent, able to reason well.

One thing I can suggest, is to pursue Christ with all your might, with all your will, with all your heart. Get to know him, spend hours praying, reading, without demanding he answer your questions. Get to know him and you may find, in his timing, that your life is about him, for better or for worse. And that for that, he is to be praised. You belong to him.