God does not tempt

[Hermit7]

I was just wondering-is it possible for me to argue that because God does not tempt us to sin that He would never try to make bargain with me to choose my salvation over a desire?

Like today I really wanted to print a form and I needed to remember my email password which I momentarily forgot.

A thought into my mind that I would trade in my salvation to remember.

I then remembered it and freaked out.

But if God does not tempt that means He would never initiate that bargain with me right?

He won't recognize it right?

Hermit

 

[OCD=Owie]

Well it's not like God wants you to trade away your salvation. I think the heart of your problem is that these "bargains" you're so concerned about are just random thoughts/feelings that pop into your head. They're not intentional, they're not serious, and they're not on the level of consciousness you believe them to be.

I know that, with my own, similar symptoms, I eventually learned that these thoughts I had were not what I believed them to be. They feel so real that I would think, "I just consciously, intentionally thought this and meant it!" But in reality, they were very subconscious, fleeting thoughts that I didn't want in the first place. The only reason they came into my head at all was because I was so fearful of the idea that I might think them.

When you're so extremely scared about thinking something, you will eventually think it. It's like the famous "pink elephant" example. If I told you not to think of pink elephants, the first think that would pop into your mind would be an image of a pink elephant. You didn't choose to think of that elephant. It just naturally popped into your consciousness as a result of my bringing it to your attention.

Same thing is true for your current thoughts. If you're so worried about losing your salvation, so worried that you're constantly thinking about it or constantly trying to keep such thoughts out of your head, eventually, you're going to think of those very thoughts you're trying to avoid. It's the way the human brain works, and, unfortunately, with those of us with OCD, we have an extremely difficult time just letting our thoughts go (which, in turn, would lead to us not thinking about them and freaking ourselves out anymore.)