hi

[raven1]

is doubting God a common O.C.D. thing. i am scared it is not and it just me. i didnt doubt God for fifteen years since i got saved now it is constant doubt. how did he create the world? Is he there etc. I haven't seen alot about this being O.C.D so I am scared it is all my fault.

Thanks

 

[zingiber]

I am very surprised that you have seem to have seen so little about OCD and doubting God. Among Christians, doubting God is a very common symptom. In fact, if you trawl through the archives here, you will find many threads on that topic.

Before OCD was given its current name, one of the titles given to it was 'the doubting disease'. Doubt is the at the very heart of OCD. Think about the religious obsessions: 'Can God forgive me?' 'What if Islam/Judaism/Buddhism/etc is the true religion?' 'What if this passage actually means this?'. Think also of the 'normal' obsessions: 'Did I really turn the toaster off?' 'Does my spouse really love me?' 'What if I do catch AIDS because I didn't wear gloves?' 'What if I do stab my baby?' 'Maybe I did hit that pedestrian?' All of these are common obsessions. And notice that they all have a common theme; doubt. We never really believe the thoughts, but those niggling 'what if?' thoughts are enough to trigger our brain's fear responses, so the thoughts get undue attention.

If you are thinking 'What if?', it is almost certain that the thought is OCD, expecially if it is repetitive. Your thoughts seem just like this. 'What if God really isn't there?' and 'What if the world really did develop into its present form all on its own?' and 'What if it really is my fault?'. You might be encouraged to know that some atheists with OCD think 'What if God really does exist?' 'What if God was needed to get the world to its current form?'. I have seen this several times, on different forums.

 

[raven1]

thanks for replying zingiber. anyone elses comments will be helpful as well.

 

[raven1]

but i am scared because i dont know if God created the earth. i believed he did before but now i say how did he do it. how is it possible so i cant really say i dont believe like you said in your post people dont believe there thoghts they just have naggging doubts. i am so scared i am going to hell.

 

[Tonyy2]

Yea doubt is the main part of OCD. Its hard but you can make it through. What zingiber said is very interesting. Atheists question if there is a God. Just shows that OCD is a disorder and that any one can deal with it. Stay on path

 

[justpassingthrough21]

The real goal is not to try to fight the doubts, as in trying to prove to your mind that the earth was created by God. Their is proves all around, but you will never get enough to wrestle away the doubt. Actually, to more you try to disprove the doubts, the stronger they get. I am traveled down that road. I actually have more faith now than I have in a long time, and I refuse to argue with every doubt. You will wear yourself out.
Some things can provide temporary relief. If your having doubts about Jesus, then I spose reading appologetics would help. For example, the Bible says that the world was created by God when he "spoke" it into existence. That is supported by scientific proof that the smallest for of something is actually a sound wave. Scientists goal for a long time is to find the smallest thing, for a while the quark was believed to be the smallest thing. quarks positioned in certain ways is what makes electrons, neutrons and protons. But they were able to eventually break a quark down and all it did was produce sound.

Things like that can provide relief, but your mind is going to go down 100 more paths and create more doubts. The goal is, even if their was never and scientific evidence or appologetic books or anything that would give you that proofs, you would still believe. Get back to where the Bible is enough. When doubts come, I say to myself "I will lean not on my own understanding". I have realized my knowledge is tiny compared to the big picture of it all, their is no way I could know and prove everything. Just because something doesn't make sense to me doesn't make it not true. For a while I fought with the idea of Jesus walking on top of water. It didn't make sense to me at all and I couldn't quite figure it out, I finally decided that I believe he did what the Bible says he did, and thats the end of that, no trying to figure it out.
Don't argue and figure out the doubts, just throw scripture at them. Scripturally tell your mind that you don't care, and you are going to believe no matter what.

 

[zingiber]

I think the advice given by justpassingthrough21 is very good, as are his comments on the nature of OCD. Unfortunately, the more assurance we are given, the more we need. The smallest chink in the armour of belief is enough to stick a dagger of doubt through! That is why ignoring the thoughts or throwing scripture at them works so well - we are no longer arguing with the thoughts, and since we refuse to give them attention the mind no longer attaches importance to them. Constant rumination on the thoughts brings anxiety. In these cases, it is best to do what justpassingthough21 says - choose what you have decided to believe and what you have believed before, and live it. I think you will find that the issue will then come into place on its own, much later on. Indeed, I daresay you will wonder why the thoughts even bothered you in the first place. This has happened to me many times, and I am sure the others here have similar experiences.

I have doubted God's existence before. I was worrying about pretty much the same stuff you are now. Unfortunately, I treated the thoughts how I shouldn't have; I sought assurance. I read heaps of apologetic writings, but I still doubted it, because the objections made by atheists seem to have so much truth behind them. In a way, I think apologetics can actually be somewhat harmful sometimes to OCDers; it teaches the doubter to look for evidence of God rather than having faith in him, that he is real and that he loves us. Now of course, if God made the world, the evidence should certainly back his existance; but build your faith on that alone, and it will be wobbly. We are only humans; we cannot see directly what is happening everywhere, how it happens, or how everything came about. We have science, which is an amazing tool to gain knowledge, but there will always be misunderstandings or holes in our knowledge. Even the strongest case will have flaws or weak points, and it is these flaws that our doubts focus on.

And yes - I do still think that apologetics is important, and very helpful in building up Christians in their faith. But for the doubting OCDer, I think apologetics is best saved for the times when we are slightly more sane! Forgive us if this doesn't seem like very pleasant advice; we all know the extreme urge to prove our thoughts wrong, but it will be counter-productive.

 

[raven1]

oh my goodness. now my thoughts have switched. i now believe God created the world but I am worrying about 2012 and if there is a heaven and how can he let me in if I doubt there is one and the fact that I have had bad thoughts might keep me out because I am a bad person. for instance i have thoughts about children I find them attractive and I had a thought it is a good thing I didnt hurt that girl because she is not even pretty anymore but I am glad I didnt hurt because I would have ruined her life too and I never asked to be attracted to children and I am just going to hell .there is no way he could let me in heaven. my husband said God created me to be this way. why would he create me to be attracted to kids.

 

[Tonyy2]

Dont worry it feeds OCD. Every time you ruminate your giving in