Is there a difference between speaking and thinking when it comes to blasphemy ?

[curlycurl]

I have been trying to control my intrusive thoughts by whispering things and repeating positive things about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit out loud. But I slipped up while whispering and said something bad. I didn't even think and I just said it without thinking, and only realized what I said after I said it and didn't mean it. Is this worse than intrusive thoughts slipping in my head?

 

[Aussie Pete]

I have been trying to control my intrusive thoughts by whispering things and repeating positive things about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit out loud. But I slipped up while whispering and said something bad. I didn't even think and I just said it without thinking, and only realized what I said after I said it and didn't mean it. Is this worse than intrusive thoughts slipping in my head?

It is better not to say things you do not mean, but God knows what is in your heart. That's what He considers important. We can ask the Lord to watch over our mouths and hearts:

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:4

Another helpful prayer is for God to establish the desires of you heart according to His will, and to watch over your thoughts so that they do not argue with the desires of you heart. Victorious Christian living arises when we are utterly dependent on the grace, mercy, power and love of God. It's not automatic. We must ask God for His help.

 

[Grace1234]

God knows your heart and god knows you have Ocd. God knows you didn’t mean it when you have intrusive thought or when you accidentally said it. If you knows that you don’t want those thought, didn’t mean that way when you said, Why don’t you think that your creator knows all of those stories too? I have struggled with unpardonable sin from ocd too. I have search a lot of things related to this topic on internet. There are a lot of different opinion, but the one that same in every opinion is unpardonable sin can’t commit accidently. You can confess to god about this, tell him all your struggles, ask him to help you go through it. Trust him with all your heart. God bless you!

 

[Favoredclay]

I think God understands and just as he told Paul, My Grace is sufficient for you. My opinion is that we convict ourselves of wayyy toooo many things that God does not hold against us and we criminalize simple blunders in life as great sins. A pastor once told me, " if you make a mistake God does not hold it against you, he doesn't sweat the small things of little or no consequence, He sees your heart first".
I think we should strive to keep our thoughts clean and holy, but our sin nature will often rise to the surface. When it does, confess it and forget it. Before I was saved I had a terrible cussing problem, but I have overcome it for the most part with the Holy Spirit's help, however; in heated moments my mind will over ride my conscience and I'll blurt out a curse word before I even think of what I'm saying. I know God knows my struggle and forgives me, so I say I'm sorry and ask for help. Now where you have a problem is if it's part of your public life and you are causing someone else to struggle in their faith through willful disobedience. Until we have been made new we will wrestle with the flesh, we will be tempted with sexual desires, dishonesty, covetous thoughts, Lying, materialism and more. All we can do is daily discipline our thoughts and willfully exercise our spirituality against such things. As scripture says deliberately strive to think on better more glorious things, but when you fail to, trust God to understand. Do you think all the praise, worship, good works and love for Jesus you have offered in life could be undone with one unclean thought? No in all things God reigns and Jesus' blood covered us in righteousness even when we are unworthy.

 

[Tolworth John]

I have been trying to control my intrusive thoughts by whispering things and repeating positive things about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit out loud. But I slipped up while whispering and said something bad. I didn't even think and I just said it without thinking, and only realized what I said after I said it and didn't mean it. Is this worse than intrusive thoughts slipping in my head?

Odd is a special case, one that God, because he knows your thoughts, motivies etc is well aware of.



Normally thoughts or speaking or acts make no difference they are all equally sinful.


Please talk with your therapist about coping with intrusive thoughts etc.
Or read the 25 tips dealing with ice found at international odd foundation.

 

[Not Perfect]

I concur with everyone who has said that God knows your heart. One little verbal slip-up does not necessarily mean anything about your spiritual state. I have made verbal slip-ups before. I remember that one time my roommate was upset that a guy she liked was not interested in her. In an attempt to comfort her, I tried to say "You don't need him" and "He doesn't deserve you". They kind of got meshed together on the way out, and it came out "You don't deserve him." Of course, that's not what I meant, and she knew that, so she wasn't offended. In fact, she thought it was hilarious. I know that seems like a trite example, but if my human roommate is capable of recognizing the true intention behind my verbal mistake, God certainly is.

Take comfort in Matthew 21:28-31:
“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’"
“‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
“Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.
“Which of the two did what his father wanted?”
“The first,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the prostitutes and the tax collectors did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him."

Clearly, our words don't mean much if our actions do not match. When evil thoughts assail you (or when you mess up and say evil things), serve God with your actions.

Also, I am no psychiatrist, but I recommend limiting these "positive affirmations". Trust me, I do it all the time, but it usually doesn't work. In fact, it can make the thoughts stronger. I get an intrusive "bad thought", and that thought makes me feel anxious. I say a "good thought" out loud to counter it, and my anxiety is temporarily relieved. My stupid brain releases a little squirt of dopamine, and begins to associate the good feeling of relief with the original "bad thought". So while the "good thoughts" provide temporary relief, they actually make the problem worse. In a sense I was training myself to think the bad thoughts.

Instead of trying to continually repeat the same phrases and mantras over and over again, I recommend that you meditate more mindfully on the scripture. Perhaps read a small piece of scripture every morning, and whenever you feel the urge to dwell on these thoughts, acknowledge them without trying to fight them, ignore them, and focus on the scripture. I also find that listening to christian podcasts is really helpful for this. Basically, give yourself something to study or actively think about. Distract yourself by engaging your mind actively, rather than passively repeating positive affirmations.

Hang in there friend!