OCD and others' blasphemy

[zingiber]

I have been having trouble with a new obsession which tells me that if someone else uses God's name in vain, it is my duty to confront them. I don't know whether this is right or not, but I feel as if by being a silent bystander I am partaking in their sin. Also I feel that by letting people do this without confronting them I have having to little love for God. I have already confronted several people at my work ). Stupid or no? I actually cannot tell. At the moment I am having one of my "do this by midnight or you will go to hell" obsessions. A guy at my work used God's name in vain today, and my brain is telling me to ask him not to do it. I have not asked him before. Is there any truth in these thoughts? Or is this all just OCD finding a new hole in my defences?

 

[Jayangel81]

Hey

I understand what you mean, its like youre walking down the street and calls youre mom or w/e names and you feel that you need to ask them to have a little respect.

I personally get very offended and erked when people blaspheme Gods name, and i have felt the burden of rebuking them..

Dont believe youre partaking in their sin, that is just what the enemy wants you to believe.

When we do rebuke them make sure we do it in love, and explain to them that it offends us. While Ive never had anyone listen to me at least you mentioned it.

 

[gracealone]

I have been having trouble with a new obsession which tells me that if someone else uses God's name in vain, it is my duty to confront them. I don't know whether this is right or not, but I feel as if by being a silent bystander I am partaking in their sin. Also I feel that by letting people do this without confronting them I have having to little love for God. I have already confronted several people at my work ). Stupid or no? I actually cannot tell. At the moment I am having one of my "do this by midnight or you will go to hell" obsessions. A guy at my work used God's name in vain today, and my brain is telling me to ask him not to do it. I have not asked him before. Is there any truth in these thoughts? Or is this all just OCD finding a new hole in my defences?

Hey Zingiber,
I feel quite strongly that your intuition that this is OCD is right.
Should you confront them or not? Well I would say that the answer to that lies in whether the confronting is done to assuage your OCD anxiety or not. What is the real motive behind it?
It looks to me as if the the confronting of them in this instance is something that you feel compelled or urged to do by your OCD in order to get some sort of temporary reassurance that you are a genuine Christian.

Someone takes the Lords name in vain. Of course this offends you, but then the OCD suggests that if you were really offended by it, really a genuine Christian that you would do something about it.
Then the urge to compulsively "do something about it," everytime you hear the Lords name taken in vain becomes the reassurance seeking, checking activity of the OCD machine.
I don't believe that this incident is a normal instance of conviction but rather that it's your OCD making a mountain out of a mole hill and finding yet one more thing to suggest that "you might not really be a Christian after all." It can be a subtle and clever beast to fight.
Just my opinion, but I think to act on this compulsive urge will only feed the OCD.
God Bless,
Mitzi

 

[kyle123]

dont know much about the problem or ocd, but im praying for you

 

[gracealone]

dont know much about the problem or ocd, but im praying for you

Praying for you Kyle.
I have a mental illness too. But it doesn't have me. I belong to the Lord and His Love for me isn't decided upon by whether or not I'm perfect but rather because He is perfect. Perfect in His Love for me, Perfect in His grace for me and Perfect in His dying for my sins.
Keep in touch and let us know how you are doing.
God Bless,
Mitzi