I want to start with a reassuring analogy:
For a rape victim who feels like she somehow committed sin , do you think God would say , "well her conscious believes that she sinned so she did"? No!! Feeling like you sinned as a victim of rape does not mean you sinned, no matter how many times your conscious tells you that you did.
Now apply this to ocd. I
know the verse says to not act when we have doubt, but ocd is irrational doubt. If your ocd tells you to not shake someone's hand because they could be sick and you could pass it on to someone else, and you realize there's a 1% chance that it could be true, but you decide to shake his hand anyways because you want to defeat the ocd,
are you sinning against your conscious because you had doubt but did it anyway? No! Because the doubt in that situation is not the holy spirit convicting you but is instead irrational doubt coming from your ocd.* There is a huge difference.
When the verse says you shouldn't do something if you feel doubt, it means if you aren't spiritually educated enough to know whether something is ok to God, you shouldn't do it until you have faith in what the answer is. Paul is referring to "weaker faith' Christians who were saved but still holding onto their old Jewish roots and couldn't fully believe that Jesus overturned certain Jewish laws. I will explain this more in the next paragraph. Just know doubt in the verse
doesn't mean irrational ocd- doubt that you know deep down isn't true, nor does it mean those what-if rabbit holes that ocd uses to convince you away from original assurance you had about a biblical subject. Moreover,
When the verse says you shouldn't do something if you feel doubt in your heart, it's also talking about the doubt that comes from the holy spirit meant to convict your conscious.*
Doubt from ocd is not the same as doubt that arises from the holy spirit convicting you.
Understand the context/purpose of Romans 14. This passage is talking about subjects that are not defined as sin in the bible, and so these matters are freedoms that are judged by God based on the individual's heart or intention behind it. (Now to clarify, Any sin that is clearly defined as a sin in the new testament is no question, so like even if our heart told us it was ok to have premarital sex because we loved the person, it’s still a sin and we should repent for it.) So Christians can have freedom in certain areas to not be tied down in legalism or man-made dogma if their heart is in the right place without having to worry about sinning, for things not mentioned as sin. Paul gives examples of some types of freedoms, such as Christians in the new covenant being free to eat any kind of food, not having to observe the sabbath or being able to observe it however one wishes, practicing holidays how one wishes, and this can also apply to specific subjects in our culture today that are not defined as sins in the bible and are about our intention.
So what does doubt mean in the Romans 14:23?
Many new believers were ex-pagans and ex-jews who were used to certain rules from their old religion such as not eating certain foods, being required to practice the sabbath, and having other necessary rules/customs in their prior religion. So it would make sense for an ex-jew who used to think that certain meat was unclean to still feel doubtful about eating it when becoming a new christian. Now if a jew-turned christian was told that Jesus allowed eating any food and they believed in that freedom, they have a stronger faith because they are believing in what the bible says, while one who still doubts has a weaker faith (yet still saved) because they didn't have enough trust in God's word to believe the new freedom they were given and instead remained partially succumbed to their old roots. That's why Paul refers to the ones who believe in unnecessary restrictions as having the weaker faith while those who do not doubt their freedom from legalism in Christ have the stronger faith. (Also don't misunderstand, If you know the sabbath isn't required but choose to practice it because you want to yet also don't judge believers who choose not to practice it, that's not weak faith at all; I'm saying those who believe it's still required are weaker in faith because they are relying on their own mindset instead of trusting what God says). If you have looked at all the verses and genuinely come to the conclusion that it is still required, even if it's technically wrong, you should obey, but God can also lead you to stronger faith to realize it's not required, as God wants to strengthen our faith.
(This is a side note so you can skip to the next section if you want:
Reading this verse caused me more ocd like you but it also helped answer my question because I know alot of people who genuinely follow God, live in obedience/repentance towards His commands, and they just genuinely interpret a minor part of doctrine differently from what I genuinely intrepret them as- none of us are using our own opinions or compromising the word to suit our own desires, it is both of us coming to different conclusions from God's word. Although I think I'm right and they're wrong, I don't doubt their salvation, especially after reading this passage. What risks your salvation is being a lukewarm believer, which is a christian who may love God but also picks and chooses which commands to follow in order to suit their own sinful desires, and thinking God's grace gives them a free pass to sin. They read verses clearly condemning sins yet they think since nobody can be perfect there's no point in trying to stop or trying to repent. Don't be that person, I used to be and we have to change out from that mindset in order to be saved. We will all be imperfect and God's grace covers our imperfection, so I'm a born again chrisitan who strives to obey and still sometimes fails and God covers me, but God's grace doesn't cover apathetic mindsets towards sins, that's the ponit. Anyways, lukewarm believers are different from the "weak faithed" believers mentioned in this passage- I think weak faithed believers are still saved even if they continue to believe in a man-made rule and follow it. God judges the heart. The lukewarm christian 's heart is not truly following God but is instead choosing their own desires over God's, while the misguided believer who believes in a man-made rule or is unsure about a subject not stated in the bible and obeys what their conscious tells them still shows a heart of following God. Long rant, this doesn't have to do with ocd, I'm just explaining the verse.)
There can also be doubt for the stronger believer as mentioned in the passage- if a believer knows that they have freedom to do something but feels unsure whether they should do it around a weaker believer because it could stumble them, they probably shouldn't do it.
That doubt is conviction form the holy spirit. But i will personally say that if you are going down a rabbit hole of irrational what-ifs because you're worried about stumbling a believer in the slightest ways possible is probably ocd. Like if you're worried about possibly stumbling strangers who could hypothetically lust over your face even if you're wearing modest attire and as a result feel like the only no-risk solution is to wear a potato sack and cover your face like the muslims do,
that's ocd and not real conviction. In that case, it's good to act against the doubt and show your face, even if you feel guilty for showing your face, as giving into compulsions only worsens ocd- and the doubt is clearly from ocd and not the doubt that comes from moral conviction.
OCD gives us doubt on everything but we have to resist the doubt and live our lives anyway.
We should ignore our intrusive thoughts, not give in to compulsions, not feel gulity for God knows these thoughts are not our own, and let it go. Giving in to what our mind tells us to do is a compulsion, and avoiding what our mind tells us to avoid is a compulsion. Acting out compulsions worsens ocd.
God will not condemn you for what happens to you against your will.
People with tourrettes may cuss against their will, rape victims had sex against their will, possessed people did things against their will, and God doesn't condemn them for it wasn't their own sin. Having sexual intrusive thoughts against your will that are not produced from your one's own feelings but are produced by ocd is like being mind-raped; remember that God does not condemn the rape victim. God judges sin but does not count things against our will as sin. Having doubt can be against one's will as in the case for someone with ocd.
After knowing the context of this verse, I feel like it's not talking about ocd doubt but is talking about real doubt within one's conscious. **OCD is not your real conscious no matter how much it feels like it is.*
- Here's an example: If i genuinely come to the conclusion that the sabbath is required (even if that's wrong), I should follow it. However, if i genuinely don't think it's required but then my ocd makes me overthink and go down a rabbit hole of "what-if"s to where it's tries to convince me away from the original assurance I had, that's most likely ocd-doubt and not my own consciousness' real doubt.
- If i know something isn't a sin and got confirmation from God, but then I read Romans 14 and uncontrollably think of what-if rabbit holes that I can't 100% prove, and get hung up on that doubt, although I felt assured beforehand, it's probably my ocd and not the holy spirit convicting me.
Ocd i believe it a whole separate ballgame and is separate from ordinary people doubting a moral concept.
Ocd is the overthinking disease and the doubting disease.
It is not coming from one’s own moral compass or one’s own true feelings about a situation, but is coming from the bully in your brain trying to trap you into thinking you did something wrong when you know deep down in your subconscious moral compass that you didn’t.
It is hugely different from the holy spirit convicting you.
With ocd it can be hard to tell if its ocd or really you/God, but ask God for discernment so you can be less stressed in life. Ask God to let you know when it's ocd and when its not.
Most of all, Ask Him to give you peace of mind.
Remember God promises us a peace of mind that transcends our own human abilities as stated in phil 4:7, so don't try to do this on your own, God can step in when we can't find peace on our own.
(Another thing about the word doubt. Jesus says cut out your eye if it causes you to sin, but this is not literal- it means to remove temptation. We have to take the context of what it means. The bible says to not adorn oneself with expensive clothes or jewelry yet Rebekah and Esther were godly women who wore jewelry and makeup without sin. We have to take the context of what it means.
So when i read romans 14 about not acting when in doubt, i think it means the real spiritual doubt from one's own consious that I stated in this response and not ocd-doubt against our will. I don't think it means every possible kind of doubt but the doubt that fits the purpose of what Paul is explaining.
When we do have ocd, we shouldn't prevent ourselves from living our lives, and shouldn't feel guilty for acting in sight of our doubt. for our doubt is irrational and the only way to get over that doubt is to let it go and ignore it.)
