I have OCD-Religion and obsess over bad thoughts. Is there anything you can do to help me?<\/a> the problem is really about distinguishing a “pop-up” thought and those that you purposely think about. You cannot truly count these pop-up thoughts as being your own — you reject them, you disagree with them, and you don’t desire them. Understanding that these are not your thoughts, but the result of a short-circuit in your mind. They would be wrong if you were purposely thinking about them and accepting them. Since this is not the case, you are not sinning. Going to God in prayer about something you have not done is a useless, compulsive act. Leave your prayers to real things — things you have actually done wrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Question: I am a Christian who suffers from OCD. I just read your website on OCD and feel extremely comforted by your knowledge of the illness. I have blasphemous thoughts, and I keep confessing this as sin over and over and over again. Maybe all that confessing is my OCD. Can I stop confessing, or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1283,51,508,1185,965,967,97],"class_list":["post-33699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-compulsiveness","tag-confession","tag-mental-illness","tag-obsessions","tag-ocd","tag-pop-up-thoughts","tag-thoughts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10839,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-have-ocd-religion-and-obsess-over-bad-thoughts-is-there-anything-you-can-do-to-help-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":33699,"position":0},"title":"I have OCD-Religion and obsess over bad thoughts. Is there anything you can do to help me?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a serious and tormenting question. I am a member of the church of Christ and have been for a while. Four years ago I was diagnosed with OCD-religion. This is a mental illness which produces unwanted and intrusive bad thoughts. I have been in pure misery and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52519,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-not-sure-if-my-thoughts-are-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":33699,"position":1},"title":"I’m not sure if my thoughts are sin","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I saw a website that makes going to heaven seem really difficult. I have religious OCD and I get blasphemous thoughts constantly and repent all day long. Some of the thoughts feel like I want them. What should I do? If I'm not sure if my thoughts are really\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54618,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-i-treat-promises-i-fear-as-void-and-non-binding\/","url_meta":{"origin":33699,"position":2},"title":"Can I treat promises I fear as void and non-binding?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello again! I've been wondering: since I suffer from OCD, then are all my promises, which I'm struggling to avoid, nullified the very moment I make them? The problem is that I'm having trouble knowing when my OCD mind is playing games with me or when it's really me\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49413,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-you-required-to-keep-promises-that-you-think-about\/","url_meta":{"origin":33699,"position":3},"title":"Are you required to keep promises that you think about?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I'm wondering if promises that randomly pop up in your head are considered valid. Are you required to keep the promises, even though they're just thoughts? I have OCD and get these thoughts constantly. They cause me a deal of anxiety. Also, in order to treat OCD, am\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54050,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/ive-suffered-from-ocd-too\/","url_meta":{"origin":33699,"position":4},"title":"I’ve suffered from OCD too","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 29, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was searching for answers to my mental condition, and I came across your site. I read the story of a person who was worried about a certain problem. I've suffered the same thing since 2007. I've been on medication since then. The medication does help, but it's not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67190,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/thanks-for-the-help-with-my-ocd\/","url_meta":{"origin":33699,"position":5},"title":"Thanks for the help with my OCD","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 25, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thanks so much for all the help you have given me over the years. Answering questions by email and speaking to me on the phone. I am very thankful. I have truly learned so much over the years. I got hooked up with NOCD last year, and the counselor\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33699\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}