I have OCD-Religion and obsess over bad thoughts. Is there anything you can do to help me?<\/a><\/p>\nYou have decided that your thoughts override what God has said. Jesus said, “But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil<\/em>” (Matthew 5:37). A person doesn’t need vows or promises to make their statements true or sincere. God doesn’t want you to lie, yet many people hide their intentions to lie behind vows. That angers God because His name is being used to deceive others.<\/p>\nIt doesn’t matter what you vow; it doesn’t change what God said. Thus, if you had vowed not to make promises, you contradict what God said since, as you noted, vows are required for marriage and other aspects of life (such as in courts). “Or if a person swears thoughtlessly with his lips to do evil or to do good, in whatever matter a man may speak thoughtlessly with an oath, and it is hidden from him, and then he comes to know it, he will be guilty in one of these<\/em>” (Leviticus 5:4).<\/p>\nVowing to do good is useless. God already commands good. Your vows cannot make good better. Vowing to do evil putting yourself against God, which is sinful.<\/p>\n
If you think you made a thoughtless vow, apologize to God and move on with your life.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I’m worried that I vowed to God not to make promises. Now I was talking to God, and then in the heat of the moment, I said, “I do not want to make vows,” only I didn’t say that fully, and I’m pretty sure I cut myself off halfway and said, “No vow.” I…<\/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,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[965,648,966,647],"class_list":["post-70785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-ocd","tag-promises","tag-scrupulosity","tag-vows"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":38767,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-compulsively-want-to-make-vows\/","url_meta":{"origin":70785,"position":0},"title":"I compulsively want to make vows","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have a question about vows. For a year or so, when I become concerned that something I'm doing or might do is sinful, I suddenly start to think a vow to God that I won't do that thing. This happens with no time to think about the\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":31689,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-vows-never-be-broken\/","url_meta":{"origin":70785,"position":1},"title":"Can vows never be broken?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a similar situation as some of the questions you received regarding OCD vows and also the one who sent his question about whether or not he must remain in poverty. Though, whether or not it was a passing thought is still a question for me, because I\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":31692,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-am-compulsively-making-vows-in-my-mind-do-i-have-to-keep-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":70785,"position":2},"title":"I am compulsively making vows in my mind. Do I have to keep them?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 25, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I have been going through a time of struggles dealing with so many vows: some intentional and others intrusive or unintentional. I am sure this is greatly related to OCD, but sometimes it doesn't feel that way. For example, one time I was praying and an intrusive thought\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":38803,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-constitutes-a-vow\/","url_meta":{"origin":70785,"position":3},"title":"What constitutes a vow?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 20, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi Jeffrey, What constitutes a vow is something I've been trying to understand. Can you help me understand from the Bible why you say it's a commitment witnessed by others? It seems like these thoughts I have could be considered rash vows, or they could not be vows at\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":33529,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-promises-only-binding-when-spoken-aloud\/","url_meta":{"origin":70785,"position":4},"title":"Are promises only binding when spoken aloud?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I used to let my mouth get the best of me. I have learned to watch what I say very closely. The problem I have is this: because I'm trying to be so careful with what I say, I constantly think about whether I promise or vow something. My\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":53743,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-not-being-hasty-in-your-heart-mean-that-thoughts-can-be-vows\/","url_meta":{"origin":70785,"position":5},"title":"Does not being hasty in your heart mean that thoughts can be vows?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 23, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello again, I've read again about what's considered vowing, and saw a sentence in Ecclesiastes 5:2: \"Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God.\" Does the heart part mean after all, that our thoughts about vowing are taken\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\/70785","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=70785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70785\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}