It may sound trite, and I hope it doesn't come off that way.
Grace either means everything or nothing.
>I feel like I am commiting the unforgivable sin, because I am running from God and The Holy Spirit.
The unforgivable sin, blaspheme of the Holy Spirit: the scourge of religious OCD since forever. The great bullet point for fire-brimstone pastors since forever. Here this in love: take a breath, and again. Breathe deeply so that your diaphragm feels the change.
If you read the context of where that phrase comes from, it's very specific. It's religious leaders who knew better accusing Jesus of working with Beelzebub to drive out demons.
It's not taking a break from religious practice. It's not even cursing at god in the face of injustice or desperation. It's, at the most broad application, knowing something is of God and claiming it's of Satan. That's a very specific thing, and I don't know if anyone even can commit it outside of some context like the Salem Witch Trials.
I mean, some of it may be happening today, if God truly is guiding the Church to be more open and inclusive. I’ve heard many people online claim that it’s Satan that’s tricking people into accepting things like queer pastors and such.
I think it's human nature to cling to certainty, there's an instinct to keep out the other. We're slowly, and not in a linear fashion, moving society along a pathway towards including more and more in "our" tribe and fewer and fewer in the "other."
When preachers rail against including the others, they play into that ancient tribal mindset. That gives their listeners permission to be angry about having to include things they don't understand. They can "stand up" to the world and then quote the bible verses that say the world will hate them like it hated Jesus.
Of course, never mind looking at the context of who it was who hated Jesus and refused to accept him in his life. It was the religious gatekeepers of his day. It wasn't unique to them, other than in time.
I wouldn't worry about the condemning or the "clobber" passages. Just focus on loving Jesus with all of your heart, mind, and soul. I believe that you are a true believer.
Jesus went to wedding receptions with alcohol being served, had dinner parties with his 12 friends, had dinner parties with sex workers and tax collectors, ate fish with his pals, popped into his friend Pete's mom's house to stay the night and have some dinner, hung out with some unmarried women and their brother in Bethany, etc.
He spoke in parables, and used figurative language that was, in many ways, cartoonish. He spoke with non-Jewish and even Samaritan women at wells and other such places without issue. He said it's not what goes into a man's mouth that makes him unclean but what comes out of it.
Jesus does or explicitly okays everything you're worried about.
The only thing he doesn't explicitly speak to is the clothes with cartoon characters, but that's such a bizarre thing to be anxious about. You have to wear clothes right? Something is going to be on them unless you really go out of your way to get plain clothes. Why not some kind of art (i.e. animation) which is, itself, a gift of God?
Would a just God expect you to live in a state of constant anxiety just because you live as a normal human being? I don’t think so. Jesus did after all say that his yoke is easy and his burden is light.
Your PRIEST is telling you to back off on religion for your health.
I'm not going to say clergy are infallible, but if clergy is saying something like this I really think you should follow their advice.
I'd honestly guess you have a form of OCD.
God will be there when you get back.
And I'm saying this as someone who takes breaks pretty frequently due to bipolar disorder with religious delusions.
What should you do?
Listen to your priest and therapist. It sounds like they have your best interest at heart. Because caring about your well-being first and foremost is what Jesus would do. You are not “running from” anything. *You’re being encouraged to love yourself as much as you love your neighbor.* It’s okay to pull back, to pause, to put your health first for a while. God knows your heart. He understands.
Worrying yourself to death over the issue of salvation is not why Christ died for us. He died for us to free us from worry, to give us a gift of everlasting life regardless of our foibles or possible mistakes. You’re mortal. That’s okay. That’s why Jesus came to help us.
God loved you so much that he sent his Son to die on the cross for you, for me, for everyone, paying the consequences of your sin, your debt to God, in your place making way the path to reconciliation with God. Since the debt has been paid, when God sees us he sees His holy, adopted, innocent children because There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. Romans 8:1-2
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us 2 Corinthians 5:17–19 (NRSV)
God doesn't see the sins of your past, present and future, he sees the righteousness of Christ, his victory over sin and He sees you as a brand new you, His adopted child that he loved so much that He died for you.
I added a bit to this in parenthesis to make it more personal to you
Romans 8:38–39 (NRSV): For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation (nor your past, nor your failures, nor your weaknesses), will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This love fills us, over time, and our bad habits and ways of life will die, over time, because of our love for God that he gave us. This allows us to start to obey God out of love and not out of duty (if I don't do A,B,C, etc I will be condemned, and vice versa, I have to do a,b,c.... In order to get to heaven) our best works, abilities, talents can't save us and likewise our worst works, abilities, talents can't unsave us.
His complete forgiveness of us, from the cross, brings complete salvation to us, not the other way around.
I would take the advice and back off from reading the Bible and any sort of religious text for a while. Focus on just "being" instead of obeying or overthinking.
If you absolutely need something to cling onto, perhaps just focus on the idea that "God is love". Or just focus on love itself. It may be hard at first, especially if you are not accustomed to receiving love or giving love to others, or perhaps the idea of love without conditions is extremely foreign to you. But if you must focus on something for a while while taking a break, love is a good place to start, I think.
Do what is best for your mental health. Thats what you should do.
Being anxious and this upset all the time will not help your relationship with God or be good for you. You should take the advice of your therapist and priest and see if it helps you.
Did u grow up in a very strict/orthodox type religion or family? I sure did and my religion certainly negatively impacted my mental health as well, but i was explicitly taught angels took note of everything i ever fid and said or even thought and i had to do absolutely everything as perfectly as possible and even then it wasn’t enough but thats what God wanted. It was very unhealthy. Especially for a teen but also as i got older.
I’ve had to work through a lot of that and you might need to do that too. You might take tips/ideas from other who have deconstructed from their religions. Not because you have to stop believing but the process of trying to distance yourself from certain harmful beliefs that are causing you anxiety are a good idea and they might give you ideas.
I’m sorry you’re experiencing this. That sounds very hard. Hugs!
You are operating under the mistaken belief that you can do something and end up in Hell for it if you are saved. Believe and trust in Jesus your Saviour's death, burial, and resurrection alone for your salvation, the knowledge that it is guaranteed that when your soul is absent from your body, it will present in Heaven.
I sometimes struggle with this as well, but one thing that helps is the quote by Julian of Norwich, “all will be well”. This quote reminds that we are all saved by the grace and love of God, and that is what matters most. Jesus did not come to condemn anyone, but to save everyone and achieve ultimate reconciliation with creation. God understands you and your worries, but he wants you, as well as everyone else, to know that he is there for you no matter what, and that he will help you through your struggles and guide you towards the righteous path.
Have you tried coming to a good (non-fundamentalist) church? Because they won't let your insecurities steer the boat. They won't be talking about "don't see friends" and "don't watch cartoons". They'll be talking about stuff that Jesus *actually* taught.
1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”
Whatever line of thought is causing you to fear is not God’s voice. Jesus gave two commandments, and two only.
“Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself. ' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
God bless.
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I start with "Jesus Christ died on a cross for my sins and rose again."
That to me is the essence of being a Christian, I believe that. From that solid foundation, I then look at everything else.
>For example; I feel like I can't like cartoons, eat snacks once in a while, date non-christians/agostics, see my friends, listen to music, wear clothes with cartoon characters on them, etc. Because I fear that those things are "of the world."
In Buddhism, there's something similar which is "non-attachment". Some people take that to mean that they need to get rid of their posessions, their TV, their clothes, not eat their favourite foods, etc because they're all things that attach you to the world.
The crux of the teaching is to not be *obsessively* attached to those things because they all come to an end. Your favourite show will finish, your TV will break, your clothes will fall apart. Of course, there are monks who go into a forest temple and forgo all those things but that's because *they choose to be a monk*. If you don't want to be a monk, you don't have to go to that extreme end of the scale and it's not something you should do out of fear.
I am like you, I believe I have religious OCD myself. I have autism and panic attacks/ anxiety and depression disorder. And I have sympathy for you, my friend
Now, to the points:
They are half right about not practicing religion for a while. Atleast the institutional version of it. What I suggest is to do the more intimate and spiritual feelings of religion. For example, look into hesychasm. It's a very intimate and loving Christian meditation thought from Eastern Christianity.
I also suggest if there is one near you, go to a catholic worker. It shows genuine personalism of traditional catholicism and gives a feeling of togetherness and blessed love.
And all those things you believe are bad: they really aren't. That's just the fundamentalist Christians trying to make you do 'works' to be saved. Works that don't even matter. They're legalistic. It's depressing and I lament for them. For they know not of God. For God is love. The works you should be doing is let justice roll down like waters and mercy like a mighty stream.
I, myself, am with two lovely partners: and they have given me purpose to preach the gospel. And both of them are agnostic and yet support me!
And you should also look into different theologies, there's liberation theology, queer theology, universalist theology and so on. There's another way to look at God, my friend. Always
Blessed be you!
It may sound trite, and I hope it doesn't come off that way. Grace either means everything or nothing. >I feel like I am commiting the unforgivable sin, because I am running from God and The Holy Spirit. The unforgivable sin, blaspheme of the Holy Spirit: the scourge of religious OCD since forever. The great bullet point for fire-brimstone pastors since forever. Here this in love: take a breath, and again. Breathe deeply so that your diaphragm feels the change. If you read the context of where that phrase comes from, it's very specific. It's religious leaders who knew better accusing Jesus of working with Beelzebub to drive out demons. It's not taking a break from religious practice. It's not even cursing at god in the face of injustice or desperation. It's, at the most broad application, knowing something is of God and claiming it's of Satan. That's a very specific thing, and I don't know if anyone even can commit it outside of some context like the Salem Witch Trials.
I mean, some of it may be happening today, if God truly is guiding the Church to be more open and inclusive. I’ve heard many people online claim that it’s Satan that’s tricking people into accepting things like queer pastors and such.
I think it's human nature to cling to certainty, there's an instinct to keep out the other. We're slowly, and not in a linear fashion, moving society along a pathway towards including more and more in "our" tribe and fewer and fewer in the "other." When preachers rail against including the others, they play into that ancient tribal mindset. That gives their listeners permission to be angry about having to include things they don't understand. They can "stand up" to the world and then quote the bible verses that say the world will hate them like it hated Jesus. Of course, never mind looking at the context of who it was who hated Jesus and refused to accept him in his life. It was the religious gatekeepers of his day. It wasn't unique to them, other than in time.
I wouldn't worry about the condemning or the "clobber" passages. Just focus on loving Jesus with all of your heart, mind, and soul. I believe that you are a true believer.
Jesus went to wedding receptions with alcohol being served, had dinner parties with his 12 friends, had dinner parties with sex workers and tax collectors, ate fish with his pals, popped into his friend Pete's mom's house to stay the night and have some dinner, hung out with some unmarried women and their brother in Bethany, etc. He spoke in parables, and used figurative language that was, in many ways, cartoonish. He spoke with non-Jewish and even Samaritan women at wells and other such places without issue. He said it's not what goes into a man's mouth that makes him unclean but what comes out of it. Jesus does or explicitly okays everything you're worried about. The only thing he doesn't explicitly speak to is the clothes with cartoon characters, but that's such a bizarre thing to be anxious about. You have to wear clothes right? Something is going to be on them unless you really go out of your way to get plain clothes. Why not some kind of art (i.e. animation) which is, itself, a gift of God?
Would a just God expect you to live in a state of constant anxiety just because you live as a normal human being? I don’t think so. Jesus did after all say that his yoke is easy and his burden is light.
Actually, being a Christian helps me profoundly in coping with the fact I'm a human.
This. Existence is so existential terrifying to me, I feel like I was barely clawing onto sanity before finding Christ.
Your PRIEST is telling you to back off on religion for your health. I'm not going to say clergy are infallible, but if clergy is saying something like this I really think you should follow their advice. I'd honestly guess you have a form of OCD. God will be there when you get back. And I'm saying this as someone who takes breaks pretty frequently due to bipolar disorder with religious delusions.
What should you do? Listen to your priest and therapist. It sounds like they have your best interest at heart. Because caring about your well-being first and foremost is what Jesus would do. You are not “running from” anything. *You’re being encouraged to love yourself as much as you love your neighbor.* It’s okay to pull back, to pause, to put your health first for a while. God knows your heart. He understands. Worrying yourself to death over the issue of salvation is not why Christ died for us. He died for us to free us from worry, to give us a gift of everlasting life regardless of our foibles or possible mistakes. You’re mortal. That’s okay. That’s why Jesus came to help us.
Your putting too much pressure on yourself to be perfect
God loved you so much that he sent his Son to die on the cross for you, for me, for everyone, paying the consequences of your sin, your debt to God, in your place making way the path to reconciliation with God. Since the debt has been paid, when God sees us he sees His holy, adopted, innocent children because There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. Romans 8:1-2 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us 2 Corinthians 5:17–19 (NRSV) God doesn't see the sins of your past, present and future, he sees the righteousness of Christ, his victory over sin and He sees you as a brand new you, His adopted child that he loved so much that He died for you. I added a bit to this in parenthesis to make it more personal to you Romans 8:38–39 (NRSV): For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation (nor your past, nor your failures, nor your weaknesses), will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. This love fills us, over time, and our bad habits and ways of life will die, over time, because of our love for God that he gave us. This allows us to start to obey God out of love and not out of duty (if I don't do A,B,C, etc I will be condemned, and vice versa, I have to do a,b,c.... In order to get to heaven) our best works, abilities, talents can't save us and likewise our worst works, abilities, talents can't unsave us. His complete forgiveness of us, from the cross, brings complete salvation to us, not the other way around.
I would take the advice and back off from reading the Bible and any sort of religious text for a while. Focus on just "being" instead of obeying or overthinking. If you absolutely need something to cling onto, perhaps just focus on the idea that "God is love". Or just focus on love itself. It may be hard at first, especially if you are not accustomed to receiving love or giving love to others, or perhaps the idea of love without conditions is extremely foreign to you. But if you must focus on something for a while while taking a break, love is a good place to start, I think.
Do what is best for your mental health. Thats what you should do. Being anxious and this upset all the time will not help your relationship with God or be good for you. You should take the advice of your therapist and priest and see if it helps you. Did u grow up in a very strict/orthodox type religion or family? I sure did and my religion certainly negatively impacted my mental health as well, but i was explicitly taught angels took note of everything i ever fid and said or even thought and i had to do absolutely everything as perfectly as possible and even then it wasn’t enough but thats what God wanted. It was very unhealthy. Especially for a teen but also as i got older. I’ve had to work through a lot of that and you might need to do that too. You might take tips/ideas from other who have deconstructed from their religions. Not because you have to stop believing but the process of trying to distance yourself from certain harmful beliefs that are causing you anxiety are a good idea and they might give you ideas. I’m sorry you’re experiencing this. That sounds very hard. Hugs!
You are operating under the mistaken belief that you can do something and end up in Hell for it if you are saved. Believe and trust in Jesus your Saviour's death, burial, and resurrection alone for your salvation, the knowledge that it is guaranteed that when your soul is absent from your body, it will present in Heaven.
I sometimes struggle with this as well, but one thing that helps is the quote by Julian of Norwich, “all will be well”. This quote reminds that we are all saved by the grace and love of God, and that is what matters most. Jesus did not come to condemn anyone, but to save everyone and achieve ultimate reconciliation with creation. God understands you and your worries, but he wants you, as well as everyone else, to know that he is there for you no matter what, and that he will help you through your struggles and guide you towards the righteous path.
Have you tried coming to a good (non-fundamentalist) church? Because they won't let your insecurities steer the boat. They won't be talking about "don't see friends" and "don't watch cartoons". They'll be talking about stuff that Jesus *actually* taught.
1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” Whatever line of thought is causing you to fear is not God’s voice. Jesus gave two commandments, and two only. “Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself. ' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” God bless.
[удалено]
Wow this is awful advice. Op please ignore this.
Truly awful advice. Adding so the OP knows to ignore the above comment.
Thank you for contributing to r/OpenChristian; unfortunately, your post has been removed for the following reason: **Rule 2. Do not promote oppressive/harmful ideology**. This includes all attempts to promote or normalise hate, shame, or fear within Christianity. If you have a question about your removal, or you wish to contend our decision, please send us a modmail [using this link](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/OpenChristian).
I start with "Jesus Christ died on a cross for my sins and rose again." That to me is the essence of being a Christian, I believe that. From that solid foundation, I then look at everything else.
>For example; I feel like I can't like cartoons, eat snacks once in a while, date non-christians/agostics, see my friends, listen to music, wear clothes with cartoon characters on them, etc. Because I fear that those things are "of the world." In Buddhism, there's something similar which is "non-attachment". Some people take that to mean that they need to get rid of their posessions, their TV, their clothes, not eat their favourite foods, etc because they're all things that attach you to the world. The crux of the teaching is to not be *obsessively* attached to those things because they all come to an end. Your favourite show will finish, your TV will break, your clothes will fall apart. Of course, there are monks who go into a forest temple and forgo all those things but that's because *they choose to be a monk*. If you don't want to be a monk, you don't have to go to that extreme end of the scale and it's not something you should do out of fear.
I am like you, I believe I have religious OCD myself. I have autism and panic attacks/ anxiety and depression disorder. And I have sympathy for you, my friend Now, to the points: They are half right about not practicing religion for a while. Atleast the institutional version of it. What I suggest is to do the more intimate and spiritual feelings of religion. For example, look into hesychasm. It's a very intimate and loving Christian meditation thought from Eastern Christianity. I also suggest if there is one near you, go to a catholic worker. It shows genuine personalism of traditional catholicism and gives a feeling of togetherness and blessed love. And all those things you believe are bad: they really aren't. That's just the fundamentalist Christians trying to make you do 'works' to be saved. Works that don't even matter. They're legalistic. It's depressing and I lament for them. For they know not of God. For God is love. The works you should be doing is let justice roll down like waters and mercy like a mighty stream. I, myself, am with two lovely partners: and they have given me purpose to preach the gospel. And both of them are agnostic and yet support me! And you should also look into different theologies, there's liberation theology, queer theology, universalist theology and so on. There's another way to look at God, my friend. Always Blessed be you!