My husband, when he’s stressed, exhibits minor signs of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). He asks me the same questions over and over, he rechecks door locks, and he questions his salvation. If you’ve been a GotQuestions writer for longer than a week, you’ve most likely received a question from someone with OCD. We don’t usually get calls for help about hand-washing or door lock-checking. We mostly get intrusive thoughts and chronic doubts about salvation. How do we respond to someone who has written in for the 12th time because they’re convinced God’s mad at them, or that they committed the unpardonable sin? I decided to try to figure that out.
From OCDandChristianity.com:
The following is a four-step model for the development of OCD.
Step 1. A normal obsession-like thought enters the mind. (It is critical for OCD sufferers to appreciate that their tormenting thoughts are, in themselves, normal.)
Step 2. The unwanted, intrusive thought is appraised with a sense of elevated personality responsibility for preventing harm. This causes the thought to stick in awareness when it should be dismissed.
Step 3. The individual attempts to resist the thought by suppressing it, or by shifting attention to another matter, causing the thought to gain increased salience, and bringing it even further into the forefront of consciousness.
Step 4. Compulsions develop in order to decrease the anxiety caused by obsessions. Compulsions, however, only make obsessions stronger.
Nearly everyone suffers from intrusive thoughts to some degree. They’re those little unwanted thoughts that pop up and make you go, “Where did that come from?” They’re often sacrilegious, profane, sexual, and/or violent.
But they’re not sin. Wherever they come from, as long as we don’t sinfully indulge the thought, intrusive thoughts aren’t sin.
For the person plagued with OCD, not indulging the thought is nearly impossible. Especially, Dr. Osborn holds, if the thought could be interpreted as potentially causing harm to self or others. So OCD sufferers check the stove again, wash the germs off their hands…
And pray, once again, for salvation. Because there’s nothing that will cause more harm than hell.
It turns out that OCD is very treatable. Cognitive therapy can retrain the sufferer’s mind to recognize the stove is not on fire, her brain is misfiring. Behavioral therapy can develop increased tolerance through repeated exposure. Medications have also been proven to be very effective.
While we direct our questioners to finding a good mental health professional in their area, we can also (patiently!) expose them to low-level cognitive therapy. Remind her of the truth—she does not really think that way about Jesus; it’s just her brain misfiring. God loves her no matter what, and He is not mad at her. Her impulsive thoughts are not sin, but remaining in bondage to them when she knows how to seek help may be.
There is another process for OCD sufferers that speaks directly to the biblical worldview. It’s called “responsibility transfer therapy.” The sufferer is reminded that she is not responsible for those thoughts. Most importantly, she is not responsible for her salvation. She can doubt all she likes, but salvation is through Jesus only. No thought she has—whether intrusive or deliberate—can push her out of Christ’s hand. God forgives every sin.
With responsibility transfer therapy, the responsibility of salvation is transferred to the One to Whom it belongs: Jesus and Him alone. We are helpless in this.
Of course, this presupposes that the questioner is, in fact a believer. And efforts should be made to make sure she understands what this entails. And if you suspect a questioner suffers from OCD, make sure you direct her to a professional.
I hadn’t really researched OCD before, and this is the first I’d heard of responsibility transfer therapy. But it was a wake-up call when I remembered my husband’s favorite Bible passage:
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
PS: If you hold to the belief that a Christian can lose his salvation, please feel free to pass on the question.
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