Obsessing Too Much About The Bible

[SkepticalDaniel]

I think the biggest cause of my OCD without a doubt is the Bible, reading it, and obsessing about disproving it. I don't know what it is with me. One thing that is really stuck in my mind is that Passaage Isaiah 40:22 talking about the "circle of the Earth" and the apologists constantly saying "See! See! A circle is round!" Sheesh... It's really frustrating, even though I know it's a PRATT (point refuted a thousand times) argument.

[rjn]

Yes, try do something else for a change. The anxiety will persist, but eventually its grip of you will lessen given time. It's a psychological issue, not one of divine truth, it's just that some of us, like you and me, tend to mix them up.

[TABA]

I think the biggest cause of my OCD without a doubt is the Bible, reading it, and obsessing about disproving it. I don't know what it is with me. One thing that is really stuck in my mind is that Passaage Isaiah 40:22 talking about the "circle of the Earth" and the apologists constantly saying "See! See! A circle is round!" Sheesh... It's really frustrating, even though I know it's a PRATT (point refuted a thousand times) argument.

I know this is easier for me to say than for you to do, but man, you have GOT to start putting some distance between yourself and the Bible! I mean, cold turkey. Stop reading it, stop quoting it! And likewise the IFB stuff. This is vital for your health and happiness. If you want to immerse yourself in something, read some of the skeptic/atheist stuff and let that bounce around inside your head instead. All of us here, I think, have experienced a feeling that our brains were undergoing reprogramming as we deconverted. Your brain, my friend, has a lot of that ahead. You can help the process along by what you read. Expose yourself to secular ideas, not the stuff you've already decided to get away from.

 

Again, easy for me to say, but there are many here who will testify that it does get better, but you must keep your eyes on the prize, not keep looking over your shoulder at the stuff that messed you up.

 

I hope this helps, I really do, and I wish you the very best!

[SkepticalDaniel]

 

I think the biggest cause of my OCD without a doubt is the Bible, reading it, and obsessing about disproving it. I don't know what it is with me. One thing that is really stuck in my mind is that Passaage Isaiah 40:22 talking about the "circle of the Earth" and the apologists constantly saying "See! See! A circle is round!" Sheesh... It's really frustrating, even though I know it's a PRATT (point refuted a thousand times) argument.

I know this is easier for me to say than for you to do, but man, you have GOT to start putting some distance between yourself and the Bible! I mean, cold turkey. Stop reading it, stop quoting it! And likewise the IFB stuff. This is vital for your health and happiness. If you want to immerse yourself in something, read some of the skeptic/atheist stuff and let that bounce around inside your head instead. All of us here, I think, have experienced a feeling that our brains were undergoing reprogramming as we deconverted. Your brain, my friend, has a lot of that ahead. You can help the process along by what you read. Expose yourself to secular ideas, not the stuff you've already decided to get away from.

 

Again, easy for me to say, but there are many here who will testify that it does get better, but you must keep your eyes on the prize, not keep looking over your shoulder at the stuff that messed you up.

 

I hope this helps, I really do, and I wish you the very best!

Absolutely! The most effective way of getting rid of these thoughts is just by deep breathing and literally exhaling them from the body. They disappear effortlessly!

[Voice]

TABA is right, you need to read something else. Other religious tomes from other cultures, things secular, maybe texts books, which helped me tremendously, whatever. Dude, The first thing I read after the bible was a small hard cover old school textbook of college level plane and solid geometry. It scared me. These base, heathen, non-christian men had something more compelling and solid to teach me than the bible.

Lose yourself in one book and you're fucked.

[Thought2Much]

This (and a number of your other posts) is a signal that you need professional mental health treatment, and you're beyond anything that we can offer.

 

Please go see a qualified mental health professional to help you get the proper therapy and/or medication. We are not your personal psychological treatment professionals.

[Margee]

This (and a number of your other posts) is a signal that you need professional mental health treatment, and you're beyond anything that we can offer.

 

Please go see a qualified mental health professional to help you get the proper therapy and/or medication. We are not your personal psychological treatment professionals.

 

As people join EX-c as newcomers and are coming out from the brainwashing of christianity, our head spins. Some don't know which way to turn...much like myself when I joined this site. Many are traumatized. We at Ex-c highly recommend professional help.... along with the members here at Ex-c supporting each other and trying to encourage a new member. Newcomers generally have a thousand questions like I did when I arrived here. SD is waiting to hear from a professional right now and we are trying to help him hold it together until he gets the professional help he needs to overcome religious trauma.

 

Instead of abrupt answers, maybe we could encourage him until he gets the help he needs. 

 

Thanks and ((hugs)) to everybody...

[rjn]

^ What she said.

 

T2M, we might not be able to offer professional help, but we can at least try our best to support each other, no? That is, after all, the purpose of this forum.

[Margee]

I think the biggest cause of my OCD without a doubt is the Bible, reading it, and obsessing about disproving it.

 

SD, you think you can win at the game of debunking brainwashed christians? You couldn't tell me one thing when I was a  brainwashed christian because that would be going against the lord. These people on these christian websites cherry pick at verses so well, that there is no winning. You don't have to fight this. Take your time and read - really  study and read the answers that are given to you by those who have already researched  a lot of these topics.You can be assured that the people on Ex-c know the bible better than most preachers. Stop researching what the christians are saying about their holy book. They are going to defend it to the 'death'. Eventually (and it takes time) you will be able to debunk a lot of things yourself with very simple answers.This all takes time. 

 

Get to bed and get some peace tonight!!! You're going to be alright. It just takes time.

 

(hug)

[quinntar]

I think the biggest cause of my OCD without a doubt is the Bible, reading it, and obsessing about disproving it. I don't know what it is with me. One thing that is really stuck in my mind is that Passaage Isaiah 40:22 talking about the "circle of the Earth" and the apologists constantly saying "See! See! A circle is round!" Sheesh... It's really frustrating, even though I know it's a PRATT (point refuted a thousand times) argument.

Yeah round and flat, it should say "The sphere of the earth."

[★ Citsonga ★]

I can relate to the obsession with the Bible. Since the Bible was such an important thing as a Christian and I had built my life around it, my early years as an ex-christian still involved a lot of Bible study. I wanted to understand everything about it. As time has passed, I have lost that obsession and have largely moved on. That's part of why when I do address Bible issues on the forums here, I usually post something I wrote in the past. It's still an important topic, but it's not as interesting to me to dig into it so much anymore. It no longer has that grip on me, and I'm more interested in just living my life as best as I can. I sincerely hope that you can also get to the point where you don't obsess over the Bible anymore, and I suspect that you will. I wish you the best as you move forward....

[Lilith666]

Oh geez, SD, I had the same problem for years after de-converting. I wrote pages of verses and my comments on them in the notes section at the back of my bible, so I could refer to it on my own and at church if I got in a bible discussion. I read the bible obsessively looking for anything I could use to poke holes in it, though my fixation was more about what a douchebag god was, particularly since Christians claim he's perfect and loving. Pointing out everything that proved the opposite was how I spent a ton of my free time, I had someone tell me I needed to quit thinking about it so much (although this was a Christian who had never spent nearly as much time thinking about and reading the bible, including from when I was Christian). Going to church was miserable because every time they sang a hymn, prayed, or talked about Jesus - which was the whole time, of course - I became terrified that I was wrong and was going to hell. Believe me, it was horrible; because I was a minor living with my parents, I got into screaming fights with my dad nearly every Sunday morning about whether I was going to church. It was an extremely dark time of rage at feeling betrayed by the "god" I thought I had a relationship with, constant family conflict, and terror that I would be punished forever for being unable to believe in something that I knew was morally wrong.

 

You have to trust yourself that you know better than some people who see everything through the lens of a book about an ancient god who mysteriously doesn't make appearances anymore now that we've got video cameras, who went through an unnecessarily complicated process to solve a problem that was his fault and should never have happened to begin with, and who also is a delusional, needy, self-obsessed tyrant. Your opinion counts too - not just other people's. I know it's tempting to think there's something you're missing, but really it's not your job to disprove the bible when it should be obvious to anyone who reads it that it's rubbish. Stop reading Christian apologists who clearly have a confirmation bias, and read stuff that demonstrates why the bible isn't true. Start accepting that there isn't going to be a notification out of the sky that says, "Congratulations! You've done it!" when you've finally refuted the bible. There's a point when all the evidence together is a great case against Christianity, and you should be satisfied that you've done a good job.