I just had an inappropriate thought about my reverend. Will I go to hell for this?
I have recurring thoughts about stabbing my husband. Am I a bad person?
I had a wet dream about my co-worker. Does this mean I want to cheat on my partner?
If you’ve had these thoughts, you’re not alone. Many religious people experience intrusive thoughts, which are unwanted and distressing thoughts that go against their morals and personal values. These distressing thoughts are not just an occurrence for religious folks—they can happen to anyone, regardless of their faith.
While some people can move on from these disturbing thoughts, others ruminate on them until they discover the perceived “meaning” behind them. If these intrusive thoughts start to impede on religion and your day-to-day life, it can be a sign of something more serious.
If you have a fear of going to hell or being punished for having intrusive thoughts, you might be dealing with a mental health disorder known as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Keep reading to learn more about OCD, its ties to religion, and how to seek help to get your intrusive thoughts under control.
Are intrusive thoughts a sin?
If you’re experiencing sexual, violent, or even blasphemous thoughts, you might wonder if you’re committing a sin. Contrary to what you might believe, these thoughts don’t mean you actually have immoral desires or ill intentions. In fact, one thing we know about intrusive thoughts is that they’re what we call ego-dystonic. Essentially, your intrusive thoughts go directly against the things you tend to believe and care about the most.
So, despite the often disturbing content of intrusive thoughts, they’re not considered sinful by any means.
But, in some cases, intrusive thoughts can still trick you by convincing you that your thoughts mean something about your character, and this is when the fear of being punished or going to hell for your intrusive thoughts can become a more serious issue—which we’ll cover in a later section.
Does God forgive intrusive thoughts?
If you follow the Bible, some verses show that God understands intrusive thoughts and can decipher whether or not you want these thoughts or reject them entirely. A Bible verse you can refer to is Hebrews 4:12, which says, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
Simply put, you have zero control over your intrusive thoughts, but you do have control over your intentions and actions—including how you respond to distressing thoughts.
Let’s take, for example, a married man who finds his neighbor attractive. He starts to fantasize about this woman regularly. Maybe he derives pleasure from this fantasy and starts looking at his wife differently. He might start comparing the two women or pay less attention to his wife as he would rather have sexual fantasies about his neighbor. He even considers striking up a conversation with his neighbor. He sometimes feels guilty about his intentional thoughts or worries about what might happen if his wife somehow learned about them, but he continues to engage willingly in his thoughts, desires, and fantasies.
Here’s another example: a different married man sees his neighbor as she is walking into her house. He has an intrusive thought about being attracted to her or having an affair with her. This thought is not wanted—perhaps it only flashes in his mind briefly. It fills him with distress and anxiety, and he becomes intensely worried about what it might mean. He tells his wife about it because he feels guilty. He engages in compulsive behaviors like avoiding his neighbor if they are out in their yards at the same time, and he makes sure to give his wife multiple compliments each day about her attractiveness.
You can see that these two examples are very different regarding intent. The two men might have some similar thoughts and images in their minds, but the second man doesn’t want anything to do with those thoughts—which is likely the case for your intrusive thoughts, too.
What does this mean in terms of your religion? Basically, if distressing thoughts pop into your head, it’s not something you can control. You’re not committing a sin unless you intend to act on these thoughts.
What if my intrusive thoughts are causing distress?
Many people can easily dismiss their intrusive thoughts most of the time. However, if you find yourself ruminating on blasphemous or other distressing thoughts, it could be a sign of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
OCD is a mental health disorder that causes a cycle of obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are intrusive thoughts, images, urges, feelings, and/or sensations that cause significant fear and anxiety. Compulsions are physical or mental actions done to relieve distress from obsessions and/or to prevent something bad from occurring.
While intrusive thoughts can occur with any subtype of OCD, if they revolve around religious themes, you could be dealing with scrupulosity or religious OCD. Scrupulosity OCD, sometimes called Christian OCD, causes recurrent intrusive thoughts and compulsions that have religious, moral, and ethical themes. People with scrupulosity OCD have intrusive thoughts about something they did or thought they did that goes against their faith and/or morals.
“The whole concept of religion is faith, and faith is the belief in something without absolute proof,” says Patrick McGrath, PhD, the Chief Clinical Officer at NOCD. “However, OCD says, ‘That sounds great, but you should have proof, so you need to find it, you need to know it, and you need to 100% believe it.’”
To cope with the distress from disturbing thoughts, people with scrupulosity OCD may perform the following compulsions:
- Excessively praying longer or more than typical.
- Seeking reassurance from loved ones to see if they’ve had similar thoughts and whether they think they’re sinful.
- Repeatedly visiting your spiritual leader to ask about or confess to intrusive thoughts.
- Excessively doing rituals, such as praying a certain number of times.
- Mentally reviewing your past to see if you’ve ever sinned in the past.
- Avoiding certain places or people out of fear of acting on your intrusive thoughts.
How to cope with intrusive thoughts
Understandably, if you know or suspect you have OCD, you might initially seek prayer against intrusive thoughts. However, doing this won’t get rid of your unwanted thoughts. “If people could pray away things, then we wouldn’t have OCD whatsoever,” says Dr. McGrath. “I have yet to meet anyone with OCD who’s prayed enough, and OCD just went away. In fact, the things people do that they say are prayers are not actually prayers—they’re compulsions.”
According to Dr. McGrath, it’s best to understand that intrusive thoughts are not a faith problem but rather an OCD problem. “OCD says it’s a faith problem, and you just don’t have enough faith, and you need to work on that,” he explains. “If it was a faith problem, then prayer would be the thing that would solve it, and then it wouldn’t be a problem anymore.”
Your best bet for managing your intrusive thoughts is to seek mental health treatment from a therapist who specializes in treating OCD.
If people could pray away things, then we wouldn’t have OCD whatsoever. I have yet to meet anyone with OCD who’s prayed enough, and OCD just went away. In fact, the things people do that they say are prayers are not actually prayers—they’re compulsions.
Patrick McGrath, PhD
Exposure and response (ERP) therapy for intrusive thoughts
If you’re facing challenges separating your intrusive thoughts from your faith, exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy can be very helpful. ERP is an evidence-based treatment backed by decades of research, with 80% of people who do this therapy seeing substantial improvement in their OCD symptoms.
ERP breaks OCD’s vicious cycle, teaching you that you can tolerate distress and accept uncertainty without trying to get rid of it through compulsions, which only serve to reinforce those feelings and cause obsessions to return again and again. You’ll work with an ERP therapist to develop a personalized treatment plan that helps you overcome your fears of committing sins with your intrusive thoughts.
ERP therapy is split into two components: exposures and response prevention techniques. Let’s take, for example, the man described earlier who is having unwanted intrusive thoughts about his neighbor and compulsively avoiding her. An ERP therapist will work with him to gradually expose him to the fear. He might work toward saying hello to his neighbor or even inviting that neighbor over for dinner with him and his wife—eventually learning to trust that he can live confidently and faithfully in his own intentions and beliefs, even if intrusive thoughts occasionally pop up.
In a perfect world, you’d see significant changes in your OCD overnight. However, because ERP challenges you to address your fears head-on, it can take some time before you regain control of your life from OCD. But, as long as you are patient and consistent with your therapy sessions, you’ll start to see a change in your symptoms.
Find the right OCD therapist for you
All our therapists are licensed and trained in exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), the gold standard treatment for OCD.
Everybody experiences intrusive thoughts. While many can easily dismiss these thoughts, religious people may fear that they’re going to hell for seemingly committing a sin. If you’re Christian, Jewish, Islamic, or a follower of any religion, know that having intrusive thoughts is not a sin. However, if your intrusive thoughts are causing significant distress in your life, you should seek help from an ERP therapist. They can work with you to address your fears and strengthen your relationship with your faith.
Key takeaways:
- Many religions, such as Christianity, don’t see intrusive thoughts as sins unless you intend to act on your thoughts.
- If you’re experiencing significant distress surrounding your intrusive thoughts, you may have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
- Exposure and response (ERP) therapy is the most effective OCD treatment for managing intrusive thoughts and compulsions.
