OCD Sites to Visit, Theological Ramblings and a Summer Cold

First of all, I give my sincere condolences to those who have lost someone, their belongings, and/or went through Hurricane Katrina. I do not believe that God sent Hurricane Katrina. I believe it is simply a product of the climatic cycle of the year. My hope is that we pull together and give aid and comfort to one another as people recover.

The Hunger Site
FEMA, links to Charity Organizations
Network for Good
The third one has a section listing charities for animal rescues.

I know it would have been smart to post these OCD links sooner, but here are some anyway. I will post more as I come across other sites.

Obsessive Compulsive Foundation of Chicago
The Brainphysics Site
The Brainphysics Forum
A Personal Testimony about Scrupulosity

Just a note: I do not necessarily agree with everything on the sites to which I link on this blog. For one, I am losing belief in eternal torment. I have been getting the sense that eternal torment is not the case, and another person who says that he is a Christian (a person to which I owe much of my reovery from Hellfire Fundamentalism) recently said that he does not believe in it either, so that made me feel more comfortable with the idea. I do am still not sure about Universal Reconciliation, though. I am leaning toward annihlation, or just staying in a place separate from God without any tactile torment (however that could happen in the spiritual realm).

Even if the torment of the Lake of Fire is temporary, it is not a license to wallow in one's vices. I have this temptation, and I am working on it. Even if the punishment is just a purification process, I do not think any sane being would want to make his or her stay longer, given how intense the "fire" is said to be.

One idea I had floating around in my head was that since it is said that those in the Lake of Fire (at least those who have worshipped the Beast and his image) are tormented in the presence of Jesus, it is the fire of God that keeps it aflame. God is said to be "a consuming fire," and the experiences I have had with a force after talking to God, I think this may be put as God's prescense. What I sensed felt beautiful, and I felt wanted. At the same time, this force was painful, and I was afraid that I could be ripped apart if I let it get too close. Once, it did come close, and I was just about floored. It felt like spiritual fire being poured into my body, purifying my being.

Still, from other passages I read in the Bible, I am still not ready to totally throw Eternal Torment out the window. It's horribly shallow, but I just do not think I can do right unless there is a certain fear of God's wrath there. This could remain even if I believed in Universal Salvation (temporary punishment), but the difference between however long it takes to punish someone and eternity is a very large difference. An infinite difference, one could say.

I am also recovering from a summer cold, go me. I have read other testimonies in which people say that being sick makes OCD spike, and I have ascertained that this is the case for me as well.