A question about impure thoughts?

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What constitutes an impure thought?
If an impure thought is not of a sexual nature than is it not an impure thought? Are impure thoughts only thoughts of a sexual nature?
Thank you
🙂
 
catholicgirl201 said:
What constitutes an impure thought?
If an impure thought is not of a sexual nature than is it not an impure thought? Are impure thoughts only thoughts of a sexual nature?
Thank you
🙂
Click to expand...
an impure thought can be of a sexual nature, or just something that causes you to be aroused, they are sexually arousing thoughts, not necessarily “sexual” in themselves.
but it’s not a sin to have those thoughts until you recognize and give into them, because, especially nowadays, it’s easy for those thoughts to pop into your mind, and that’s really just the temptation to sin, and not the sin itself, it becomes a sin only when you willingly give into it.

a good way to flee from impure thoughts and get them out of your mind, is to say some prayers as soon as you see the temptation, the ones i always recommend are “precious blood of Jesus Christ, wash over me, protect me from the wickedness and snared of the devil.” and then right after that “Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Saint Maria Goretti, Guardian Angel, help me.” and then immediately think of something else, something you enjoy very much that is not immoral, or if that doesn’t seem to work(although it almost always does) then try to distract yourself some other way, such as calling someone on the phone or just finding someone in the house to talk to…but if it’s something around you that is causing the impure thoughts, then you must remove yourself from that thing, and avoid it at all cost in the future, whether it’s a site you go to, or a tv show, or some book or magazine, whatever it may be, you are obligated to avoid whatever leads you into mortal sin, which is what the church calls “occasions of sin”.

another good way to strengthen yourself against thoughts of impurity, is to confess even your temptation to those thoughts in the confessional, and by doing that you will gain special graces to really knock the wind out of it’s sales, and you’ll just become stronger against it.
the best things you can do with this sin is pray, go to confession, and go to communion, never neglect prayer, because it’s by neglecting to pray immediately that we give in, and when you receive Jesus in the Eucharist, remember then especially to ask for a remedy for the sin of lust in your heart and mind, along with your other more dominant vices.

reading the lives and writings of the saints will also help and inspire you to be more pure, which you can find alot of on www.tanbooks.com

well if you have any other questions, i’d be glad to help, so i hope this helps, take care.
 
EmeraldWings said:
A good way to flee from impure thoughts and get them out of your mind, is to say some prayers as soon as you see the temptation, the ones i always recommend are “precious blood of Jesus Christ, wash over me, protect me from the wickedness and snared of the devil.” and then right after that “Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Saint Maria Goretti, Guardian Angel, help me.” and then immediately think of something else, something you enjoy very much that is not immoral, or if that doesn’t seem to work(although it almost always does) then try to distract yourself some other way, such as calling someone on the phone or just finding someone in the house to talk to…but if it’s something around you that is causing the impure thoughts, then you must remove yourself from that thing, and avoid it at all cost in the future, whether it’s a site you go to, or a tv show, or some book or magazine, whatever it may be, you are obligated to avoid whatever leads you into mortal sin, which is what the church calls “occasions of sin”.
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One of my favorite AudioSancto.org priests has a great talk about what does and does not constitute a mortal and venial sin in regards to impure thoughts, as well as how to resist temptation (and he mentions the prayers above!):

Saving Sheep From Deadly Pastures (from AudioSancto.org)
 
catholicgirl201 said:
What constitutes an impure thought?
If an impure thought is not of a sexual nature than is it not an impure thought? Are impure thoughts only thoughts of a sexual nature?
Thank you
🙂
Click to expand...
People generally only refer to impure thoughts as sexual or risque thoughts, inappropriate thoughts in the sexual context. These become a sin in us when we entertain them rather than trying to get rid of them at once.

There are other kinds of sinful thoughts too, though. For instance, greedy thoughts, or jealous thoughts, or angry thoughts, etc., all these things can become sinful if we entertain them and deliberately allow them to remain in us, rather than fighting them and praying for grace that God will help us to change.
 
(from previous posts of mine)

Regarding thoughts

while Jesus makes it clear that one can sin in ones thoughts…just cause some lustful thought happens does not mean that one sinned…

(and one can have a sufficiently good reason to think about sexual matters…for instance studying moral theology…but care must be taken to avoid things that would be a problem…but that is another question)

What should we do with* unwanted* sexual thoughts or other bad thoughts…thoughts against God etc? Those pesky temptations that can come …even though we are not seeking them etc…

(there are of course some things we should avoid that cause them…and there can be sin if it is something one should reasonably avoid…but often they come uninvited)

First…Relax. Do not worry.

Now are they mortal sins?

For a mortal sin one needs a grave matter …full knowledge AND deliberate consent!!!

A. If you do not want the thought…it the thought displeases you: it can be a sign actually that you did not give consent or do not give full consent.

B. Even if you felt a temptation for the thought – and were drawn to it —but rejected it and maybe even turned to God : again a sign not full consent.

C. But what if one has a tempting thought --say of a sexual nature and even hesitated for a moment…but then rejected it for one did not want to sin? : it can be partial consent perhaps (and thus a venial sin)-- or it may be no sin at all but rather a strong temptation that drew you but then you saw what was happening and turned away.

D. A temptation can even be very strong or the thoughts very often – but this does NOT mean one has consented! so worry not…even it they go on for a long time…

remember --for it to be mortal there must be that deliberate consent!

What to do? on the spiritual side–relax first of all and remember the above.

Next – know that the more one fears the thoughts the more likely they are to come… or said another way --the more a person seeks to avoid the thoughts the more likely he will have a problem with them. (but do not worry about this either!)

for example: for the next 10 seconds try NOT to think of an apple.

tick tock …

tick tock…

Ok what did you think of? Most likely an apple.

So it is best to ignore them and just not consent and then turn your attention to some other good thing…for instance whatever you are doing. Simply do not consent and move on. and do not worry

another point – thoughts can just happen --they are the stuff with which we think…it is up to us to consent and take them further or not. and just because they are REAL VIVID and almost “think themselves” does not mean per se that one has given ANY consent.

they can be annoying…but need cause no actual harm …

(Now difficulties with thoughts can happen to anyone…and has for centuries…nothing new!..but I will note too that “some” have a condition known as OCD (I knew someone with this once…it was a painful experience)…and thus should seek further professional help to work at overcoming it and to live a more peaceful life)
Another help…is the distinction between “first thoughts and emotions” (as Baur calls em) what they call the prima of the prima…“the first of the first” (as one of my Professors called em…he was a Dominican)…these are involuntary things that just come up…such are not sins. They can tempt one of course to sin…or one can then proceed to some sin…but they are the stuff of the mind and emotions which “happen to one” …and really the are opportunities for growing in virtue etc as well…

How to deal with these? First of relax…don’t scruple…don’t fear them…to try to swat them all as the come…just simply turn to other things…or the thing you are doing…or to God…(of course do not consent)…but if you are too defensive against them…they may get worse actually…and confuse you more…instead turn to God or again other good things…accept that hey…somethings wild thoughts will come to you…

(and these can happen to all of us by the way…)

There is a story from the desert of the early Centuries of the Church where a younger hermit when to an older one with the problems of thoughts happening to him all the time…the older hermit told him to go outside open his cloak and catch the wind.

The younger hermit said such is not possible…

the older hermit replied --neither is it possible to stop all the thoughts that can come to you…your choice is to say “yes” or “no”.

So relax about “unwanted thoughts”…sometimes they just come…you know like unwanted phone calls from politicitians and salepersons etc…but you can always say “no thank you” or just ignore the call and go about your business
 
How does one know whether one has fully consented to a persisting impure thought? Does accompanying pleasure during the thought imply that the person has fully consented?" A priest once said that some thoughts are pleasurable in themselves and this accompanying pleasure doesn’t mean the person has fully consented. How does one know one has fully consented to an impure thought? I know if a person says to himself “I know this thought is mortally sinful but I don’t care I will think it anyway” then this is full consent. But what other examples are there of a person giving full consent to an impure thought?
 
ready said:
How does one know whether one has fully consented to a persisting impure thought? Does accompanying pleasure during the thought imply that the person has fully consented?" A priest once said that some thoughts are pleasurable in themselves and this accompanying pleasure doesn’t mean the person has fully consented. How does one know one has fully consented to an impure thought? I know if a person says to himself “I know this thought is mortally sinful but I don’t care I will think it anyway” then this is full consent. But what other examples are there of a person giving full consent to an impure thought?
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The accompanying pleasure is not a sign of deliberate consent in and of itself. Sexual thoughts are inherently pleasurable because we are biologically designed to have sexual desires. I would say there would certainly be perhaps a biological problem if someone did not experience ANY sort of pleasure when a sexual thought popped in their head. I would say deliberate consent comes after the thought introduces itself and you are able to recognize it, and after recognizing it you either choose to keep it in your head and entertain it or put an end to it. Sometimes a lustful thought may pop into my head and this may happen while I am distracted or multitasking and I simply do not recognize it, but as soon as I do (which is usually a matter of seconds) I either pray or will the thought out of my mind.

for someone committing a mortal sin in this regard i would say they would have to do the following:

have a lustful thought enter their head, they recognize it is a lustful thought, they realize full well that entertaining this thought constitutes a mortal sin but they choose that pleasure over God and decide to entertain that thought.

That initial temptation can be pleasurable in and of itself but that does not mean someone sinned; sin occurs when the will of the individual decides to sin. secondly just because a thought causes arousal does not mean it is sinful in and of itself if the arousal is not the intention. Arousal can happen from anything (at least from a male perspective) even having just a pure emotionally charged conversation with a woman can arouse a guy, now he is not sinning by having this perfectly pure conversation; the arousal is just an unintended side effect. but doing something to deliberately and purposefully derive sexual pleasure from arousal is sinful. But even just thinking about someone in a pure way can possibly cause arousal and those pure thoughts aren’t bad just because you got aroused since arousal can often happen in an unintended fashion.
 
I’m having this same problem now. I have managed to stay from deliberate mortal sin for a year and 9 months now, except for once when I left the house too late and heavy downpour kept me from attending Sunday mass. I’m 27, single and to be honest, begin to feel the pangs of loneliness. I’ve been perfectly fine this last year and 9 months. I lost desires and was very free from these things for all this time, the prayer was also very good.

I fantasize sometimes about an unrequited love from college. Never committed a sin, in the sense of sex thoughts, but when I catch myself longing for him, I have always brushed the thoughts aside for my own peace of mind. Last week I had this strange experience of physical arousal without any triggering thoughts, movies, or anything like so- it persisted for days and i went to confession because i just couldn’t be sure i had not consented in those 3 or 4 days. Later that day after confession, I was saying rosary in bed, I kept thinking about how lonely I am and that I would really like to be married, then i had all these fantasies about being with him. I never actually thought explicitly about the sexual act, but imagined scenarios where we are married. I feel that underneath, as my thoughts sought of implied the act, and persisted for a long time before i snapped out of it, i committed a mortal sin. i kept telling myself that God understood my loneliness and that rather than indulge the fantasies I should offer it to him and ask for a spouse from him, and then I would pray but then immediately go back to the thoughts. I’m quite certain I committed sins, even mortal. Did I?
 
Dear Marybeloved, when you you think you may have committed a mortal sin it is best to talk to your confessor about it. He’ll be able to judge if you did or didn’t. Peace!
 
Marybeloved said:
except for once when I left the house too late and heavy downpour kept me from attending Sunday mass.
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Marybeloved, I agree with ready that if you are in question, you should talk about it with your confessor. I think these forums are great for helping figure out our thoughts and options, but yeah – consult a priest you can trust in person with any doubts.

As far as being a mortal sin, if I have my theology right, missing Mass is “grave matter” but isn’t a mortal sin unless done with knowledge and consent and whatever the other condition is, is met. If you tried to make it to Mass on time but were prevented by natural phenomena that delayed you in a way you couldn’t have obviously predicted, it may not be a mortal sin at all.

Alan
 
Hey, people. I went to confession, glad to say I now have a clean conscience, at least in that area. Thanks for the advice.
 
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