Accidently seeing an impure image

[Catholic102886]

Okay so I am a member at styleforums forum because i am going to be buying a suit soon and wanted one with a particular fit. So I became a member there to check out how different suit brands fit etc… Their forum allows members to use w/e picture they want as an avatar next to their member name and out of the thousands of members a couple have impure images as their avatar. If I ever come across these members posts on the forum I quickly scroll down the page so their avatar is not viewablee. I visit this site frequently to get different ideas about fashion etc. Am I committing a mortal sin by having unintentionally seen these images even if its only for a split second and i quickly scroll down the page?

 

[Moscati]

No, I don’t think you are committing a sin. I would, however, send a message to the forum’s moderators about it, so they can address the inappropriate images.

 

[Holly3278]

I don’t think you can accidentally commit a sin. My priest the other day told me that one cannot accidentally sin. Therefore, if you saw an impure image by accident and immediately banished any proceeding thoughts from your mind, you did not sin. However, if you dwelt on the image and allowed any sinful thoughts to remain in your mind and you entertained those thoughts, that would be sinful.

 

[DexUK]

You’re not sinning.

A: you’re not in control of whether or not these images appear.
B: you’re using the site for legitimate purposes.
C: you don’t want to see them in the first place.

It’s no different from frequenting a news seller who sells not only newspapers and respectable journals but also ‘top shelf’ magazines as well. You can’t avoid catching glimpses of them, but you weren’t proposing to have anything to do with them.

Rest assured, unless you deliberately seek out these images and dwell on them for the purposes of encouraging lust, you’re definitely not sinning.

 

[Neil_Anthony]

Okay so I am a member at styleforums forum because i am going to be buying a suit soon and wanted one with a particular fit. So I became a member there to check out how different suit brands fit etc… Their forum allows members to use w/e picture they want as an avatar next to their member name and out of the thousands of members a couple have impure images as their avatar. If I ever come across these members posts on the forum I quickly scroll down the page so their avatar is not viewablee. I visit this site frequently to get different ideas about fashion etc. Am I committing a mortal sin by having unintentionally seen these images even if its only for a split second and i quickly scroll down the page?

Another concern, besides whether you can sin by accident, is whether you are intentionally putting yourself into a near occasion of sin. Is “accidentally” seeing these images causing you temptation, or worse yet, causing you to sin in your thoughts? If so, you should make a very strong effort to avoid it. Unless your livelyhood is in fashion, you could probably avoid going to websites like that. On the other hand, if the images aren’t a temptation to you, it’s probably fine.

 

[Gift_from_God]

Since there was know Mens Rea (guilty mind) it’s no sin.

 

[Glutamine]

Here’s a suggestion so next time you won’t have to see those avatars again.

Use Firefox and get the Adblock Plus extension.

It blocks most ads and any images you want to. For example, if you had an avatar or if catholic answers had any images on it that I didn’t like, I could just tell Adblock Plus to block it and then it never appears when you visit the site.

 

[Adam1986]

Okay so I am a member at styleforums forum because i am going to be buying a suit soon and wanted one with a particular fit. So I became a member there to check out how different suit brands fit etc… Their forum allows members to use w/e picture they want as an avatar next to their member name and out of the thousands of members a couple have impure images as their avatar. If I ever come across these members posts on the forum I quickly scroll down the page so their avatar is not viewablee. I visit this site frequently to get different ideas about fashion etc. Am I committing a mortal sin by having unintentionally seen these images even if its only for a split second and i quickly scroll down the page?

NO! YOU ARE NOT COMMITTING ANY SIN AT ALL!

Sorry for the yelling, lol.

No, but seriously dude, you are not committing any sin. What you are asking is a VERY VERY VERY scrupulous question. And there’s a reason why there is a debate over whether or not being scrupulous is a sin or not by itself.

It’s because people begin to think the way that you do, this is a mortal sin, that’s a mortal sin, those are all mortals sins! And when that happens there are only a few ways it can go:

1. The get so scrupulous all they do is pray and go to confession and they don’t really enjoy the life that God has given them.
2. They get so fed up they leave the Church, and possibly all religion, in disgust and frustration.

I’ll give you a piece of advice for the next time this happens, ask yourself "If I die right now is God REALLY going to send me to Hell to burn and be in torment for ALL ETERNITY because I accidentally or even on purpose looked at an inapproiate image?

Doesn’t seem very likely right?