TarAshly:
Midwest mom i agree with that and i am not completely innocent of calling my parents Catholic lite or diet Catholic (theyre episcopalian) however i do feel in order to have a truly personal relationship with Jesus one would have to have a little between “you and God” things.** theres certain things that the church would judge me for, but because i pray and meditate and confess to a priest i believe i am forgiven and still loved by God and that that loving and forgiving relationship is between me and God.** i only became a Catholic a year ago, i was raised baptist and then went to the episcopal church with my parents when they converted. i was never baptised and refused to be until i found where i fit in. i believed that the Catholic faith was it and still do, however i was raised to never believe something just because i was told to, i research what i dont understand pray on it and discuss it with the priest in confession and with God during my meditation time. i feel i know God as a father and a friend. what drew me to the Catholic church was the beauty and reverence they had for God, but i hope that someday we do become less fire and brimstone as people and more love and forgiveness.
This is what we are trying to convey to you, and I’m conmtinuing to post out of love for my fellow sojourner, not out of spite.
The boldface sentence above is simply incompatible with Catholic doctrine. While we believe in the unconditional forgiveness of God’s love, we also believe that we cannot continue to act in defiance of God’s expectations of us.
The Catechism instructs us:
1790 A human being must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience. If he were deliberately to act against it, he would condemn himself. Yet it can happen that moral conscience remains in ignorance and makes erroneous judgments about acts to be performed or already committed.
1791 This ignorance can often be imputed to personal responsibility. This is the case when a man "takes little trouble to find out what is true and good, or when conscience is by degrees almost blinded through the habit of committing sin."59 In such cases, the person is culpable for the evil he commits.
1792 Ignorance of Christ and his Gospel, bad example given by others, enslavement to one’s passions, assertion of a mistaken notion of autonomy of conscience, rejection of the Church’s authority and her teaching, lack of conversion and of charity: these can be at the source of errors of judgment in moral conduct.
On the issue of forgiveness, the CCC notes:
1451 Among the penitent’s acts contrition occupies first place. Contrition is "sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again."50
1452 When it arises from a love by which God is loved above all else, contrition is called “perfect” (contrition of charity). Such contrition remits venial sins; it also obtains forgiveness of mortal sins if it includes the firm resolution to have recourse to sacramental confession as soon as possible.51
Thus, we cannot be forgiven by force of our own will unless we are truly contrite for our sins. You now have received sufficient informatio to have a properly informed conscience. The rest, as they say, is up to you.