Are the Forums a sin?

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The_Reginator

The_Reginator

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I’ve got to go to bed, get some sleep, make time for prayer, etc.
But once again I find myself here.

So I thought maybe I’d resurrect an old thread:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=9847

From the OP:
Ok…I am spending to much time on here? Is the excess forum-usage a sin?
It started with my lunch hour at work. Then after my son went to sleep at night. Then there was first thing when I get to work, while my emails downloaded. Then, whenever I was on hold on the phone. Now I just keep a little Forums window open at the bottom of my screen. This is starting to feel like an addiction. Is there a support-group forum?
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yes they can be a near occasion for sin if they tempt us to pride (I am a threadkiller, when I speak, everyone listens, and the discussion is closed)
to uncharity (if you don’t agree with me you are obviously a heretic or part of a government conspiracy)
to sloth (why clean house and go to work when I can waste hours here laying down the law)
and when it replaces prayer time and other spiritual duties (hey it’s a Catholic site, don’t I get prayer points or time off my purgatory?)
to impersonating the Pope (I am my own guide to faith and morals, and yours too, so listen up)
 
No, they are just one of many obstructions we face in life, if we allow them to become that, it’s up to the individual. I myself have lost time messing on these boards, yet I have also gained a ton of valuable insight, which saved me time as well. It’s relative to the individual. If I was only in here for debate, and just to prove that I have a point and am better then the rest, yes, being here means I am catering to my pridefull nature, if I temper it with simply contributing in a positive way because I have knowledge, it’s another thing all together.

The forums are great, they allow you to interact with other human beings, nothing wrong with a social environment, we humans require that, most of us at least, as long as it’s healthy, it’s good, if it’s not, it’s bad, and it’s entirely up to the individual.
 
Where I see the most harm is looking for or taking advice on specific moral issues without talking to a priest.
 
With every good thing in life you have to practice temperance. It can so happen that forum use becomes an addiction and gives you a high like a drug. It does become a sin since it injures the virtue of temperance. It becomes an obstacle to worshiping God and spending time with people in tangible life. It becomes an idolatry in which one places internet apologetics above spending time in prayer with God and helping others. This has certainly happened to me. When that happens the right thing to do is to stop using the forums for a week, a month, or maybe a little longer and use the time to pray, meditate on the Scriptures, exercise, spend time actually interacting with people face to face, etc. We must also remember that we should not substitute real life human interaction with electronic interaction. The irony is that the very medium intended to help us interact is actually making us more isolated from each other.
 
First of all, how could an object be a sin? Secondly, if you are asking if *using *the forums is a sin, how could it be? No offense but I think this question is just a little too scrupulous.
 
To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, “You do something either to glorify God or to glorify Satan.” If you can use the forums for good - if you can obtain knowledge, understanding and tolerance of others’ religious beliefs - then you’re using the forums to glorify God. But if you use the forums for evil - if you get sucked in and start obsessing and putting it before God - then you’re using the forums to glorify Satan. That’s idolatry right there. “No man can serve two masters.”

That’s how I see this.
 
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