Can desires themselves be sins?

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_AnnoDomini said:
By “entertaining” bad thoughts, I’m assuming you mean following up on them and giving into them?
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No, I meant dwelling on them, continuing in then, and/or giving unto fantasizing/immersing yourself in them. Anything that we give consent to continue in when we know it is evil and displeasing to God, is sin.
_AnnoDomini said:
Sometimes when I have bad thoughts, I try to think about what the reason is that I thought it, so that I can avoid doing so in the future. That’s not wrong, right?
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This doesn’t sound like sin (in my uneducated unofficial opinion) because you are not willfully doing something displeasing to God. I suppose maybe finding an underlying cause (exposure to a certain thing, pondering a certain subject, company of people that bring about evil subjects, etc) for bad thoughts can be a good thing to prevent more. But personally, when a bad thought pops into my head, I immediately turn to God (and/or Mary) and ask forgiveness and for Them to cleanse my mind of it immediately and I think about it no more if possible. I don’t want anything to do with it so I try to run away (to God) fast!
 
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@Hodos cited Matthew 5: 21-22 and other related Scriptures re sins of thought and desire. IIRC, re Matt. 5: 21-22, if a man looks lustfully at a woman, he commits adultery in his heart even though he may not physically touch her out of fear what others may think.

The same applies to murder. If a person has the intention of killing someone but is impeded from carrying it out, they are still guilty of murder because the decision of the will is the act.
 
I didn’t say that sins of thought weren’t sins, but sin still requires volition. Having the desire and acting on it are not the same thing. If a man looks lustfully at a woman, and entertains lustful thoughts, he has committed an act of the will. Merely having a desire isn’t sin of itself.
 
OK. Thank you for clarifying that, Father. That’s what I thought too.
 
My parish priest explained it to me as an intrusive thought is not sinful in itself, but choosing to indulge in the thought is. We have a sinful nature, thanks to our first parents, and Satan wont leave us alone particularly when he wants our soul. My uneducated understanding is that it can be meritorious to tempted and resist, but always giving the glory to God for giving us the grace to resist and never patting ourselves on the back when we find we didn’t indulge in the initial thought. If there is a recurring theme to the temptations then pray hard about it, even fast. I am sure God can free you of these thoughts, this is just from personal experience though, I’m not educated in matters like this.
 
Morose delectation (in a grave matter) is mortal sin. It is the deliberate and willful (i.e., the higher intellect has had time to judge about what is occurring in the mind) simulation of the act for the sake of the illicit pleasure of that act, without actually carrying it out externally (even if one would not carry it out externally, including due to moral concerns).
 
I would think the lusting in the heart sin, is keeping the lust going. We all get a sinful thought every now & then. It pops up! We pop in scripture & kick it out. We can’t watch sensual programs or read sensual books. That puts thoughts in our minds. Dating, stay in Public, no heavy kissing sessions. NO PORN! Our minds can’t be pure if we fill it up w junk.
 
“Wanting” is an emotion and out of our direct control.

But we can feed our emotions by repeatedly thinking about it on purpose.

You may not be able to keep from wanting to be with that attractive and charming person, or wanting to steal that big stack of money or wanting to punch that jerk down the street, but you can distract yourself and keep going about your own business.
 
Anger by itself is not a sin, but can lead to sin. It took me years to control my temper and to exercise self-restraint, but God helps the faithful and patience conquers.
 
The vice of lust, much like the virtue of love, is an act of the will and not just an involuntary movement of the emotions.

Just as you can (and must) love someone in the Christian sense whether or not you have positive feelings toward them, merely feeling attraction or even being “turned on” involuntarily are not lust. You have to engage the will at some level.

That said, actual physical action is not required. Lust can damage your soul even if you only dwell on it in the privacy of your mind. Hence the Lord’s warning that lust could be as bad as adultery and hatred as bad as murder — not involuntary emotions, but willed dispositions, even if not acted upon.
 
Jealousy, envy, lust - many very common “attributes” in our rotten culture involve serious sin without lifting a finger.
 
edward_george1 said:
You can’t be judged for having desires, which are the result of the fall. You do not incur sin merely by having desires. Sin is an act of the will.
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Sin is always in the will. However, the improper desire that moves us to do evil becomes evil itself upon the act. Over time, developing control of our desires and passions allowing us to be moved to act only in the presence of the desire’s or passion’s proper object is obligatory upon us all.

Our Lord’s temptations were external, not ones from concupiscence as He did not have any disordered appetites or passions.
 
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