Can pedophilia be forgiven by God?

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CatholicManToTheMax

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Can pedophiles be forgiven by god? As long as they want to amend their life afterwards?
 
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I would add that the sinner must reject the sin because it offends God, who is supremely good and deserving of all human love, and resolve to amend his life. That is the act of perfect contrition.
 
Perfect contrition is not strictly required for forgiveness though, since imperfect contrition with absolution in the sacrament of confession is sufficient. Perfect contrition can obtain forgiveness before sacramental absolution, but one must still confess to a priest (or have the intention to confess ASAP if it is currently impossible).

To the OP, one must have contrition (perfect or imperfect) and the firm intention to amend one’s life by turning away from the sin, and must receive absolution by confessing one’s mortal sins to a priest. But yes, any sin of which one sincerely repents and does the above can and will be forgiven.
 
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Yes, but I think having sinful thoughts (sexual thoughts or desires) towards a child is also a sin. You can’t go about every single day wanting to harm or molest children. That alone has to be some form of sin because you shouldn’t be thinking this way (you know it’s wrong) so knowing it’s wrong but doing it anyway is a sin in my opinion but most cannot control their thoughts. I would say to these people, keep praying because God will help you remove these desires or these sinful thoughts which may turn into sinful actions later on.
 
jesuspriest said:
Yes, but I think having sinful thoughts (sexual thoughts or desires) towards a child is also a sin. You can’t go about every single day wanting to harm or molest children.
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I think one has to distinguish between having unwanted or intrusive thoughts or feelings and actually continuing to entertain those thoughts or feelings.
So if a person has a thought to molest children and then he immediately put a stop to this. No sin has been committed. But if he continues to fantasise his thoughts then it is a sin.
 
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Yes.
Belief otherwise denies the power of the mercy of God, and is a sin in itself (ask Judas).
 
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Jesus said it would be better for a millstone
to be tied around your neck
and then thrown into the sea
than to harm a little one.
 
With the caveat that a firm purpose of amendment and avoiding near occasions of sin is required, yes! There is no sin beyond the mercy of god, except the refusal to ask for mercy.
 
Dan_Defender said:
I would add that the sinner must reject the sin because it offends God, who is supremely good and deserving of all human love, and resolve to amend his life. That is the act of perfect contrition.
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While that is the best thing to do perfect contrition is not required to receive absolution. Imperfect contrition also achieves that.
 
thistle said:
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Dan_Defender:
I would add that the sinner must reject the sin because it offends God, who is supremely good and deserving of all human love, and resolve to amend his life. That is the act of perfect contrition.
Click to expand...
While that is the best thing to do perfect contrition is not required to receive absolution. Imperfect contrition also achieves that.
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The act of contrition that we are asked to say in confession, before absolution, is made perfect in the sacrament.
 
Yeah. God’s forgiveness is honestly so huge that it’s hard for us to understand it or even accept it, when it comes to rapists and pedophiles especially.
 
Yes, entertaining these thoughts is what I meant to say… but one has to also wonder, are these your thoughts or somebody else’s thoughts, like Satan’s or a demon? I am not trying to make a joke on this, rather figure out why these thoughts are present to begin with. If anybody knows more about where thoughts originate from, then please share some light on this subject. I know that we are not our thoughts and we are not other people’s thoughts but this doesn’t really explain as to where these evil “sinful” thoughts come from.
 
I don’t know the answer to this. Would be interested to see what people think.
I’d like to point out though:
If anyone want to argue that these thoughts originate from Satan then I hope they also believe any sinful thoughts also originate from Satan. Ie thoughts about having that extra cheesecake (gluttony) thoughts about showing off your driving skill (pride) etc etc. we are all sinners.
 
But it’s like committing murder - or rape -

God wants the penitent person also -
to confess to authorities.

That’s the risk - of going to Hell or not.

I could be wrong though…it’s just a discussion…
 
Anyone who has perpetrated such an evil, sickening crime, should go directly to the police to turn themselves in. They should seek to reconcile themselves to God AND all humankind. A grave sin such as this also requires that the person be held accountable by society. Pedophilia is a difficult sickness to overcome. Perpetrators are likely to reoffend. Action must be taken to stop such a terrible thing from EVER happening again. Good intent is frequently not enough. One abused child is too many.
 
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