Catholic Teachings I do not agree with

[PelagiathePenit]

How are you feelings, thoughts, etc a sin? I think that teaching is a bit ridiculous and incurs unnecessarily guilt. I do not think I agree with the whole idea that anger is sin. To an extent, I agree, but then I do not. I think what you do with your feelings are sin not how you feel. Some people claim you are fully responsible for your feelings. Not all events, are going to make you feel happy? We are all uniquely different. Something that may anger Jessica, may not anger Jonathan because they are different people. Why should every event in life make you happy anyways? I can see why people leave religion. We must be perfect like our heavenly father is. At same time, do I have to check nervously every minute of my life if my anger is justified? There is NO FORGIVENESS without fault. I am not glamorizing sin or justified. I do think there is such thing as nit-pickyness. I think we as Christians should strive for perfection. Maybe I do not like the idea of complete self-control.

 

[sousley]

Can you point me to some specific teaching that feelings are sins? I have never heard of it.

Feelings in and of themselves are neither good nor evil but in how you manifest on them and potentially act out according to them. To have a feeling of anger is not by itself sinful as it doesn’t have the conscious consent of you; if you choose to obsess on this anger, then you are actively making a choice to dwell on it instead of forgiving it (or praying for help in forgiving it).

When Jesus speaks in Mt. 5:22,23 on this subject, the context alludes to the varied levels of thought or even deed one actively dwells on the sin. He assigns a progressively more severe punishment as the action of the sinner increases. He ends by telling us to go to our brother and forgive so that our sacrifice may be pure.

Sin requires an active participation from us; not just a feeling that occurs to us.

 

[BiffRuffle]

There is nothing inherently sinful about anger - for instance, Ephesians 4:26 “Be angry, but do not sin.” There is justifiable anger, people have very good reasons to be angry, but anger itself is not sinful, but the sinful actions that can lead from anger, if the devil is given opportunity.

As for thoughts, Christ himself said “Even if you lust after another in your heart, you have committed adultery.” There’s the matter of having a thought, feeling, etc., but controlling them are a whole different matter. We can control our thoughts, not always successfully, but the effort helps increase virtue in us.

I think you don’t actually disagree with church teaching, I think you just don;t understand the teachings. That’s okay, there’s lots that all of us don;t understand, and we must always strive to increase our understanding. But, no where does scripture say without understanding we cannot please God. It’s faith we need - so give the assent of faith, and then seek understanding for those things that you find difficult to understand.

 

[808Catholic]

How are you feelings, thoughts, etc a sin? I think that teaching is a bit ridiculous and incurs unnecessarily guilt. I do not think I agree with the whole idea that anger is sin. To an extent, I agree, but then I do not. I think what you do with your feelings are sin not how you feel. Some people claim you are fully responsible for your feelings. Not all events, are going to make you feel happy? We are all uniquely different. Something that may anger Jessica, may not anger Jonathan because they are different people. Why should every event in life make you happy anyways? I can see why people leave religion. We must be perfect like our heavenly father is. At same time, do I have to check nervously every minute of my life if my anger is justified? There is NO FORGIVENESS without fault. I am not glamorizing sin or justified. I do think there is such thing as nit-pickyness. I think we as Christians should strive for perfection. Maybe I do not like the idea of complete self-control.

God created us perfect (Adam and Eve) and after they sinned against Him, it all starts to go downhill until Christ dies and rises from the dead to give us Salvation. Emotions come with the human package and God didn’t make a mistake giving us emotions so, by extension, having emotions are not sinful in itself. However, some emotions may be the source of sin such as envy which is included in the Commandments “thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s goods” and “thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s wife.” There are separate Commandments regarding stealing and adultery so I believe thoughts can be sinful at times.

From your last sentence “Maybe I do not like the idea of complete self-control”, I sense you prefer the concept of “master of your own universe” a bit and would like to offer this. God asks us to be child-like in our faith and I believe that means we trust Him and follow Him as a child follows his/her parents on earth. When you think back to your younger days, you didn’t have to burn your hand on a stove to learn not to touch it; your mother or father probably warned you “don’t touch that!” Maybe we don’t fully understand why but, if we followed their warning, we wouldn’t burn our hand, right? God asks us to submit lovingly, not out of fear of going to hell (though that is a real possibility), but as loving children because we love God. Submission to God is not easy especially if we let our pride get in the way (another sin) so we have to work to let go of worldly goods (including our pride) and to put our faith 100% in God. Give it a try. God does not let you down.

God Bless you.

 

[PelagiathePenit]

God created us perfect (Adam and Eve) and after they sinned against Him, it all starts to go downhill until Christ dies and rises from the dead to give us Salvation. Emotions come with the human package and God didn’t make a mistake giving us emotions so, by extension, having emotions are not sinful in itself. However, some emotions may be the source of sin such as envy which is included in the Commandments “thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s goods” and “thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s wife.” There are separate Commandments regarding stealing and adultery so I believe thoughts can be sinful at times.

From your last sentence “Maybe I do not like the idea of complete self-control”, I sense you prefer the concept of “master of your own universe” a bit and would like to offer this. God asks us to be child-like in our faith and I believe that means we trust Him and follow Him as a child follows his/her parents on earth. When you think back to your younger days, you didn’t have to burn your hand on a stove to learn not to touch it; your mother or father probably warned you “don’t touch that!” Maybe we don’t fully understand why but, if we followed their warning, we wouldn’t burn our hand, right? God asks us to submit lovingly, not out of fear of going to hell (though that is a real possibility), but as loving children because we love God. Submission to God is not easy especially if we let our pride get in the way (another sin) so we have to work to let go of worldly goods (including our pride) and to put our faith 100% in God. Give it a try. God does not let you down.

God Bless you.

I hate pride. Too bad I have it. Maybe I just do not understand. My friends and family try to tell me IT IS OK TO HAVE A BAD DAY. IT IS OK NOT TO LIKE EVERYONE. It is ok to feel angry, upset, disappointed, scared, etc sometimes. I love childlike faith.

 

[petra22]

You do sound kind of angry about something… is it something about the church? Maybe someone said something to you that you took the wrong way???

 

[Iron_Donkey]

How are you feelings, thoughts, etc a sin? I think that teaching is a bit ridiculous and incurs unnecessarily guilt. I do not think I agree with the whole idea that anger is sin. To an extent, I agree, but then I do not. I think what you do with your feelings are sin not how you feel. Some people claim you are fully responsible for your feelings. Not all events, are going to make you feel happy? We are all uniquely different. Something that may anger Jessica, may not anger Jonathan because they are different people. Why should every event in life make you happy anyways? I can see why people leave religion. We must be perfect like our heavenly father is. At same time, do I have to check nervously every minute of my life if my anger is justified? There is NO FORGIVENESS without fault. I am not glamorizing sin or justified. I do think there is such thing as nit-pickyness. I think we as Christians should strive for perfection. Maybe I do not like the idea of complete self-control.

You misunderstand Catholic teaching on the matter. It is true that it is what you do with the feeling/unintentional thought that is the sin, not the feeling/unintentional thought itself. But one of the things we can do with these thoughts and feelings is choose to encourage them instead of fight them, and that is where the problem comes in.

Getting a spark of anger when someone wrongs you is not a sin. Wallowing in anger, giving into it, purposefully dwelling on thoughts of revenge and on what evil you would like to do to them in return is. Likewise purposefully dwelling on a lustful thought that pops into our heads.

 

[808Catholic]

I hate pride. Too bad I have it. Maybe I just do not understand. My friends and family try to tell me IT IS OK TO HAVE A BAD DAY. IT IS OK NOT TO LIKE EVERYONE. It is ok to feel angry, upset, disappointed, scared, etc sometimes. I love childlike faith.

It’s okay to have pride as long as it’s a healthy pride. If you find pride displaces other good traits, perhaps it’s time to reassess how much pride you have.

Everyone has a bad day; it’s how you choose to react to it that matters. I’ve had bosses who weren’t the Christian model and passed along their frustration in negative ways to employees. If you let anger take first priority, things can get ugly but rarely for the boss; most likely it will end badly for you.

You choose the emotion you respond with. I chose to respond with patience and forgiveness as Christ would want me to. Try it out on the next situation that angers you. If you do it often enough, it becomes a habit and you’re on your way. God Bless you.

 

[PelagiathePenit]

It’s okay to have pride as long as it’s a healthy pride. If you find pride displaces other good traits, perhaps it’s time to reassess how much pride you have.

Everyone has a bad day; it’s how you choose to react to it that matters. I’ve had bosses who weren’t the Christian model and passed along their frustration in negative ways to employees. If you let anger take first priority, things can get ugly but rarely for the boss; most likely it will end badly for you.

You choose the emotion you respond with. I chose to respond with patience and forgiveness as Christ would want me to. Try it out on the next situation that angers you. If you do it often enough, it becomes a habit and you’re on your way. God Bless you.

Thanks. I will. I think I just have TOO MUCH TIME ON MY HANDS. I need an outlet. I guess I imagine being a saint means being a one-dimensional, always happy, doll. I feel like somethings are simply neutral. It is not always a matter of right vs. wrong. I could dislike someone because they stand too close to me. They have poor table manners. I know God wants us to love. Ultimately we are human. It’s ok to just feel things sometimes, even if they are negative.