Confession - Mortal Sin

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Susanm

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HI
a question please - I have a friend who sometimes looks at porn, it this considered a mortal sin by the Church? Also regarding confession, if one did something many years ago and cannot remember if it was confesser or not - should they reconfess to make sure?
Thanks
 
I think this is something thery will need to talk about in confession. Porn is a physically addicting sin with grave consequences. The degree of mortal or venial can be decided by the priest.

If you can’t remember if you confessed something years ago, there is no harm in confessing it again.
 
Porn is evil and they should stop and go to confession very soon. You could confess a sin you forgot, there is no problem with that.
 
Thanks that is what I was trying to get across to him - it can indeed leed to mortal sin, while just looking and not doing anything (with yourself or others) is indeed a sin but not a mortal sin. Is this correct thinking?
 
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Susanm:
Thanks that is what I was trying to get across to him - it can indeed leed to mortal sin, while just looking and not doing anything (with yourself or others) is indeed a sin but not a mortal sin. Is this correct thinking?
I think it may be incorrect. To view porn is to look lustfully at a woman. Jesus says that to look at a woman with lust, you have ALREADY comitted adultery. JP2 listed certain actions which are inherently evil (meaning mortally sinful); adultery is one of them, in addition to abortion and contraception.

BUT, why would he want to continue even if it WERE “just” a veniel sin? It’s like saying “but I didn;'t kill the guy, I just cut off his arm, Thats not a MORTAL sin, right?”. If you want to get closer to God, you STOP all actions which might take you further away from Him.

Amature cathetics;
Steve Chechet
 
On the question of not remembering if you had confessed a certain sin, a good thing to end your confession with is a statment like, “for these and all of my past sins”, this isn’t for excluding a known sin, but a catch all for those we truly “forget”.
 
Porn is emotionally and chemically addicting. It reduces human beings to objects, instead of the God-made creations that they are.
He needs help and confession.

Here is a christian site that deals wit porn addiction.
xxxchurch.com/
 
thanks - you added another piece to the puzzle - looking in “Lust”

I was not trying to justify or rationalize! If one is just goofing around and not looking with intent to be perverted, I was not sure if it was an actual MORTAL sin, when other factors come into play “LUST” and acting out then I suspect it fallas into the Mortal Sin area. And as per the other reply “adultery is one of them, in addition to abortion and contraception.” are not the issues here
Thanks for the help
 
Hopefully we can clear this up right now:

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
**2354 ** Pornography consists in removing real or simulated sexual acts from the intimacy of the partners, in order to display them deliberately to third parties. It offends against chastity because it perverts the conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses to each other. It does grave injury to the dignity of its participants (actors, vendors, the public), since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others. It immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world. It is a grave offense. Civil authorities should prevent the production and distribution of pornographic materials.
Pornography is a grave evil that degrades those involved as well as the conjugal act itself. If it is done with full knowledge and intent, it is a mortal sin. No exceptions.
 
Thank you

a question please DR. of What?
If it is done with full knowledge and intent - (so just goofing around on the internet) is indeed a MORTAL sin on this issue???
 
I’ll try and clarify. The official meaning of the term “mortal sin” in the Catholic Church is as follows:

From the CCC
**1857 ** For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met: "Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent."131
What this means is, if you know that the sin has been declared a “grave matter” by the Church, and do it anyway, it is a mortal sin. If by “fooling around on the internet” you mean looking at images involving nudity for the purpose of physical or psychological pleasure, then yes, it would be a mortal sin.

The Church does state that culpability in the matter can be lessened by habit or addiction (yes, one can easily become addicted to sexual sin). So if a person has been looking at pornography for a long time and discovers that it is a mortal sin, but is still unable to prevent themselves from looking at it, it is *possible * that it would only be a venial sin, but I would make a good confession about it anyway.

Regarding “Dr. of What?”…not a doctor at all. Dr. Colossus is a minor character from the earlier episodes of the Simpsons 😃
 
Thanks
OK now were getting somewhere - you say…for the purpose of physical or psychological pleasure. that is indeed the point I was asking about…
if indeed “for the purpose of physical or psychological pleasure”
then absolutely a Mortal SIN!
Simpsons!! not sure what that is - might be a TV show cartoon, seems like I watched it one time years ago, did not care for the content>
Thanks again for your comments
 
Dr. Collosus quoted this passage from the CCC:

2354 Pornography consists in removing real or simulated sexual acts from the intimacy of the partners, in order to display them deliberately to third parties. It offends against chastity because it perverts the conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses to each other. It does grave injury to the dignity of its participants (actors, vendors, the public), since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others. It immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world. It is a grave offense. Civil authorities should prevent the production and distribution of pornographic materials.​

I think an honest appraisal of viewing pornography will lead most to the conclusion that it is a “grave” matter. However, the Catechism selection quoted does not imply that viewing pornography is a *grave matter. *In fact, all it says is that “*t immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world” and that it harms the public. “All who are involved” would, of course, include consumers of pornography. Producing pornography is the grave matter refered to in the CCC passage.

Again, intentionally viewing pornography for the purpose of sexual arousal is undoubtedly sinful. Whether it is mortal is, as has been noted by others in this thread, dependent on other circumstances.

Also, we are just beginning to see the effects of pornography’s malignacy. Pornography is ubiquitous in our society and the pornography ethic of “sexuality is just about physical pleasure” is our culture’s sexual battle cry. It is so pervasive because it preys on our fallen natures–in such a way that few are left immune to its lure. I am a man in my mid 20’s and almost every guy I know either is using it to a point that makes him uncomfortable (most of these guys aren’t Christian and see nothing wrong with pornography in theory) or has fought a long battle against it and succeeded by God’s grace. Here are two startling facts:

90% of all films made in the U.S. in recent years are pornographic
30-40% of those who use internet pornography are women.

The good news is that awareness of the problem is growing rapidly. 12-step and other support groups are found in most sizable towns and there is a lot of literature being published on how to overcome compulsive pornography use, especially from our Evangelical brothers and sisters.

This fight against this cultural cancer suffers from the “impoliteness” of talking about pornography. Many won’t talk about it–or anything deviantly sexual for that matter–because it ofends against their sense of modesty. No doubt, there are many arenas where pornography is not an appropriate topic. There is no hard and fast line to be drawn but pornography is rarely if ever discussed and this limits the potential cultural push against it. How far would the anti-abortion movement get if no one wanted to talk about abortion? I suspect many are loath to talk about it because they might occasionally dabble in it. Nonetheless, we all need to do our best to create a helpful and informative dialogue that seeks to fight pornography, not judge those who fight an honest battle with their use of it. I regards to that, I am reminded of the verse from one of the Wisdom books about not adding to a person’s burden by reproaching him for something he reproaches himself for. (Does anyone know the verse? Even just the book?)
  • JP*
 
Your friend can reconfess anything if he/she s not sure if it was confessed! Some people like to make a general confession: meaning that all sins committed throughout the years of his/her life, whether confessed or not.
I will pray for your friend, that he/she comes back, and turns away from porn. It is true about Jesus saying that “When a man looks at a woman with impure thoughts, he has already commited adultery.”😦
 
Thanks Susanm! I’m a little confused as to why the first part of my post is so scrambled. Some code must have been mixed when I posted it because I didn’t intend to have multiple lines be in italics and there is a straying “*” that should have been at the begining of a quote from the CCC passage. I can’t go back and edit posts from previous sessions. Maybe I can email a board administrator.

About the post, the issue of pornography and its effects on our society, particularly our Church, is sort-of near and dear to my heart, so to speak. There is so much hope for people who stuggle with sexual sin but a curtain of shame keeps so many from seeing this hope. I think the Adversary counts this as a victory. I forget the verse number, but there is a passage in Sirach that says there is a shame that leads to repentance and a shame that leads to death. Striking that balance is indeed difficult, but any shame that extends beyond sorrow for an action, or maybe a light embarassment, and becomes an issue of shame for who you are is of the Devil. Succumbing to this shame, in effect, says to God, “Your grace is not sufficient.” If his grace was sufficient for Paul considering his history of persecuting the Church, then it is certainly sufficient for us.
  • JP*
 
Just have him go to confession. He and can and get forgiven an infinite amount of times so long as he is sorry and has the resolution to not sin again while he’s n confession he’ll be fine.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says in paragraph 1446 that, “Christ instituted the sacrament of Penance for all sinful members of his Church: above all for those who, since Baptism, have fallen into grave sin, and have thus lost their baptismal grace and wounded ecclesial communion. It is to them that the sacrament of Penance offers a new possibility to convert and to recover the grace of justification. The Fathers of the Church present this sacrament as “the second plank [of salvation] after the shipwreck which is the loss of grace.””

Just get him contrite, resolute not to do it again with God’s help, and to confession.
 
thanks - you added another piece to the puzzle - looking in “Lust”

I was not trying to justify or rationalize! If one is just goofing around and not looking with intent to be perverted, I was not sure if it was an actual MORTAL sin, when other factors come into play “LUST” and acting out then I suspect it fallas into the Mortal Sin area. And as per the other reply “adultery is one of them, in addition to abortion and contraception.” are not the issues here
Thanks for the help
So it was by accident that porn was viewed? That is not sinful.
However… How does one view porn accidentally? One either sees it and closes the window immediately (not sinful viewing), or one views it. Which is it? Is your friend scrupulous perhaps?
The pornography is always sinful, the accidental viewing is not.

If your friend is rationalizing the viewing of porn, tell him to be careful. Lust can bury him if he gives it an opening.
 
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