Did I Mortally Sin?

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shield70443

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Hey there,

As some of you may know I’m a high school boy struggling with lust, especially masturbation and to a lesser extent pornography. Recently I’ve been on a very successful purity (no porn/masturbation/indulgence in lust) streak at about a week and a half. However, last night I had trouble going to sleep and indulged in lustful thoughts to help me. I knew indulging in lustful thoughts is grave matter but for some reason I felt like it wasn’t mortal for me at that point, for some stupid reason I don’t remember now. I also began stimulating myself but had no plans on reaching orgasm and indeed didn’t. This went on for some time - between several seconds and a few minutes - before I became more aware and stopped because I knew it was sinful. Now I’m wondering whether I committed a mortal sin or not. I definitely came into the near occasion of sin at best, but I’m not sure whether to treat this as mortal, venial, or just a close brush with sin right now. Could somebody more knowledgeable than me give me some insight?
 
You knew it was of grave matter, but “felt like it wasn’t mortal?”
 
shield70443 said:
Hey there,

As some of you may know I’m a high school boy struggling with lust, especially masturbation and to a lesser extent pornography. Recently I’ve been on a very successful purity (no porn/masturbation/indulgence in lust) streak at about a week and a half. However, last night I had trouble going to sleep and indulged in lustful thoughts to help me. I knew indulging in lustful thoughts is grave matter but for some reason I felt like it wasn’t mortal for me at that point, for some stupid reason I don’t remember now. I also began stimulating myself but had no plans on reaching orgasm and indeed didn’t. This went on for some time - between several seconds and a few minutes - before I became more aware and stopped because I knew it was sinful. Now I’m wondering whether I committed a mortal sin or not. I definitely came into the near occasion of sin at best, but I’m not sure whether to treat this as mortal, venial, or just a close brush with sin right now. Could somebody more knowledgeable than me give me some insight?
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Hi shield70443
When a thought arises and we don’t indulge in it or reject the thought there is no sin involved.
If we accept the thought and think about it but then reject the thought then I believe it is a venial sin.
If we accept the thought, think about it and give ourselves over to the pleasure of it then that is grave sin.

Of course, there is extenuating circumstances, like when we are half asleep and unaware of what we are doing.

However, I am not a priest, and I only pass on to you what a priest has told me - you should consult one if you want to get the low down on specifics.

I would, though, say that venial or mortal - it still is a sin and grieves Our Lord and hurts our own soul - hardening our heart.

Having said all that if you are having a constant problem with this I would suggest that the above difficulties you are having is a symptom of something deeper going on in your life and usually problems of this nature point to this.

Hope this helps
B.
 
Dude it was a mortal sin, you knew it was grave matter and you gave into it. Go to confession asap! You’re not alone with this though, I too struggle with lust:(, start praying the rosary evey morning before you go to school, it takes about 20-30 mins, remember to medidtate on the mysteries, get up early enough and you will have plenty of time:)
 
Don’t be too hard on yourself; go to confession and look forward. I personally think that is only venial as there was no masturbation/porn but most here will disagree. I feel Mortal sin has gotten way out of hand. Congratulations on your fight against impurity. For a high school boy you should be commended! I wish I had fought harder in my teen years as it would have saved me a lot of suffering later on.
 
The last time I tried to classify someone else’s sin, I wound up sticking my foot in my mouth, so I’m not going to do that.

I will say that, having struggled with a similar addiction, what I would recommend is that you go to confession as soon as possible, because if it MIGHT have been a mortal sin, I wouldn’t want it on my conscience. I also have found that the Sacrament of Confession has been wonderful in helping me avoid such behavior.
 
Thanks for the advice guys, going to Confession this weekend was what I was planning to do anyway, I just wanted to know if I would be able to receive the Eucharist in the event I couldn’t make it to Confession beforehand. Now I’ll play it safe and work extra hard to make it!
 
Hey guys, sorry to bump this thread but I have another question. I’ve been trying really hard to avoid any form of lustful thoughts since my last Confession a week ago, but today I pulled up a non-pornographic but arousing youtube video of a girl and watched it for a few seconds, before I realized what I was doing and stopped myself. Will I be able to receive communion without confessing? I didn’t watch it for very long but I still feel guilty and confused… Am I just being scrupulous?
 
shield70443 said:
Hey guys, sorry to bump this thread but I have another question. I’ve been trying really hard to avoid any form of lustful thoughts since my last Confession a week ago, but today I pulled up a non-pornographic but arousing youtube video of a girl and watched it for a few seconds, before I realized what I was doing and stopped myself. Will I be able to receive communion without confessing?
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at first it sounded like you did sin when you said that you watched it for a few seconds, but confused me when you said you stopped before you realized what you were doing, the CCC says that you have to have full consent, if you looked away and stopped watching before you got aroused, then i think you’re fine, but if you noticed it to be arousing and kept looking, then you would need to go to confession before you receive communion.
 
johnnyt3000 said:
at first it sounded like you did sin when you said that you watched it for a few seconds, but confused me when you said you stopped before you realized what you were doing, the CCC says that you have to have full consent, if you looked away and stopped watching before you got aroused, then i think you’re fine, but if you noticed it to be arousing and kept looking, then you would need to go to confession before you receive communion.
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I did get aroused and I did go to the video knowing I would, but I literally got aroused for a few seconds at most before I stopped. Arghh this is so upsetting, I can’t believe a few seconds ruined my streak. 😦
 
Get to confession asap:), and what you should do to conquer this is to pray the rosary everyday, and pray to grow in the virtue of chastity, don’t worry, you’re never alone, I have struggled with that stuff too, and I still do have tempatations, whenever you feel any kind of temptation, without thinking for a split second, immediately pray, especially the St. Michael prayer, remember the devil wants to conquer your soul with things that you are vulnerable to, and watch out for key words that you type on the search bar on the computer that may lead you to sin. don’t worry, with the help of God you can get over this, just keep praying:)
 
Quoted in part …
needleskane said:
I feel Mortal sin has gotten way out of hand. .
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…

Unless someone suffers from the spiritual disease of scrupulosity, **denial **of mortal sin has gotten way out of hand. Hell is not something to gloss over, it is the real consequence of the real actions of people who know but prefer to ignore the teachings of God through Scriptures and His Church.
 
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