Does Ephesians 5:3 mean that it’s wrong to even mention sin?

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kainosktisis said:
if we are God’s children, then we are to live our lives imitating/following Christ. Christ did not live an immoral life, & therefore, we are to live as He did. We are to imitate His life. It is a call to be Christ-like. Follow His lead in life.
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Exactly!

The Call is to Be Holy; holiness cannot be achieved through immorality–no matter how well presented sin is sin and any encouragement, as explicit or implicit as it may be, is a call to not be holy!

Maran atha!

Angel
 
Did you noticed how the thread changed from one to another?

Maran atha!

Angel
 
We have already told you…reading those books or any books that show how sin is overcome is not sinful.

Even the Bible shows how sin is overcome.

Any good book with a plot might show bad behavior and then how good triumphs or how people help each other get through tough times. Fiction books are not intrinsically evil.

Be at peace and use self-control to stop asking these questions. I would really recommend that you stop reading the ECF and searching the internet because you cannot interpret the ECF correctly at this time and they’re doing you more harm than good.
 
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You are giving answers to a person suffering an intense spike of scrupulosity.

Please do not give OP answers that might cause her further torment.
 
The OP did not state that she suffers from OCD.

Yet, what does that mean? If someone suffers from OCD it is ok to use sin as a means to convey a story?

Sex sells; obscenity sells; has any “work of art” become a better “work of art” by being explicitly engaged in sex or any other form of immorality?

Sharks, even Orcas, do not hold grudges against man and hunt man down as it is dramatized.

So what is the OP intending to portray?

Maran atha!

Angel
 
She has in other threads. It is quite obvious to me that she is even if she didn’t say so. I have it. I can see it quite clearly.
 
It has been stated in several of her threads about her OCD. If you had read this thread you would have seen it stated several times, including by Fr @edward_george1.

She is asking a general statement about any fiction stories, which generally show humans in all their good and bad points.

But she is struggling with OCD. Your statements about not depicting any sin at all would need to include the Bible, too!

Please do not torment her. You are wrong to jump to conclusions that she is asking about depicting gross sexual or other immortality.
 
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Ambasea said:
That definitely sounds like a prohibition of speaking about sin to me.
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Actually, it is the same: not to imitate sin and excuse it.

When I was a child a drunk was a drunk, a wife/child beater was a wife/chi beater; an adulterer/fornicator was an adulterer/fornicator… today man, and women, feel that it is their badge of honor to engage in infidelity or to be promiscuous or to engage in any behavior that goes against God’s Morality.

We’ve gone from “I’m a virgin” (both male and female) to "what, I can’t believe you’re still a virgin (both male and female–but specially male).

So the warning is not the mention of adultery, fornication, homosexuality, but the embracing of them (as well a any other unrighteousness) and the accepting or enabling or excusing the immorality.

Maran atha!

Angel
 
You are taking everything in this thread out of context. This thread is not about glorifying or excusing immorality.
 
I’m quite limited; I’ve not read many things; is there a depiction of immoral acts in these works?

Maran atha!

Angel
 
…not sure if you are addressing me… please use the “Reply” link if you are so that I can better address your concerns.

Maran atha!

Angel
 
They’re children’s books… with heroes and villains… the villains do evil things and the heroes do good… stuff like that
 
They were also written by devout Christian… one of the authors was Catholic.
 
I did not read either; I did watch the Lord of the Rings–I do not recall evil or sexuality being portrayed as good.

It was a battle of evil vs. good and evil, though treacherous, was portrayed as evil. Good, even after a failed heart/mind, surfaces as the root of goodness that searches for God–even if just in the meager justice that we, as imperfect beings can muster, can manage to engage: God shines through our willingness to submit to His Goodness.

If this is the genre that you choose to replicate, there’s no problem with it as long as you portray God’s Truth: evil is evil; only goodness flow from and towards God.

Maran atha!

Angel
 
That’s what I’m teging to do in my stories: show the reader that sin is evil but that it can be overcome through Christ 😃
 
Ambasea said:
That’s what I’m teging to do in my stories: show the reader that sin is evil but that it can be overcome through Christ 😃
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Fine! Fantastic! That’s great, and a proper use of literature. Similarly, the Narnia series and LoTR were great uses of very Christian literature, and by depicting sin, evil negatively while depicting goodness positively, were the opposite if sin. And to answer the original question, no, it is not saying to merely speak of sin is itself sin. You’re being scrupulous here! Which is, as you have said, only enhanced by your OCD.

Please, for your own sake, stop asking. You’ve been answered, now pray for peace. Other posters, as Fr ACEGC ( @edward_george1 ) said, we should stop replying. It isn’t obvious we’re making things better, and there is a good case to be made we are making things worse.
 
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