Does God Punish us for our sins even if we repent?

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The_Confused_1

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I meant like an earthly punishment. Like for example, if a man is greedy all of his life, he looses all of his money and dies, or If a person has been sexually immoral all of his life but repents and then comes down with prostate cancer or something to that affect. Is this what the definitions of a Temporal Punishment is. Punishment for our sins on earth? Please help.
 
It can be, but because we don’t know what is a punishment and what is a consequence of external causes we can’t simply say “Oh…that happened to that guy because he slept around;” it’s not like some identifiable “karma” (shudder).

But that is not to say that sickness and death are not a result of sin…for original sin ushered in all that stuff.

But to be sick is not necessarily a punishment of a sin you have committed nor a punishment for original sin.

God bless,
Aaron
 
The_Confused_1 said:
I meant like an earthly punishment. Like for example, if a man is greedy all of his life, he looses all of his money and dies, or If a person has been sexually immoral all of his life but repents and then comes down with prostate cancer or something to that affect. Is this what the definitions of a Temporal Punishment is. Punishment for our sins on earth? Please help.
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No, God does not punish in that respect. But there are consequences for our sinful acts. A sexually immoral person may contract AIDS but that is the consequence of his action and not a punishment from God. We either turn towards God or turn away from Him. When we turn away we willfully enter the darkness and it is there where we fall. The consequence for original sin is physical death but there again it is not a punishment for even Jesus had to die… God Bless…teachccd:)
 
Lets be careful here as it is easy to overstate what we believe does happen in regard to this issue.

Attached are 3 talks all version of the same speach. These were posted by RyanL in another thread.

veritas.org/3.0_media/talks/381

veritas.org/3.0_media/talks/382

veritas.org/3.0_media/talks/383

I think these do an excellant job on answering your question however these are loaded with the old Catholic guilt which is not good in my opinion. So please try to separate the guilt.
 
The_Confused_1 said:
I meant like an earthly punishment. Like for example, if a man is greedy all of his life, he looses all of his money and dies, or If a person has been sexually immoral all of his life but repents and then comes down with prostate cancer or something to that affect. Is this what the definitions of a Temporal Punishment is. Punishment for our sins on earth? Please help.
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There is an excellent article on this somewhere in the website.

When you sin - you sin against both God and your fellow man.

God, through a priest and the sacrament of reconciliation, will forgive you for your sins - this eliminates “eternal” punishment (hell).

But you still need to repair the damage you have done here on earth - this is known as “temporal” punishment. That is what penance is all about.

But the repayment doesn’t always have to be while you are alive - it may happen after you have died - that is the concept of Purgatory.
 
the consequences of the sin are intrinsic in the nature of the sin and they always without exception damage the sinner, his victim, the Church and the entire society. There is no such thing as a private sin, or a victimless sin. Whether or not the results are visible is entirely beside the point, and whether or not the bad effects can be traced to some individual action are beside the point. It happens, that is why it is sinful.

The deepest damage is within the soul of the sinner, which means in his personality and identity as well. For instance, the sin of masturbation, which has its roots in an immature sexual development, contributes to the continuing state of immaturity and stunted sexual development, damages the ability of the individual to form a normal mature sexual relationship with another person of the opposite sex, is narcissistic, a very damaging personality trait. This damage happens, even in an individual whose personal guilt for the particular instance may be mitigated by addiction. So yes, sin is punished in this world.

There is further punishment due sin however because at its root it is an attack against God, his will, and our duty in justice toward him. That punishment goes beyond the earthly effects and the earthly consequences. That is the punishment Christ took upon himself so has been remitted for us, but we still have to atone for the damage done by the sin itself. We know this is true because the glorified risen body of Christ still bears the marks and scars of his passion. This is done by working for restitution and the restoration of justice on earth, and by continuing that work in purgatory if there are still scars of our sin upon our souls.
 
The Catechism says:
1472 To understand this doctrine and practice of the Church, it is necessary to understand that sin has a double consequence. Grave sin deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes us incapable of eternal life, the privation of which is called the “eternal punishment” of sin. On the other hand every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory. This purification frees one from what is called the “temporal punishment” of sin. These two punishments must not be conceived of as a kind of vengeance inflicted by God from without, but as following from the very nature of sin. A conversion which proceeds from a fervent charity can attain the complete purification of the sinner in such a way that no punishment would remain.
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See 2 Samuel 12:13-19
David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die.
14] Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child that is born to you shall die.”
15] Then Nathan went to his house.
And the LORD struck the child that Uri’ah’s wife bore to David, and it became sick.
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16] David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in and lay all night upon the ground.
17] And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground; but he would not, nor did he eat food with them.
18] On the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead; for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us; how then can we say to him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm.”
19] But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead; and David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” They said, “He is dead.”
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David was forgiven but still had to suffer the consequences of his sin. The consequences included not only the death of the child, but also the episode with Absolom.
 
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