Evil Thoughts - Where to draw the line?

[Phil_M]

I’m well aware that if a blasphemous/sacrilegious thought merely crosses the mind involuntarily, it is clearly not sinful. If such thoughts are voluntarily produced, but not something one believes…for example, if thoughts occur and a person decides to “play with them” for a little, while still not believing or liking them, have they sinned? Or does the thought itself need to be deliberately endorsed and put into action (an actual, physical/verbal act of blasphemy or sacrilege accompanied by a mental desire to do it)?

 

[fbl9]

I’m well aware that if a blasphemous/sacrilegious thought merely crosses the mind involuntarily, it is clearly not sinful. If such thoughts are voluntarily produced, but not something one believes…for example, if thoughts occur and a person decides to “play with them” for a little, while still not believing or liking them, have they sinned? Or does the thought itself need to be deliberately endorsed and put into action (an actual, physical/verbal act of blasphemy or sacrilege accompanied by a mental desire to do it)?

playing with fire is never a good thing.he who lives in danger dies in danger.i wouldn’t say one has sinned yet. key word yet.like in moral thoughts enertaining wrong thoughts almost alwise leads to sin of some kind.if you enertained ways to refute these blasphemous/scarilegious thoughts would a better use of the minds time than just to play with these thoughts. just my ideas on this matter.

 

[JRKH]

I’m well aware that if a blasphemous/sacrilegious thought merely crosses the mind involuntarily, it is clearly not sinful. If such thoughts are voluntarily produced, but not something one believes…for example, if thoughts occur and a person decides to “play with them” for a little, while still not believing or liking them, have they sinned? Or does the thought itself need to be deliberately endorsed and put into action (an actual, physical/verbal act of blasphemy or sacrilege accompanied by a mental desire to do it)?

The proper place to “Draw the Line” is as near to the beginning as possible.
Regardless of whether you “believe” them or not, playing with evil thoughts is active practicing of “evil”, negative emotions and that can only have negative effects down the line.

Do you have an example we could examine?

Peace
James

 

[Phil_M]

Something along the lines of “F Jesus”, it’ll pop into my head…instead of dismissing it, I’ll sort of turn it on and off…it’s an odd tendency, and I don’t know what to make of it.

 

[JRKH]

Something along the lines of “F Jesus”, it’ll pop into my head…instead of dismissing it, I’ll sort of turn it on and off…it’s an odd tendency, and I don’t know what to make of it.

Each time this occurs, I recommend you respond as quickly as possible, “Get thee behind me satan.” Drop to your knees and ask forgiveness.
No good can come of “playing” with such thoughts.

Peace
James

 

[Phil_M]

Would you say I’ve fallen into serious sin doing this, or would this be venial?

 

[JRKH]

Would you say I’ve fallen into serious sin doing this, or would this be venial?

I am not in a position to say. Since you say you “Play” with these ideas, I’d say it is a serious matter. You really should talk to your confessor.

Peace
James

 

[Kathrin]

I think the question to ask yourself is: Do you WANT to play with those thoughts? Or does the playing part, itself, kind of “pop into your mind”?
Are you afraid of the playing part too and it comes because you DON’T want to do it?

Then I would say it’s an OCD thing…

Kathrin

 

[MH84]

I think the question to ask yourself is: Do you WANT to play with those thoughts? Or does the playing part, itself, kind of “pop into your mind”?
Are you afraid of the playing part too and it comes because you DON’T want to do it?

Then I would say it’s an OCD thing…

Kathrin

I think it may be an OCD thing too.

Phil M, I want you to picture a pink elephant in your mind… now stop thinking of it.

You know the sad thing, sometimes a person with OCD tries so hard not to think of those types of thoughts, only to have them remain there or become more intrusive; tormenting the person.

Based on my personal experience, (Im NOT a doctor), if you have OCD, you are probably experiencing unwanted thoughts, and you may not be sure if you have willed them or not. And hence, you start feeling guilty about those thoughts, you may even start thinking that you enjoyed those thoughts.

Phil, do you have OCD? If not, then Im not sure what you are going through or if you have some other problem. If it helps, I just want to say that we all have these crazy thoughts sometimes, some people are able to dismiss them easier then others. However, it starts getting dangerous when you bring them upon yourself, or actually (willfully) enjoy them.

Im not sure what your spiritual position is or whether you are sinning or not. Please provide more info for the posters here, or see a good priest for advice.

I know we are not allowed to give medical advice here, but if you do have OCD, and it is bothering you or taking up a lot of your time each day, perhaps you could seek professional help. Its not as daunting as you think.

These are just suggestions, you know yourself better than any of us.

Finally, you might not have OCD as such, but may be suffering from scrupulosity (or both), which is kind of similar, but is in relation to religious matters. Some symptoms are: going to Confession excessively, constant thoughts of blasphemy, or the person has to perform a number of rituals (such as making the sign of the cross repeatedly or a certain number of times) or having to repeat prayers until they sound “just right” etc. I think you would know if you have this problem. Apparently St. Alphonsus Liguori suffered from scrupolosity/OCD.

I think I went a bit overboard with this post , but hopefully you do not have any of these mental problems.

 

[Will8503]

I think it may be an OCD thing too.

Phil M, I want you to picture a pink elephant in your mind… now stop thinking of it.

You know the sad thing, sometimes a person with OCD tries so hard not to think of those types of thoughts, only to have them remain there or become more intrusive; tormenting the person.

Based on my personal experience, (Im NOT a doctor), if you have OCD, you are probably experiencing unwanted thoughts, and you may not be sure if you have willed them or not. And hence, you start feeling guilty about those thoughts, you may even start thinking that you enjoyed those thoughts.

Phil, do you have OCD? If not, then Im not sure what you are going through or if you have some other problem. If it helps, I just want to say that we all have these crazy thoughts sometimes, some people are able to dismiss them easier then others. However, it starts getting dangerous when you bring them upon yourself, or actually (willfully) enjoy them.

Im not sure what your spiritual position is or whether you are sinning or not. Please provide more info for the posters here, or see a good priest for advice.

I know we are not allowed to give medical advice here, but if you do have OCD, and it is bothering you or taking up a lot of your time each day, perhaps you could seek professional help. Its not as daunting as you think.

These are just suggestions, you know yourself better than any of us.

Finally, you might not have OCD as such, but may be suffering from scrupulosity (or both), which is kind of similar, but is in relation to religious matters. Some symptoms are: going to Confession excessively, constant thoughts of blasphemy, or the person has to perform a number of rituals (such as making the sign of the cross repeatedly or a certain number of times) or having to repeat prayers until they sound “just right” etc. I think you would know if you have this problem. Apparently St. Alphonsus Liguori suffered from scrupolosity/OCD.

I think I went a bit overboard with this post , but hopefully you do not have any of these mental problems.

Hi, guys. The OP is describing something that I’m going through right now also. It seems to be getting worse. I have made up my mind to finally get help from a professional Catholic therapist and a priest as well. I’ve been from therapist to therapist, psychologist to psychologist, and psychiatrist to psychiatrist over the years. For a long time I wanted to believe it was OCD, but it seems to be getting worse. Even if OCD is involved to some degree, I know I’ve magnified the problem by dwelling on the thoughts and bringing them on myself (remember that people with OCD sin too). I would suggest that the OP talk to a priest and try to find a professional therapist who is a good Catholic.