J
jamesg12
Guest
Hi all, I’ve been troubled recently and can’t determine whether I’ve sinned or not concerning temptation- despite knowing beforehand that certain acts are wrong, in the face of temptation I often justify sins, actions that I am contemplating or considering. Sort of weighing up pros and cons, and this leads me to deceive myself in thinking certain sins can be excused. Even though I reason that these things are excusable , I still don’t necessarily decide commit them and sometimes I hold back despite these conclusions . For example I’m prone to releasing my anger and not controlling it, when I feel someone has wronged me even despite the fact that I know it is wrong to unleash my anger, in my thought process I will contemplate confronting someone, justifying or excusing berating them - deceiving myself that it would not be a sin under the circumstances. Is this simply being enticed or part of temptation? Although I didn’t choose or decide to actually give into my aggression I still feel like my thought process reveals that I was somewhere along the line of giving into this temptation and certainly “set me up” for sinning. Separately, in some cases there is a great urge to confront people who I feel have wronged me, but in the heat of the moment spurred on by anger I decided to confront the temptation and find and speak to these people- unsure whether I’m going to be assertive and peaceful or approach them aggressively. This is scrupulous I understand, but it seems the line between temptation and sin is blurred especially where I have, in a way, decided to act on my anger by approaching certain people without yet thinking of my attitude- and leaving the opportunity for sin by not ruling it out. I know controlled anger is not always a sin but where I am in the midst of making a decision I’m left confused if I’ve already given in. I know it’s quite a tricky situation but any sort of clarity would be much appreciated.