Forgiveness of sins, and ignorance? Am i forgiven?

[freesoulhope]

I seen and been through many things in my past before a became a Christian, that i never told the preists, yet to my understanding i was forgiven through baptisom. I also said many things to preists ( that i could remember at the time) that i had done in the past and they said to me that all the things i did are forgiven, and that i should now look to the future.

There are still alot of things that are unknown to them, but are known to God. Im sorry directly to God, but the preists said im forgiven( what i mean is, that ive gone to confession, but because ive forgotten some sin that i have done, i have asked for forgivness of my sins that im ignorant of. I remember later on what have done, and i feel tormented), so i try to put it behind and believe that i have been forgiven. For intances i have known people to sell drugs and do bad things in my life, i also knew that at one point my cuson selled drugs, but i never encouraged it.

About, Two months ago, a freind of my cosin said to me that he works on a pirate radio station (unlisenced) and has to pay to go on there. I fought at the time that it was cool, and i knew howmuch he enjoyed being a dj, so i kind of encouraged it.

Anyway, I forgot about it, and as usually i went to confession and asked for forgiveness for my motal sins and any sin that i was ignorant of. Everything was cool, and then suddenly i start geting tormented by this memory of my cusons freind telling me, that he worked on a pirate radio station, and that i encouraged it. I am sorry to God, and i remember that i asked the preist before for forgivness of any ignorant sins, but i dont no if im forgiven.

Im scared to tell a preist because im scared he will tell me to go to the police and rat on them, and that will cause problems, and indanger my life and give me a repetation of a rat. On the other hand i want to do Gods will no matter what that means. Then again, i suspect that the devil is digging up past sins that i have forgotten about and have been forgiven for, in order to cause me panic and to destroy my relationship with God. What do you think? am i being paranoid?

Im going to confession tomorro, if thier is no reply, im gonna have to say a whole lot of things that im probebly already forgiven for, things that i did when i was a young boy, and when i was in my early teens. And then im gonna get paranoid years down the line again!

 

[Coder]

You have a humble heart - be joyous in the Lord!

Simply ask the priest about this - I am almost positive that all sins before baptism are not to be confessed. You died and were reborn with Jesus when you were baptised. The old you does not exist! All of us who are baptised need to remember this!

I once worried about such things but over time it diminished. As you persevere and grow you will be at peace. Persevere and fight through the worries. I think these worries can be a tool of Satan to discourage Christians. I think in time your peace will increase especially as continue the confession cycle.

If you are humble and honest and make an effort to prepare for confession - then I would think you should be at peace. One booklet I read gives great advice. To prepare for confession, go through the ten commandments.

You certainly have the right attitude and it’s an honor to be in the Christian family with you,

 

[bonaventure333]

Once we are bapstised all out sins are forgiven. However we break our baptismal promises when we sin, particulaly mortal sin. Since we have only on bapstism we need to figure how recommit ourselves to our bapstsimal promise. Thus the the sacrament of Confession.

For me, doing the Consecration to Mary (St. Louis DeMonfort) has been helpful becuase this particualr deovtion is designed to ask Our Lady to keep our baptismal promise and one of the effects is that she will protect us from scrupilosity, which seems to be the diffiuclty here. What is important is that we are always reqquired to follow our conscience, so confees what your conscience is telling you. but we also must inform our conscience and so reading “true devotion” will certianly help.

 

[freesoulhope]

Thank you for your help, Godbless you

 

[newby]

When you go to Confession and make a faithful statement of your sins, all are forgiven, not just the ones you confess. If at a later time you remember a mortal sin you forgot to confess, you should tell the priest at your next confession what it was and that you forgot to tell in at your last confession. However, let’s say you died before it would have been forgiven if you received absolution.

The only time sins that you forgot to confess are not forgiven is if you intentially make a bad confession by hiding a mortal sin you do remember and not confess it. Then the confession is not a good confession even though the priest gave you absolution.

Also a confession may not forgive the sins you confess if you do not do your assigned penance.

Bottom line, when you try to confess all of your sins, make a good act of contrition and do your penance, all the sins you confess are forgiven and those your unintentionally forget are forgiven too. What a great God of mercy we have!!

Bless you,

Newby

 

[francisca]

Hi there !

It is quite hard to understand God’s goodness, and even harder to believe it. You have repented, and you are not the same person, and you don’t do things you did in the past. Give yourself a complement for that, and praise God. Do not look back to the past, but live today.

Our life is good when our conscience is free. But if it is not, you have a Councelor, the Paraclette : God The Holy Spirit. This God proclaims liberty because of Jesus’ Cross. You go on reading the Bible, and try to believe that He really died for you. And He resurrected to bring you a new life in Him.

It is hard when you face persecution alone. It is always good to be part of a good community where you can share your problems with others. Ask God in Jesus name all things that you think you need. Give a testimony when He answers you. Give testimony about God’s goodness to one another in a community.

If you can, share your problems (specific problems) with the community, ask them to pray for you. Give testimony when the problems disappear. In this, you give Glory to His Name. Sometimes, it is necessary to choose to whom you want to share your problems with. It depends on you how you want to do it. In a sharing session, it is wise to keep it “brief and simple” such as “I have a financial problem, please pray for me”.

To have friends to pray together with you is important. Your own family members-- if they are christian/catholic-- can be the best small prayer community you can have if they are willing to. You can be more open with them.

This can strengthen your steps in God’s path. Give Him praise and glory to God along the way. Try to be joyful-- not because of your environment, neither your past/ future-- but because of The One inside you today. Listen to psalmic songs of praises, and read The bible especially the Psalms of David & The New Testament. Try to join a community which believe in “Praising God” in songs of Praises “in The Holy Spirit”.

Good luck and God bless you.

 

[Sir_Knight]

newby:

Also a confession may not forgive the sins you confess if you do not do your assigned penance.

A priest’s absolution is not conditional on the penance being performed. Once a person walks out of the confessional, their sins are either forgiven or they are not. They do not become forgiven when the person does the penance.

If a person fails to do the assigned penance in this life, they will have to pay their debt in the next life and it is said that we can pay our debt here for pennies on the dollar compared to the afterlife so it would really be foolish not to perform the penance given no matter how difficult it was.

 

[Subrosa]

Hi Freesoulhope -

That’s a good sceen name you have there! Here are some answers!

freesoulhope:

I seen and been through many things in my past before a became a Christian, that i never told the preists, yet to my understanding i was forgiven through baptisom. I also said many things to preists ( that i could remember at the time) that i had done in the past and they said to me that all the things i did are forgiven, and that i should now look to the future.

This is true. You can and should move on.

There are still alot of things that are unknown to them, but are known to God. Im sorry directly to God, but the preists said im forgiven( what i mean is, that ive gone to confession, but because ive forgotten some sin that i have done, i have asked for forgivness of my sins that im ignorant of. I remember later on what have done, and i feel tormented), so i try to put it behind and believe that i have been forgiven. For intances i have known people to sell drugs and do bad things in my life, i also knew that at one point my cuson selled drugs, but i never encouraged it.

These people who do bad things have thier own issues. You should be avoiding these people without question. However, if you come into contact with them, it is not a sin. You could turn them into the police, but it won’t stop them. People who use drugs carry a big monkey on thier shoulders. It is between them and God. (If you see someone that is in danger, you should do something about it!)

About, Two months ago, a freind of my cosin said to me that he works on a pirate radio station (unlisenced) and has to pay to go on there. I fought at the time that it was cool, and i knew howmuch he enjoyed being a dj, so i kind of encouraged it.

Again, it belongs between he and God, and, of course, the authorities. Is it against law in England to know about an illegal activity and not turn in the culprits? You may want to consider this issue, espescially with the people who sell drugs.

Anyway, I forgot about it, and as usually i went to confession and asked for forgiveness for my motal sins and any sin that i was ignorant of. Everything was cool, and then suddenly i start geting tormented by this memory of my cusons freind telling me, that he worked on a pirate radio station, and that i encouraged it. I am sorry to God, and i remember that i asked the preist before for forgivness of any ignorant sins, but i dont no if im forgiven.

Follow the priest’s advice. I don’t think he will tell you to go to the authorities, unless there is danger involved. Pirated music is stealing, but not dangerous.

Im scared to tell a preist because im scared he will tell me to go to the police and rat on them, and that will cause problems, and indanger my life and give me a repetation of a rat. On the other hand i want to do Gods will no matter what that means. Then again, i suspect that the devil is digging up past sins that i have forgotten about and have been forgiven for, in order to cause me panic and to destroy my relationship with God. What do you think? am i being paranoid?

You can tell these people to get licensed. If they do, that would fix everything.

Im going to confession tomorro, if thier is no reply, im gonna have to say a whole lot of things that im probebly already forgiven for, things that i did when i was a young boy, and when i was in my early teens. And then im gonna get paranoid years down the line again!

There are none anywhere in the world that are sinless. Jesus wants you to confess, to own up to what you do, to take responsability for your life. He will respond in kind and forgive you.

Tell these people about the good feelings you get from your relationship with Jesus. Tell them that you are travelling the straight road and why. I’ll bet that they have a conscience too.

You are a good person. Use it to your advantage. And stay in school!

Blessings,
Subrosa

 

[freesoulhope]

Thanks, everyone, you been a great help. God bless you all for your kindness. Your cool!

 

[lottied]

Also, one is forgiven at the moment of repentance because it is only through God’s grace that we can repent and it is he himself who forgives us even. A Dominican friar once said to me ‘‘only forgiven people go to confession’’ what he meant was that God’s grace had bought them to the repentance, healing and restoration of the Sacrament, it is a gift from Jesus to us. we are forgiven at the moment of repentance- the sacrament is the visible sign of invisible grace already at work. It is an obligation to be absolved for serious sin before recieveing the Eucharist, but this does not make forgivness a transaction, God does it all- we just co-operate with his grace. This is a really crude description of this but this has helped me to be less scrupulus. also Jesus hiself told St Faustina that he finds chosen souls that do not trust in him ‘tear at his heart’ and so we should trust him for forgivness and frequent the sacrament of penance say once a week/ fornight.

I hope this helps
God bless

 

[Soutane]

Please discuss your fears with Father and ask him about scrupulosity which may be afflicting you.