Giving in to despair and sin

[Prodigal_Son]

Sometimes when I read the Bible I find that my faith is slipping away, especially in the stories of the Old Testament where God punishes evil doers.

Remember Romans 8, which is a declaration of the NEW dispensation of God in Jesus Christ, not the Old Covenant on tablets of stone:

If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

It is Satan that condemns you, not Jesus! Be of good hope, and press on. I myself know how hard it is to conquer those precise sins you list, since I suffer from them myself. But God is not out to condemn us, but to grasp onto us with His Holy Spirit and never let us go! His arms are stronger and more abiding than the arms of any man.

 

[Lost4words]

Most important thing. Get up and return to God after you sin! Keep getting up. Keep returning to God. Dont let satan win the war. He may win many battles but he aint gonna win the war!

Jesus came to save sinners. Hoe many times will he forgive you? 77 times 7 or more?

Stick with Jesus however many times you fall.

 

[Joe_73]

I’m not sure what the official rule is, but I just don’t recieve If I have commited a grave sin. I’m not always sure if it’s mortal or not, but it’s best to treat it as such, to be sure you are repentant, and to keep the seriousness of the sin in mind. I’m not sure if you can recieve if it’s “technically not mortal”, but That’s to hard for me to figure out anyway. Impossible even So My rule is, don’t have an unabsolved(through confession) grave sin on your conscience while recieving.

Hah! I found it, in cannon law:
Can. 916 A person who is conscious of grave sin is not to celebrate Mass or receive the body of the Lord without previous sacramental confession unless there is a grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess; in this case the person is to remember the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition which includes the resolution of confessing as soon as possible.

If you did this and were not aware, obviously that reduced culpability, but It seems like you are not supposed to.

 

[Banman52]

The proscription against “celebrating Mass” is for priests, since we, as laity, do not celebrate Mass…as Bl Pope Pius said, it is referring to the Priests. Priests celebrate Mass while we participate in it.

 

[hazcompat]

http://copiosa.org/spirituality/spiritual_combat.htm

Peace

 

[hoping4more]

I am guessing you took very practical steps to avoid the liaisons with strangers (getting rid of apps, not going to bars etc) practical, prayerful actions. Do the same for the pornography, avoid it, pray, find some activity to replace it(non sexual of course).

 

[guanophore]

But God is not out to condemn us, but to grasp onto us with His Holy Spirit and never let us go! His arms are stronger and more abiding than the arms of any man.

And the clutches of the evil one as well! The Holy Spirit and the sacraments keep us slippery so ol’ hairy laigs can’t get a grip on us!

I am guessing you took very practical steps to avoid the liaisons with strangers (getting rid of apps, not going to bars etc) practical, prayerful actions. Do the same for the pornography, avoid it, pray, find some activity to replace it(non sexual of course).

There is even software you can install to prevent pornography, which may be of help in a moment of weakness.