Has Anyone Ever Felt As If They Are Addicted To Sin?

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Steven87

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First I would like to thank everyone on this board who have helped me in the past with my other posts.

But Anyways, does anyone feel as tho they are addicted to sin?
There a 2 sins that I bring to confession every week because I just can’t seem to stop them. I started doing these sins before I became active in my catholic faith and it’s as if they have a very powerful grip on me. I can go a few days without comitting them but then find it unbearable and fall back into the same sin, and then after I commit it, I feel as tho I’m already in mortal sin until I confess so I might as weel keep going until confession because im already damned in gods eyes.

I comitted this sin today and didn’t feel guilt over it, and now im worried that the holy spirit has left my side and is no longer striving in me. (believe me I know how extremely paranoid I must sound!)

I know I sound crazy, and very irrational to some of you but ever since I became active in my faith again I’ve been miserable and feel like, I just keep pushing the rules and God is no longer striving with me.

I just can’t imagine how God could forgive me with sins I commit so often and I can’t see how he would want me to be in heaven because I sin so much knowing how horrible it is.

Can anyone offer me any advice on this or give me some kind of scripture reading that says God will not give up on me.

Thank you all!
 
I wana ask you a few questions based on what the Bible says:

Love your brother like yourself

Always be in prayer

Love your Lord with all your mind heart and soul

Now do you do all those constintly? Are you always in prayer always loving your brother like yourself and aways loving God with everything you have? If you are not always doing that you are always in sin.

So my answer is you bet I feel addicted to sin, but I pray that God will sanctify me. I plead you to do the same.
 
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Steven87:
First I would like to thank everyone on this board who have helped me in the past with my other posts.

But Anyways, does anyone feel as tho they are addicted to sin?
There a 2 sins that I bring to confession every week because I just can’t seem to stop them. I started doing these sins before I became active in my catholic faith and it’s as if they have a very powerful grip on me. I can go a few days without comitting them but then find it unbearable and fall back into the same sin, and then after I commit it, I feel as tho I’m already in mortal sin until I confess so I might as weel keep going until confession because im already damned in gods eyes.

I comitted this sin today and didn’t feel guilt over it, and now im worried that the holy spirit has left my side and is no longer striving in me. (believe me I know how extremely paranoid I must sound!)

I know I sound crazy, and very irrational to some of you but ever since I became active in my faith again I’ve been miserable and feel like, I just keep pushing the rules and God is no longer striving with me.

I just can’t imagine how God could forgive me with sins I commit so often and I can’t see how he would want me to be in heaven because I sin so much knowing how horrible it is.

Can anyone offer me any advice on this or give me some kind of scripture reading that says God will not give up on me.

Thank you all!
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I am going to give you a practical way to overcome these sins. If you do this, and pray for God to give you the necessary grace, I believe you will overcome them farily quickly.

Make this resolution: if you ever fall into one of those sins, you do not get to eat the next day. I know someone who was struggling with a very serious sin that he was unable to get free from. He did what I have suggested, and very soon he was totally free from that vice. Jesus Himself says: “this kind cometh out not, but by fasting and prayer”.
 
I am right there with you brother! all these posts they all had some excellant advice for you, prayer is key! I’ll tell you what i find that morning prayer, and beginning you day with christ is a very gopd and healthy practice, offer the day up to him. Then when ever you feel the urge to sin then you can recall that you offered every moment for His name!! keep truckin! i can say for myself, that i can definately relate to Saint Augstine as far as his sins are concerned and the addiction to sex, pornography, lust, man i was slave to it all. Prayer brought me through don’t lose heart. I struggle with Gossip the sin is so hard draw the line when it is concerned venting or just plain gossip!!! God Love YOu!!
 
You need to look at the near occassion of sin. If you make an Act of Contrition in the confessional, then you promise to avoid the near occassion of sin. That is what you need to focus on.

Consider the last time you fell into that sin. Think about what you were doing just prior. Eliminate that step. The next time you fall, look at what you were doing just prior to the sin, and eliminate that step too.

With this mindset, I got over feeling helpless. I realized that I was making the decision to sin long before I actually committed the act…by putting myself in the environment that caused me to sin. Does that make sense?

I’ll use an alchoholic as an example. Can you imagine an alchoholic trying to quit drinking while continuing to go to the tavern? That would be crazy, right? Some achoholics not only have to quit going to the tavern, but also have to quit hanging out with old friends as well, who encourage the drinking.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, while expecting a different result. Quit focusing on overcoming the sin by itself. Focus on avoiding the steps that lead you to sin, and then you won’t have to battle the temptation to commit that habitual sin. The further you put youself away from the near occassion of sin, the less powerful the temptation will be.

May God keep you safe and close to Him.
 
As far as feeling like you are already in the state of sin, so why not keep sinning? That’s a common problem. You are not alone in your battles.

I reminded myself, once I had fallen and was tempted to sin again, that this is just what Satan would want me to think.

The reality is that there is significance in sinning again, even when already in the state of mortal sin: True you may already be separated from God. But have you considered that your sins do not just affect you? We offend God with every additional sin. I imagine Satan sneering at God saying “ha! I have more influence over this man than you do!”

The other thought that I keep in mind is this: There is a danger of the sin of presumption. That is to say, presuming you will have the opportunity to make it to confession. Death will come like a thief in the night. When I close my eyes at night, the thought occurs to me that I have no guarantee that I will wake up…so I need to be ready to meet my Lord.

Please understand I am not judging you. Rather, I am describing myself, also a sinner.

I will pray for you.
 
I have 3 vices that seem to attack me in concert. For a while i conisdered myself addicted to them, but it actually helped me once i stopped thinking of them as addictions. When you say you are addicted you palce yourself in the situation of helplessness, you are a victim. In the case of sin, you may have been coerced by evil, but you are the agressor not the victim. I am fully in contol of my sin, and it is solely my fault when I fall.
 
Steven,

I understand the phenomenon you’re talking about. The first thing I want to say is that I’m pretty sure you don’t have to *feel *guilty about a sin. Natural law gives us an innate knowledge of basic right and wrong. It gives us an innate knowledge, not an innate fear or aversion. (In fact, the concupiscence we inflicted upon ourselves by original sin predisposes us to sin.)

I heard a natural law philosopher give the example of a woman who had an abortion and reflected, “I don’t feel bad about this. Does that make me a monster?” Notice she doesn’t *feel *bad, but she knows her actions were wrong; otherwise she wouldn’t have thought that she might be “a monster”.

In any event, you do need either perfect contrition, or a want of Heaven, or a fear of Hell in order to have your sins forgiven sacramentally.

I’ll give you two things that really helped me in struggling with sin:

  1. *]Hell, Plus How to Avoid Hell, by Fr. F.X. Schouppe. These days, we hear a great many homilies on “Jesus loves you” and “Love your neighbor”. And that’s great. But too many people are living without even a concept of the terrifying reality of Hell. Don’t take this the wrong way; all I’m saying is that this book very powerfully illustrates how conterproductive and horrible our sins really are by showing us their consequences.
    .
    *]“Pray at all times” (Ephesians 6:18)! I used to be a prayer skeptic, because prayer for me was really “quiet time” in which I would mentally enumerate each thing I wanted God to do for me. It wasn’t particularly fruitful. Then I stumbled upon the concept of “listening in prayer” – letting God speak to *you, *through spiritual reading, Scripture, sacred art or music, sacramentals, etc. This type of meditative prayer has been *very *helpful for me. Praying the Rosary every day and contemplating the mysteries has been particularly fruitful.

    Anyway, the point is, it becomes a whole lot harder to sin when you’re a consistently prayerful person. Pray constantly; you will become more aware of God’s involvement in your life. Incorporate as many devotions into your daily life as possible – i.e., cross yourself when you pass a Catholic church, pray in the morning, before bed, and before meals. Go to daily Mass when possible. Read about the life of whatever saint whose feast day it is. Make your computer’s desktop wallpaper an image of the Blessed Mother or Jesus. Put up pictures (or even prayer cards) of Jesus, Mary, or other saints around your home / desk. Make an honest attempt to see Christ in everybody you meet. Your whole life should be a prayer to God – let every breath you take glorify Him!

    In Christ,
    Frank
 
I understand what your going through and can most certainly relate. It is best for us to remove ourselves from the temptation of sin, but what if that is not possible. What if the temptation is all around you everyday? We are called to live a purgative life. This is a purging of our sinfulness to become more like God every day. We are called suffer in our efforts to make the kingdom of Heaven present here on earth. It is like a piece of metal in a fire. The metal goes through changes as it gets hotter. Eventually, the metal turns the color of the fire and you can’t tell the difference in between the metal and the fire. Much the same, it is like getting into a hot tub. First it is very uncomfortible, but eventually we adjust to the water. In our lives here, it takes awhile. Just as Rome was not built in one day, you can’t expect to overcome all temptation instantaeously, especially when you have conditioned your mind and body to this habit. You will have to struggle with this for awhile and you’ll have relapsed, but you’ll learn to control it. I recommend that you attempt to ease your way out of this habit. Perhaps, penalize yourself as one mentioned earlier with regard to not eating the next day, but maybe something more practical. If your doing this once every few days, try extending another day or two. You know your going to crack eventually, but you’ll be building your tolerance. You will become use to this and will be able to stretch it another day or two. Eventually you’ll be once a week or even longer. You be surprised at how well you be able to build up a tolerance over time. God recognizes our concupiescence, or tendency to sin, just keep going to confession and get back into the state of grace. Remember our Holy Father goes to confession once a week. He must be confessing something. Also, remember that it is the grace of God within you that brings you back to confession in the first place. So don’t feel like you’ll be damned in you die because you didn’t go straight to confession the next morning. Your intention to reconcile places grace within you. Just remember that your intention to do so doesn’t waive that actual act of doing so within a reasonable time. I know were all busy and it’s not always easy to get to confession, but try to get there once every two weeks. Lastly, you may not necessarily be sorry for the habitual act you committed because you felt as if it was necessary. On the other hand, I’m sure you’re sorry that you’re doing something that God doesn’t want you to do and that he was affended by the act. If you weren’t you probably would not be questioning this. So continue to improve yourself, use the grace of the sacrament of confession to gain strength, rehabilitate yourself by phasing this habit out slowly, and live a purgative life by striving to strengthen yourself daily to be more grace filled and God like. Just don’t stress yourself out and give up out of frustration. It is not easy to be a saint and you’re not the only one dealing with this in this day an age.

St. Gerard
 
I understand what your going through and can most certainly relate. It is best for us to remove ourselves from the temptation of sin, but what if that is not possible. What if the temptation is all around you everyday? We are call to live a purgative life. This is a purging of ourselves to become more like God every day. It is the analogy of taking a piece of metal in placing it in a fire. Eventually, the metal turns the color of the fire and you can’t tell the difference in between the two. Much the same, it is like getting into a hot tub. At first it is very uncomfortible, but eventually we adjust to the water. In our lives here, it takes awhile. Just as Rome was not built in one day, you can’t expect a simple switch to overcome all temptation especially when you have conditioned your mind and body to this habit. You will have to struggle with this. I recommend that you attempt to ease your way out of this habit. Perhaps, penalize yourself as one mentioned earlier with regard to not eating the next day. If your doing this once every few days, try extending another day or two. You know your going to crack eventually, but you being to build your tolerance. Eventually, you will become use to this and will be able to stretch it another day or two. Eventually you’ll be once a week or even longer. You ce surprised at how well you be able to build up a tolerance over time. God recognizes our concupiescence, or tendency to sin, just keep going to confession and get back into the state of grace. Remember our Holy Father goes to confession once a week. He must be confessing something. Also, remember that it is the grace of God within you that brings you back to confession in the first place. Your intention to reconcile places grace within you. I know were all busy and it’s not always easy to get to confession, but try to get there once every two weeks. Lastly, remember you may not necessarily be sorry for the habitual act you committed because you felt as if it was necessary. On the other hand, I’m sure you’re sorry that you’re doing something that God doesn’t want you to do and that he was affended by the act. If you weren’t you probably would not be questioning this. So continue to improve yourself, use the grace of the sacrament of confession to gain strength, rehabilitate yourself by phasing this habit out slowly, and live a purgative life by striving to strengthen yourself daily to be more grace filled and God like. Just don’t give up out of frustration. You’re not the only one dealing with this in this day an age.

St. Gerard
 
Hi, Steven.

You don’t tell us your sin. Masturbation is the big one in our peek-a-boo society. Even if I’m wrong, let me say a few words on that subject.

If masturbation is an out-of-control habit, it is undoubtedly because before you masturbate you are “charging-up” your libido by peeking, peeking, peeking. Somehow – soft-core porn? checking-out everything that’s shakin’ by? – you’re sexually coveting habitually, and are probably assuming that you have a “right” to do so, and as a consequence you can’t not masturbate – you lack self-control, right?

Well, you’re wrong about your male right to “peek,” if I’m describing you. In fact you are regularly breaking the ninth commandment.

Experiment with simply NOT LOOKING, my friend. Refuse stubbornly and persistently to not look. This will starve your libido, and your masturbation habit will shut down. I promise.

Next, you suggest that you are going to confession weekly. At first blush, this looks like really good Catholicism.

But…

If you are confessing the masturbation, and not the peeking, peeking, peeking, YOU ARE NOT CONFESSING THE REAL MORTAL SIN.

Also, are you going to confession weekly for the sake of *appearances *-- so everyone can see you go to communion?

If so, that is not contrition.

Stop peeking. Confess your past peeking. Confess any bad motives you may have had in going to confession/communion.
 
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Steven87:
First I would like to thank everyone on this board who have helped me in the past with my other posts.

But Anyways, does anyone feel as tho they are addicted to sin?
There a 2 sins that I bring to confession every week because I just can’t seem to stop them.
Click to expand...
Everyone is addicted to some sin or other. That is because it is part of our nature. Because of original sin we all have a fallen human nature. While baptism removes some effects of original sin, it dose not take away the addiction or drive to sin. God does not take away this addiction to sin for a reason. He wants us to turn fully to Him.
It is only through God’s grace that we can overcome our sins to some extent.

We can receive this grace through prayer and the sacraments and obedience to God’s teachings. One reason why the Church highly recommends prayer, such as the rosary, is to overcome our sins.
The greatest source of grace is the Eucharist. The Eucharist refers to the Mass, Holy Communion and Eucharistic adoration.
The catechism teaches that the main reason Jesus instituted Holy Communion was to give us the grace to overcome mortal sins. Thus daily mass, holy communion and Eucharistic adoration are sources of the greatest power to overcoming our sins.

Study the Roman Catechism and the new Catechism of the Catholic Church to learn more about this greatest source of grace for overcoming our sins.
Father John Hardon has some tapes called “The Blessed Sacrament” which puts together even more Church teachings on the Eucharist. They are great.

I found out from experience the Church certainly teaches the truth.
Since I started praying and especially at mass and going to mass and receiving communion daily I have overcome many many sins in the past that I could never overcome before. If I miss mass for two days, I fall right back into those sins.

The Eucharist works great!!
 
I forgot to write that all this takes time. For the grace of the Eucharist works by increasing our love for Jesus and this does take time. But, it does work great.
 
Dearest friend

Of course humanity is addicted to sin, they are by the fact of concupisence. This is by no means a cop out for committing sins, we cannot say to ourselves, ‘oh i have this concupisence, therefore I am doomed to sin and will do so, therefore I need not try to battle sin’…but we can say to ourselves and to God with just and right reason…

‘I am a sinner…I am trying with all my will to stop ‘x’ sin, I need the grace of God to do so and I will seek God’s grace in all of His Sacraments and through sincere prayer at home,at work at play, in my car etc and before the Blessed Sacrament. I am a sinner and God knows I am, God’s mercy is bountiful and I do not abuse His mercy but call upon it in all of my sin. I will not achieve perfection in this life and know that that is not possible, I will love myself even so as God loves me as His son/daughter and I will strive to be merciful myself because i am a sinner and in being merciful I will obtain mercy.’

You remain in my prayers.

I truly feel if we can recognise God’s loving mercy by the grace of that alone it will help us to not sin as much, but we cannot cease to sin at all, the just man falls seven times a day…which makes me happy as the awful sinner I am!

Peace of heart to you dear friend, God is not a stern judge but loves the intent of the striving heart who seeks His mercy in His Sacraments

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa
 
Thank you all for your suggestions, I think I will be fighting them with a lot of prayers and I’m going to use the one suggestion that if I fall to one of these sins then I won’t eat the next day.

But for now, i’m just thinking about hell and if these sins are really worth being eternally damned for and it’s working pretty good right now. Pretty good in deed.

And someone asked what the sins were and to answer, they are masturbation, and lust… I never knew either of them were a sin before a couple of months ago, and now i’ve got a bad habbit that is extremely hard to rid myself of!

But hopefully with the help of God I will become successful.
 
I just hope I havent gone to far over the lne with God, because I kept doing these sins knowing how wrong they were, and I can’t understand how God would ever forgive me doing these sins after knowing that they kill the soul.

I gotta Keep Praying HARD… And please if it’s not to much trouble, send a prayer my way. I can use all the help I can get
 
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Steven87:
Thank you all for your suggestions, I think I will be fighting them with a lot of prayers and I’m going to use the one suggestion that if I fall to one of these sins then I won’t eat the next day.

But for now, i’m just thinking about hell and if these sins are really worth being eternally damned for and it’s working pretty good right now. Pretty good in deed.

And someone asked what the sins were and to answer, they are masturbation, and lust… I never knew either of them were a sin before a couple of months ago, and now i’ve got a bad habbit that is extremely hard to rid myself of!

But hopefully with the help of God I will become successful.
Click to expand...
Hi, Steven. The not-eating-the-next-day thing won’t work, if you still peek. All you’ll do is obsess more.

Experiment with not looking, at all, at any girl, for, say, 6 months (except to do business or be neighborly, when internal priorities will protect against lusting).

Not coveting is the key.

To find motivation to not peek, pray, and resent being the “Devil’s dog.” Because that is all a peeker/masturbator is. I used to be one, my friend. Woof, woof (–making fun of myself).
 
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