Have I sinned by selling old pagan materials?

[Nabooru]

For those of you who remember me, I was involved in an eclectic mix of Hinduism (which I primarily identified with, attending Hindu temples and such), Buddhism, and New Age for almost ten years. Over time I collected quite an assortment of paraphernalia - idols, books, “scriptures”, DVDs, CDs, incense burners, etc.

When I returned to Christ (which I’m still in the process of, as I struggle sometimes), I obviously figured that all that junk had to go. But I kinda-sorta reasoned that there would be no harm in making a return off of at least some of it, and wasteful to throw the rest away. So I put a lot of it up for sale - my Rig Veda, Tara statuette, Hindu idol books and pop-up altars, Ganesha incense burners, Buddhist meditation DVDs, if it looked Eastern and mystical I had it - and the rest that wouldn’t sell, I gave away to charities.

But TBH, I can’t help but feel at least a little guilty about all this. After all, by selling off this garbage I’m supporting people further into the same satanic delusion I lived under for so long. On the one hand, I didn’t force them to buy it; it was their decision to look into the occult. On the other, I kind of feel I don’t have a right to make any sort of a profit on others’ sins any more than a pimp has a right to his prostitutes’ earnings.

Have I sinned? Do I need to confess to be absolved?

 

[Trishie]

Whatever we say, you are unlikely to find peace unless you do mention it in Confession.
From us, opinion, from the priest, absolution, inasmuch as it is needed.

Obviously it would have been better not to sell the items, just to dispose of them, souls being more important than money,
and I guess the next question is what will you do with the money? Will you gain from it or will you give it to those in need?
Having felt concerned enough to ask the question, it’s likely that you will be uneasy until you take this to Confession…do you think?

I’m sure you will be moved to pray for these people who are still involved in what you have, with God’s grace, abandoned in favor of God.
May God continue to bless you always

 

[Elizium23]

Don’t worry. You made those sales in good faith, possibly just to earn a little money back for yourself, and you didn’t intend to lead people astray or encourage false beliefs. There’s always a market for things people don’t want. It isn’t like you opened up a store which deals in buying and selling pagan idols on a day-to-day basis. It was a one-time thing, and those items are gone from your possession. Count your blessings and move on.

And I wouldn’t worry too much about Hinduism being Satanic. It is a venerable indigenous religion with elements of truth and an imperfect concept of our loving God. Some Hindus even worship Jesus as an avatar of Brahma. Hinduism has nasty-sounding gods in some forms, but you didn’t intend to worship Satan, and your devotion to Hinduism is over, so put it behind you now and focus on Christ.

 

[Delaine75]

If you come across any more of your stuff from your pagan days, perhaps burning it or burying it in the ground may be a better option. That way no one else can get hold of it.

 

[Captain_America]

I have no notion of how much bucks you got, but I would tend to, at this point, want to just contribute it to the church to get rid of such money in a positive way.

Yeah, I would tend to want to throw away such materials instead of selling them or giving them to someone. Why spread it?

 

[Nabooru]

Don’t worry. You made those sales in good faith, possibly just to earn a little money back for yourself, and you didn’t intend to lead people astray or encourage false beliefs. There’s always a market for things people don’t want. It isn’t like you opened up a store which deals in buying and selling pagan idols on a day-to-day basis. It was a one-time thing, and those items are gone from your possession. Count your blessings and move on.

And I wouldn’t worry too much about Hinduism being Satanic. It is a venerable indigenous religion with elements of truth and an imperfect concept of our loving God. Some Hindus even worship Jesus as an avatar of Brahma. Hinduism has nasty-sounding gods in some forms, but you didn’t intend to worship Satan, and your devotion to Hinduism is over, so put it behind you now and focus on Christ.

Hinduism and Buddhism are easy to dismiss as harmless when you haven’t been a part of it. I neglected to help others, since to do so would not only less up their karma, but even the good karma I earned would cause me to be reincarnated, so it was best to avoid all action. I say in front of a mirror to meditate and worship The Self. I never had the opportunity, but God knows I wanted to engage in tantric sex (I did worship sex organs). There are even some Hindus that engage in blood and lust sacrifices to the raging Goddess, but yet again I never had a chance. And for that I am now thankful, since otherwise I would literally have blood on my hands.

 

[Elizium23]

I didn’t say it was harmless, no false religion is harmless to its practitioners or to charity. I just said it isn’t all about Satan.

 

[tobbias88]

Only you can answer that question.
But since you still feel troubled by it go to your confessor and do as he advises you.
I have many tribal masks etc but attribute no spirituality - evil or good - to them. Just curios which indeed I may sell - but really just a load a junk in the end!
Lighten up…Jesus is happy that you are back.

 

[BroomWagon]

On a related note, I have thrown music CDs away that I don’t think promote Catholic values. Seems similar.

 

[Nabooru]

Only you can answer that question.
But since you still feel troubled by it go to your confessor and do as he advises you.
I have many tribal masks etc but attribute no spirituality - evil or good - to them. Just curios which indeed I may sell - but really just a load a junk in the end!
Lighten up…Jesus is happy that you are back.

But these books are about spirituality. They teach and encourage. The statues were expressly not mere decorative objects but made as an object of devotion. And that’s how I sold them.