Honesty?

[Lonely_guy]

I register on this forum because a friend did recommend it to me and I had only one reason to do so,my masturbation-problem. OK,that is solved,it seem like all I needed was to openly talk about it and face it. Then I did start to look around and so far I like what I see here. But,and I don’t mean anything bad. I am a catholic and obey the Church because of that but foremost because I really believe in God and have a let’s say strong faith. I do start each day with prayers,I pray the Rosary every day and say my evening prayers as well. I do,however,have my doubts about what is really the truth of the Gospels and what is “man-made” by the RCC. I see contradictions. That is not my question though. What I am asking is about honesty. Either I am one heck of a bad catholic or you all are Saints,or will be so one day. Answer me honest,from your heart and soul. Are you all [catholics] really so “holy” and good you let us think or am I really on my way to hell? I live a “normal” life,what ever that may be,and I do sin. Strong faith is not all we need to keep us away from sins,knowledge is one thing but honesty is the biggest there is. I am not saying that you lie,and at this point I think I need to say that I love you guys and know that you all are good people. But if you are so good,and I truly hope you are,I have not chance one to one day find my self in heaven. And from where you take the time to pray so much. I spend about one hour each day,I can’t spare more time,and comparing to you I am the worst catholic there ever have or will be.

 

[tbcrawford]

Hello my friend and welcome to the forums.

No-one here is any better a person than you.We are all sinners and all struggle daily with our own personal battles with different sins tempting us.Often with me it is pride and lack of patience but I struggle with many others as we all do from time to time.We are only human.
What we can do is strive to do our absolute best to avoid the occasion of sin.When we fail, as we will from time to time, we seek reconciliation and confess our sins sincerely and ask for forgiveness and absolution.By the way I am probably the least holy person I know!!!

All we can do is try our best to be the best desciple of Christ and the best witness to Christ we can be.We can show Christian love to our fellow neighbours and pray as much as we can.In fact regarding prayer I have personally developed a gradual continual prayer life throughout my day.It has taken time for me to establish my prayer life.I wake each morning with the sign of the cross and then throughout the day whilst I am doing my work I pray quietly to myself.

Please do not regard yourself in a poor light we are all equal in God’s eyes He loves each of us and understands our innermost thoughts.

None of us know what our fate will be come judgement day only God.In the meantime we can only try to live our lives as best we can exuding God’s love to all we meet.

God bless

 

[fbl9]

snip…
I do,however,have my doubts about what is really the truth of the Gospels and what is “man-made” by the RCC. I see contradictions. That is not my question though. What I am asking is about honesty. Either I am one heck of a bad catholic or you all are Saints,or will be so one day. Answer me honest,from your heart and soul. Are you all [catholics] really so “holy” and good you let us think or am I really on my way to hell? I live a “normal” life,what ever that may be,and I do sin. Strong faith is not all we need to keep us away from sins,knowledge is one thing but honesty is the biggest there is…snip.

Only a superfical galnce at the forums revels many of us catholics here have our own troubles.I know i am not perfect dig up some of my threads. When one looks through the darkness of their own sin they can’t see the inner light. Look for the light not the darkness i say.
Honestly is not the biggest thing true love is, love overcomes sin, honesty flows from love. It is through love that one can honestly see their own sins for what they are.

Honesty allows one to say i don’t understand but pride allows one to say i am right the Church is wrong.

 

[ahs]

Greetings Lonely guy. No one on this forum is any more “Christian” than you, so to speak. We all struggle with various temptations and vices. If it makes you feel better to hear it, I’ll tell you that I used to suffer with masturbation as well. I also battle pride, sloth, and an array of dysfunctions in my family of origin.

Christ came to heal us, not to pat us on the back for being so good. We are a Church of sinners in need…a hospital, if you will…and Christ is the doctor who heals our wounds…heals our sinful natures. You have owned your weakness…admitted your sin…that’s the first step to recovery that each one of us has to take each day. By doing this you have shown a great deal of humility…and that is a wonderful virtue!

 

[JRKH]

I register on this forum because a friend did recommend it to me and I had only one reason to do so,my masturbation-problem. OK,that is solved,it seem like all I needed was to openly talk about it and face it.

Praise God that the good folks here have been of help to you.

Then I did start to look around and so far I like what I see here. But,and I don’t mean anything bad. I am a catholic and obey the Church because of that but foremost because I really believe in God and have a let’s say strong faith. I do start each day with prayers,I pray the Rosary every day and say my evening prayers as well. I do,however,have my doubts about what is really the truth of the Gospels and what is “man-made” by the RCC. I see contradictions.

You seem to have a wonderful prayer life. In fact, more than I do.…at least in any “formal” sense. I do try to keep God in front of me throughout the day though and in all of my acts.
As for any doubts you might have, feel free to bring them here and you will receive much help.

That is not my question though. What I am asking is about honesty. Either I am one heck of a bad catholic or you all are Saints,or will be so one day. Answer me honest,from your heart and soul. Are you all [catholics] really so “holy” and good you let us think or am I really on my way to hell?

Short answer is - NO we are not really all that “holy”. However, it must be remembered that when we are giving answers to our brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to give them good Catholic answers, not from our fallen nature, but from the ideals that we all strive for. If that makes us sound “Holier” than you, it is not our intent.
In fact, any “holy wisdom” that we might seem to exude only comes from our own struggles.

I live a “normal” life,what ever that may be,and I do sin. Strong faith is not all we need to keep us away from sins,knowledge is one thing but honesty is the biggest there is. I am not saying that you lie,and at this point I think I need to say that I love you guys and know that you all are good people. But if you are so good,and I truly hope you are,I have not chance one to one day find my self in heaven. And from where you take the time to pray so much. I spend about one hour each day,I can’t spare more time,and comparing to you I am the worst catholic there ever have or will be.

If you read the lives of saints, you will quickly discover that saints, far from seeing themselves as holy, see themselves as sinners. The Holier they become, the more their sin stands out to them. So from this perspective, your concern is actually something of a good thing. It illustrates God working in you and convicting you of you sin.

All of us struggle like this and most have shared their struggles in one form or another on the boards. I struggle with anger. Also some with depression as I am sole caregiver fro my wife who has Alzheimer’s.
When I first came to the Boards I was struggling to work though some weird theological ideas…

We all prop each other up. We are a community of help, one to the other. Not to say we don’t occasionally disagree, but even that is normal and healthy (to a point). Debate helps everyone to grow in understanding.
I am quite sure that you have many strengths that you too can bring to the discussions that can help others.

Just remember that we are all on the same journey…

Peace
James

 

[Nelka]

You say you pray for one hour every day?

I do not pray that much every day so I must be worse than you?

The most important thing to remember is no matter how much you sin, Jesus will always forgive you if you ask Him.

You will hurt Him more if you do not ask for forgiveness as this is distrust and hurts Him dearly.

Let the weak, sinful soul have no fear to approach Me, for even if it had more sins than there are grains of sand in the world, all would be drowned in the unmeasurable depths of My mercy.

One thing you have demonstrated here is humility and this is a good thing.

 

[Lonely_guy]

Thank you all for the answers. I feel better now. And James,I am so sorry to hear that you wife suffer from Alzheimer. I will pray for you that He will give you all the strength you need. With love to all of you and a blessing,“Lonely guy”.

 

[JRKH]

Thank you all for the answers. I feel better now. And James,I am so sorry to hear that you wife suffer from Alzheimer. I will pray for you that He will give you all the strength you need. With love to all of you and a blessing,“Lonely guy”.

I am glad that we have been of help.
Thank you for your prayers for my wife and I. They are much appreciated.

Peace
James

 

[Speedypizza]

Trust me, I am not a holy saint. I am trying to be, but I am FAR from perfect. When I first spoke to my Deacon about coming into the Church I said something to the same effect that you did. He laughed and said something that has always stuck with me. The Church in not a throne for saints, it is a hospital for sinners. So if you feel like you are a sinner who has no hope, then you are in the right place. You think I pray, go to mass, adoration and offer up penances because I am a saint? No, I do these things because I need as much help as I can get.

One saint I really like is St. Augustine because he reminds me a lot of myself. Like him, I was very sinful in my younger days. I think it is great that we have saints like him, because if he can become a saint, there is hope for the rest of us. ask.com/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo

Pax