So, before I finally put this thread to rest, If I were to have read a certain horoscope (the one two posts above me, to be specific), and I didn’t believe it (but still read through it even though I knew my conscience would be bugging me in about five seconds), would I have sinned? It’d be ironic to sin on a section dedicated to not sinning… but still
Let me answer for myself first. No, it was not a sin when I read the post that you mention.
What do you mean about your conscience bugging you? If your true, well-trained conscience tells you clearly not to do something, then do not go ahead with your plans to do it. But since you are asking if it was a sin, I suspect you do not mean that by saying “bugging”. If you are suspecting that you are feeling guilty for reasons besides your conscience, then this is a reason to hesitate before acting, and discern first if it is your conscience or some other voice before you act. It may be that your conscience
is telling you that you need to avoid certain things until you get your ducks in a row and study the matter sufficiently.
But, it could be like me. I’ve spent the time to figure it out for thank-you notes. I’ve always felt like an evil sinner if I don’t write thank-you notes to people in so many situations. I’ve figured out this is not my conscience. This is my mother, haunting me.
(no, she’s alive, but it is the remains of years of training, training that is not my conscience) I have to repeat to myself that it is okay to not write thank-you notes for every little thing. Even so, I still “feel” guilty sometimes about them. But I am not sinning.
Do consider my point that it is a genuine duty to form your conscience, and if your conscience is telling you that it is not yet sufficiently certain on a topic, then you must listen to it and spend the time to form it, *before *you act. It would be wrong to ignore our conscience if it is complaining that it needs more information before acting.
