How do I overcome these sins?

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catholicgirl201

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Hi Everyone,
I was just wondering how do I overcome the following sins?

Lies
Gluttony
Blasphemous thoughts
Greed for food and material possessions
obstinancy in sin
impugning the known truth

Thank you
 
That’s a pretty good laundry list.

It sounds like there may be quite a bit of ego involved in your sins, and maybe some intellectual arrogance. Do you find it hard to accept anything that you can’t figure out?

If you do, maybe try reading Job 38-42 like my spiritual director told me to since I’m a technical person and believed only in things I could prove or at least understand.

Specifically about the lies; help me out here with a little more insight. Do you lie to yourself, others, peers, bosses, strangers, police officers?

And what kind of things do you lie about … just going along with the crowd? To protect yourself or others, to gain advantage against others? Cheat on your taxes?

I don’t have any formulas based on the answers to these; I’m just trying to get some discussion to where we have some specifics to work with and maybe can form specific strategies.

Meanwhile I think it might be cool to read, or listen to audio of, the gospel of John. It’s a little more the “love gospel” than the others, which are more historical I guess.

Alan
 
Well well, they are very different, and good spiritual direction and discernment (as Alan suggests) would be very beneficial…the spiritual combat is, after all, warfare 🤷

One way I learned to defeat vices is to replace them with virtues, and one way to do this is to practice the opposite of what the vice involves.

Gluttony I’d say through mortification. Unlike lust, we can and should train ourselves to sins such as gluttony by exposing ourselves, say, to a really enticing food and learning to resist to eat it. And above all else, by getting rid of the superfluous (the coming Advent penitential time will be a great time to do this). How often I eat or drink things that are truly unnecessary. Like…right now :compcoff:

I also learned that there are three “root sins” from which the rest spring forth: pride, vanity, lust. And that simplicity and obedience are great weapons against temptations.

Blasphemous thoughts I’d say just ignore them. Perhaps prayer of the Rosary every so often during the day (even just 1 decade) can help. Also, do practice a wonderful thing called sacred silence which will help clear your inner thoughts 😉

Greed, as far as I recall, is opposed to charity.

Obstinacy in sin and impugning the known truth are dangerous sins, for they offend the Holy Spirit and may lead to final impenitence…if I were experiencing these, I’d ask for spiritual direction right away. But usually the practice of obedience to Holy Church and frequent Reconciliation and reception of the Holy Eucharist can help a lot 🤷
 
You will never overcome sin. The best thing to do is to offer God yourself as you are. God doesn’t make junk. He knows your sins and still loves you. Give praise to the Lord for your weaknesses which lead you to him. Be yourself but be your best self! 😃
 
catholicgirl201 said:
Hi Everyone,
I was just wondering how do I overcome the following sins?

Lies
Gluttony
Blasphemous thoughts
Greed for food and material possessions
obstinancy in sin
impugning the known truth

Thank you
Click to expand...
You have received some good advice in previous posts.

Here are the 7 Deadly Sins and the 7 Heavenly Virtues:

Lust - Chastity
Gluttony - Temperance
Greed - Charity
Sloth - Diligence
Wrath - Patience
Envy - Kindness
Pride - Humility

During confirmation class I ask my students to pick a virtue they will focus on for the duration of the class. Most of the students picked Kindness or Patience this year. Each week I check in with them asking, “How did you do with your virtue this week?”. Maybe you have a friend, relative, or teacher you can ask to be your virtue checker on a regular basis.

Another way to improve would be to simply pick a virtue and list maybe 5 ways you will live out the virtue over the coming year. Post the list in a place where you will see it on a regular basis so you can judge your efforts.

Now I will ask you, “Do you ever examine what you do in your daily life?” Meaning what books you read, music choices for listening, how much prayer time, what sorts of movies or TV shows are viewed, etc. This is something I have done over the years. Slowly weeding out the bad influences and installing better ones.

Music - songs such as Greased Lightning from the musical Grease. It has a fun upbeat feel but if you check out the lyrics you will find one line in particular which is offensive and objectifies women as being nothing more than a body part. When the song is played it goes by so fast you might not notice it. I was thinking of using the song in the fire department’s slide show I put together for our Christmas dinner. When I checked the lyrics I thought, “How could I have missed that over all these years?” I found a different song.

Movies - I have not gone to a theater in years because Hollywood produces a lot of garbage and I work too hard for my money. I treat myself to a video per week from Holy Family Supply (the local Catholic store).

TV - The crassness has risen over the years. If a person came to my door and behaved the way most TV characters do now I would never let that person in the door. Why should I let TV pollute the peace of my home?

Remember what you and I allow into our souls and our choice of experiences stay with us. We are affected by such events. The more time we spend walking away from God then the farther away He seems and the longer it takes to get back to Him.

So, I do not know your life habits I am only offering what has worked for me.

God bless
 
I read something on a different thread about tempting thoughts - bad thoughts - evil thoughts that seemed very good and helpful to me.

First, keep your peace because a passing thought is a passing thought. Sin involves deliberate consent.

Second, if you are having bad thoughts - evil thoughts against a certain person, then one option is to say a quick one sentence prayer for that person. Jesus, help (name), Jesus have mercy on (name).

Third, another option is to raise your eyes to the clouds. Heaven is our ultimate hope and ultimate home. Jesus professed His Divinity before the high priests on Holy Thursday - Good Friday. He said, “I AM” [exodus 3:14] and you shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven.
 
By prayer and fasting.

You won’t and can’t do it alone by effort. It just dosen’t work.

Prayer brings the help of God who can do all things and without which you can do nothing.
I would recommend that you pray the sorrow mysteries of the rosary every day without fail.
Consecrate yourself to your blessed mother, Mary. Just tell her in your own words that you are placing your complete self in her hands for your holiness. And say that every morning.
Then talk to her during the day about anything and everything.

Offer to her your sincerety by fasting from food and liquid from 3 pm to 5pm everyday except Sunday. Offer that to her as your gift of your sincerety and for your sins and those of others.

Get her miraculous medal, have it blessed, and wear it faithfully.
She promised GREAT and ABUNDANT graces to those who do so with trust in her. Trust means that you know she will keep her word to you with doubt. And that should be easy since she is the mother of God. Who could be trusted more?

So when you experience a temptation, regardless of the kind, always ask Mary for that GREAT grace she promised. Then go on about your buisness.

The miraculous medal is Mary’s gift to us, it was her idea to help us, and she requested that everyone wear one. She also said that if grace is not asked for, it is not given. But when it is asked for, it is given, and not just grace, but GREAT and ABOUNDANT grace. St. Catherine was told these things by Mary, and she was asked to deliver that message to everyone. Here is the preserved body of St. Catherine Laboure as it is today.

[

Pray the rosary in 17 minutes with online audio.
ainglkiss.com/ros/sr.htmfamilyrosary.org/en/TheRosary.aspxrosary-center.org/howto.htmhow-to-pray-the-rosary-everyday.com/military-victories-through-the-rosary.htmlcatholicity.com/cds/rosary.html](http://www.stcathek.org/stcath.)
 
CatholicGuy22 said:
You will never overcome sin. The best thing to do is to offer God yourself as you are. God doesn’t make junk. He knows your sins and still loves you. Give praise to the Lord for your weaknesses which lead you to him. Be yourself but be your best self! 😃
Click to expand...
What if you keep on willfully sinning? You may not overcome sin, but I have trouble embracing that God is in my life with love while I actively sin.
 
Seek God with your whole heart, whole soul, whole mind and strength and don’t stop asking for His grace to overcome the wickedness that you see in your own person.

YOU alone can’t do it. You need Christ. You need to know Him and stay with Him as agreement to sin pushes us further and further away.

SEEK and you shall find. I’d say don’t focus on the sin itself to remedy it. Take it to Christ, ask Him. BELIEVE in Him, His Word.
 
johnnyjones said:
What if you keep on willfully sinning? You may not overcome sin, but I have trouble embracing that God is in my life with love while I actively sin.
Click to expand...
This the crux of the problem with sin. One, it takes time to sin and two, the after effects can take ever more time while marring one’s progession in faith. It can be a downward spiral.

Now, when one does recognize and acknowledge that they are a sinner then one can make progess toward God. Simple steps such as making a decision to pray in the morning or giving a small amount of time to benefit others can be a starting point. If you are headed in the right direction you have less time to go in the wrong direction.

God bless
 
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