I am not sure if I am in a state of mortal sin or not (I am scrupulous)

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Hi everyone. I am not sure if I am in a state of mortal sin or not and I am scrupulous. A priest told me before that if you’re not sure whether or not you’re in a state of mortal sin then you are not in a state of mortal sin. Is this accurate?
 
1ke said:
Holly, listen to your priest.

(rinse, repeat)
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I know I should listen to him. I will listen to him. I guess its just that I want to know with 100% certainty that I am not in a state of mortal sin.
 
Holly3278 said:
I know I should listen to him. I will listen to him. I guess its just that I want to know with 100% certainty that I am not in a state of mortal sin.
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To commit a mortal sin you have to AT THE TIME OF THE SIN:
  1. know its a mortal sin with sufficient reflection
  2. fully consent to the sin
  3. commit the sin (or at least the desire to commit the sin)
God bless
 
john81 said:
To commit a mortal sin you have to AT THE TIME OF THE SIN:
  1. know its a mortal sin with sufficient reflection
  2. fully consent to the sin
  3. commit the sin (or at least the desire to commit the sin)
God bless
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Well, that’s the thing. I have a mental illness known as borderline personality disorder which makes me very impulsive. I have had several people, including 3 priests and 1 lay person tell me that I cannot commit a mortal sin due to the impulsive nature of my mental illness. In other words, they believe that because my mental illness makes me so impulsive, I normally would not have full consent of the will. They did not say it is impossible for me to commit a mortal sin but they did say it is highly unlikely for me to do so. What do you and everyone else think about all this?
 
I have OCD and also have issues with being scrupulous. Pray the following prayer when you begin to have doubts. I added this to the Litany of Humility: “Deliver me, Jesus from the desire of being scrupulous by paying too much attention to the wrong things” also repeat several times “Jesus, I trust in you”. Pray to Our Lord and Our Blessed Lady to help you/heal you from the obsessive negative thoughts.

Blessings
 
john81 said:
To commit a mortal sin you have to AT THE TIME OF THE SIN:
  1. know its a mortal sin with sufficient reflection
  2. fully consent to the sin
  3. commit the sin (or at least the desire to commit the sin)
God bless
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Little correction on the above…

Mortal sin consist of:
  1. Full knowledge (which you stated)
  2. Full consent (which you stated)
  3. Must be a grave sin (addition)
 
Holly3278 said:
Hi everyone. I am not sure if I am in a state of mortal sin or not and I am scrupulous. A priest told me before that if you’re not sure whether or not you’re in a state of mortal sin then you are not in a state of mortal sin. Is this accurate?
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If you’re not sure, you’re not. Listen to your priest.

Given that you are scrupulous, you should seriously consider getting a solid orthox priest as your spiritual director, and confessing to him exclusively (except for urgent situations, obviously).

God Bless
 
(repost of general post)

A person with scruples --needs a Regular Confessor

Scruples or those who are even of higher degrees of scrupulosity take venial sin to be mortal…or non sins to be sins…or are plagued by doubts…unreasonable fears/anxieties about sins…seeing them or fearing them where they need not…etc etc

The French call it the doubting disease (though it is not a disease) for one has lot of problems knowing one knows…thus with “doubt” (or more often rather “apparent doubt”)

Of course there are degrees and it is possible for a person to have generally a delicate conscience or a normal conscience and still have a struggle with scruples in certain areas…or to have very transient scruples at the time of their conversion …

and a person may go from one to the other…

one combats scruples with a good regular confessor…

by forming ones conscience…(with such as the Catechism etc)

and with the confessors guidance acting against ones scruples–

possibly he will give one general principles given often historically by confessors to deal with scruples

by prayer…

by trust and joy in living the Christian life…(not necessarily “emotional” by the way)

With the help of your confessor:

Contra scruplos agendum est, et fixo operis pede certandum

(Act contrary to scruples and with a firm foot overcome them)

Overcoming ones scruples…ones fears with a “firm foot”. Learning to act against them under the guidance of your confessor. Dismiss them. Not argue with them. (for example the regular confessor says…“unless you are certain you have committed a mortal sin…go to communion”…and you feel the fear and the doubts and the worries at the time of communion “but perhaps I committed one…?” you tell yourself “I am not certain of any mortal sins and my confessor told me to go” and you act against your fears and go to Communion! or ones confessor says regarding old past sins “only confess old sins if you are certain it was a mortal sin and certain you have not confessed it…(such is often the advice for those who are scrupulous)” one does just that) etc

The age old way is “obedience to a regular confessor” (of course unless he tells one to do something manifestly sinful -against the Church: such as it is ok to murder his secretary or use contraception).

(in a way one needs be “scrupulous” about attending to ones scruples…)

When scruples arise --turn to God and let them pass by.

Scruples are to be treated like a barking dog or a hissing goose…one does not stop to argue with a barking dog or a hissing goose does one? (image borrowed from a 15th cent. Carthusian).

They are to be “despised”…“dismissed”…

And again a* regular confessor *is very important here…in even coming to know what ones scruples are…and then what to dismiss… It is he who can particularly guide a person with these difficulties.
 
Praying for you Holly and will pray for you at Adoration Chapel tonight.

Lighten up on yourself. 🙂
 
Holly3278 said:
Hi everyone. I am not sure if I am in a state of mortal sin or not and I am scrupulous. A priest told me before that if you’re not sure whether or not you’re in a state of mortal sin then you are not in a state of mortal sin. Is this accurate?
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As far as I know: It is Church teaching that no one can certainly know that he is not in state of sin. Even if you are 100% sure that you are not in state of sin you could actually be.

You never know!!!
 
Bookcat said:
(repost of general post)

A person with scruples --needs a Regular Confessor
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This. Seek out a confessor who has knowledge of scruples. Let your confessor know you have them before each confession, if you don’t identify yourself to him otherwise.

God wants you to trust in his minister.
 
You can confess nonmortal sins. In fact, you should. But don’t sit down and try to write out every single thing that you do. Just confess the things you know you need to.
 
Holly3278 said:
Well, that’s the thing. I have a mental illness known as borderline personality disorder which makes me very impulsive. I have had several people, including 3 priests and 1 lay person tell me that I cannot commit a mortal sin due to the impulsive nature of my mental illness. In other words, they believe that because my mental illness makes me so impulsive, I normally would not have full consent of the will. They did not say it is impossible for me to commit a mortal sin but they did say it is highly unlikely for me to do so. What do you and everyone else think about all this?
Click to expand...
I think that when three priests tell you the same thing, you should trust them. Or do you have some solid reason to believe they would lie to you?
 
Hi everyone. I talked to my spiritual director about it and he said I probably was not in a state of mortal sin but he was okay with me going to Confession this evening anyway. I couldn’t go to Confession with him though because he had a meeting with our Bishop this evening. So, I called a church that I had never been to before because it was the only one where I could get a hold of a priest and the priest heard my confession. I now feel much better and my mind is much more at ease.
 
agnes_therese said:
I think that when three priests tell you the same thing, you should trust them. Or do you have some solid reason to believe they would lie to you?
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No, I do not believe that they would lie to me. I know they are correct. I guess its just my stubborn pride that prevents me from always believing them. 😦 I am going to trust what they say from now on. Please pray for me.
 
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