In a state of serious sin

[reff]

I’m in a serious state of mortal sin. The evils of addiction to pornography have been controlling me for years. I’m very worried about how I have offended Our Lord and Dear Mother. I know what I’m doing is wrong. But I will tell you that stopping this sick addiction is easier said than done. I’m being honest when I say that I know I could quit my smoking easier than pornography.

I’m worried about the state of my soul. I am a Cathechumen, and I know I can’t receive absolution from a priest. My questions are, what can I do to rid myself of this disgusting habit? How can I bring myself out of a state or mortal sin? How do I do a complete act of contrition.

I’m embarrassed to bring this up to the Parish Priest because like I said I’m currently a Cathechumen, and I feel more guilty now for my sins than EVER before in my life. Please pray for me.

 

[Todd_Easton]

This link to the Pure Love Club has some useful info about breaking a pornography habit: chastity.com/chastity/index.php?id=7&entryid=52

Here’s a prayer you might say:

Act of ContritionO my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell; but most of all because they offend you, my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of your grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.

​

 

[Nicholas_II]

reff

Just remember that your addiction is not a impediment to your catechises but rather a good reason for it! Remember also God loves you and wants you in his church.

Perseverance! Perseverance! Perseverance!

 

[Sir_Knight]

You need to find things to keep you busy. The old saying that the devil finds work for idle hands is very true. Consider joining the Knights of Columbus and become an ACTIVE member. The Knights are founded on the principles of doing charitable acts and scripture tells us that charity toward others atones for a multitude of sins (Tobit 12:8-9).

This helps in two ways: (1) It will keep you busy so that you have less time to engage in this sinful activity; and (2) it will atone for the sins that you have committed.

Also, consider saying all 15 (or 20) decades of the rosary daily. It’ll keep you busy and the prayers will grant you the graces that you need to overcome this sinful habit.

If all else fails, look at how the saints dealt with this problem. Not recommending that you go to these extremes but St. Francis took off all of his clothes and rolled around in the snow. St. Benedict went even further and took off all of his clothes and jumped into and rolled around in a thorn bush. Afterwards, they were no longer bothered by this problem.

 

[Crumpy]

every person should take to heart the commands in the Bible, as Jesus said.

Read Chapter 6 of Deuteronomy and, for example, chapter 12 of St. Mark’s gospel:

The greatest commandment:

You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole soul (to the giving up of your life), your whole mind (rid yourself of the temptations that possess you) and with all your strength (rid yourself of the possessions that possess you). And, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

As it says in Deuteronomy, you should pray this when you rise and when you go to sleep at night, and you should meditate on it during the day.

You (we all) need to rid ourselves of the baggage of our sinfulness and remove anything that separates us from God.

No one has the right to judge you except God, and your call to Christianity is to turn away (repent) from all your sins.

A book that is a very good meditation (other than the Bible) is called The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran. This has an anti-Catholic theme in parts, but read on to see what he says about discipleship. The essential insight he gives is to consider all of your life as behind you and distant from you, and that you will live your life from the new perspective of seeing everything through your relationship to Jesus Christ.

(By the way, with regard to the title of your thread: consider, all sin is serious, there is none that is safe.)

 

[Sir_Knight]

(By the way, with regard to the title of your thread: consider, all sin is serious, there is none that is safe.)

All sin is offensive to God but MORTAL sin is MORE serious than venial sin because it destroys our relationship with God. One can die in a state of venial sin and enter heaven after a pit stop in purgatory but if one were to die in a state of unrepentant mortal sin, heaven would be forever lost.

 

[Black_Dog]

God loves you exactly as you are but he loves you so much that he’s given you the opportunity to re-evaluate your life and, with his Grace, to make fundamental changes.

You and I, as catchemuns, are in a very enviable position. We’ve been led back to God. The RCIA programme is not just about finding out about the Catholic church but also about discovering who we are as individuals. That can be very sobering as we suddenly are made aware of just how far we have fallen from our true potential

I remember at my first RCIA meeting, the Priest concluded with a meditative prayer during which we attempted to feel the presence of Christ amongst us. I didnt feel Christ, or at least I didnt think so at the time. What I did become aware of was a terrible light searing my soul revealing without mercy just exactly what a reprobate I had become.

So, one makes a decision to change but it’s not easy. You cant do it by yourself. You need God and you need the support of the Church. Even so you still back slide. All you can do is to keep praying and it does all become easier.

Pornography - been there had the T-shirt. Eventually you’ll come to realise that your seeming addiction to porn is in fact just a mirror of how you have grown to perceive women as no more than objects to satisfy your sexual urges. Once you come to that realisation then it will no longer have such a hold over you. It’s important that you do. Not just for the sake of your soul but also for your happiness here on earth if you wish to maintain a loving relationship with a woman.

Just have to try and give up smoking now!

 

[Ron_Conte]

You need to replace the sinful habit with good habits, such as:

praying
reading the Bible
reading books by Saints
practicing self-denial in all things

You should also have numerous different ways to spend your time
that are not sinful, such as:

spending time with family and friends
hobbies and interests
forms of entertainment that are not sinful
etc.

[Matthew]
{6:22} The lamp of your body is your eye. If your eye is wholesome, your entire body will be filled with light.
{6:23} But if your eye has been corrupted, your entire body will be darkened. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great will that darkness be!
…
{12:43} “Now when an unclean spirit departs from a man, he walks through dry places, seeking rest, and he does not find it.
{12:44} Then he says, ‘I will return to my house, from which I departed’. And arriving, he finds it vacant, swept clean, and decorated.
{12:45} Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and live there. And in the end, the man becomes worse than he was at first. So, too, shall it be with this most wicked generation.”

You cannot merely rid yourself of sin, you must replace sin with virtue. To get rid of darkness, you must fill yourself with light.

 

[Pete_Holter]

Sex Is Not the Problem (Lust Is): Sexual Purity in a Lust-Saturated World by Josh Harris is a helpful book. I can buy it for you and mail it to you if you’d like.

I will pray for you. And I will pray for you about smoking too. My dad died from lung cancer when I was 17 and it was sad.

May the grace of God Almighty be with you!

“And I am sure of this, that He Who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6).

“I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it!” (Ez 17:24; 36:36; cf. 37:14).