Is asking for a sign to examine the state of your soul a sin?

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Is asking for a sign to see if you have commited a mortal sin wrong?
 
Is asking for a sign to see if you have commited a mortal sin wrong?
Your sign is the act and your knowledge and consent. If you have to seek a sign then you probably are not sure whether or not you comiitted a mortal sin. Most likely in this state you did not since mortal sin acknowledges that the act is gravely disordered and that you rendered full consent.

Now, I know a fool proof sign that you are not in mortal sin. Those are the words of absolution that you receive in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Also, if you make an act of perfect contrition your mortal sin will be forgiven as long as you get to confession as soon as you can.

Is asking for a sign a sin? I would say not since God gives them to you anyway. God loves you and wants you more than you could ever imagine. He would never play with your eternal life. His actual graces will give you all the signs that you need. He who has ears ought to hear… teachccd 🙂
 
The signs already exist in the teachings of the Church, e.g. in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This can help you to discern whether or not a mortal sin has been committed

christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/gravity.html

1856 Mortal sin, by attacking the vital principle within us - that is, charity - necessitates a new initiative of God’s mercy and a conversion of heart which is normally accomplished within the setting of the sacrament of reconciliation:
When the will sets itself upon something that is of its nature incompatible with the charity that orients man toward his ultimate end, then the sin is mortal by its very object . . . whether it contradicts the love of God, such as blasphemy or perjury, or the love of neighbor, such as homicide or adultery… But when the sinner’s will is set upon something that of its nature involves a disorder, but is not opposed to the love of God and neighbor, such as thoughtless chatter or immoderate laughter and the like, such sins are venial.[130]

1857 **For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met: “Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent.”**131]

1858 Grave matter is specified by the Ten Commandments, corresponding to the answer of Jesus to the rich young man: “Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and your mother.”[132] The gravity of sins is more or less great: murder is graver than theft. One must also take into account who is wronged: violence against parents is in itself graver than violence against a stranger.

1859 Mortal sin requires full knowledge and complete consent. It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its opposition to God’s law. It also implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice. Feigned ignorance and hardness of heart[133] do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin.
 
Aside from physical constraints, I don’t understand why someone who thinks they may have sinned would wait for some “sign” that they surely have sinned before confessing. You either feel no guilt for what you’ve done and just want the all clear, itself an improper reason to confess, or you do feel guilt for what you’ve done and there would be absolutely no harm in seeking absolution.

This is very confusing…
 
Is asking for a sign to see if you have commited a mortal sin wrong?
The “sign” is your confessor’s advice.

How about just take it to confession and get it over with?

What is wrong is asking for some kind of extraordinary sign when one is not needed, which is what you seem to be doing. God usually works through people (like your confessor) or writings (such as the Bible and the CCC, which others ahve mentioned).
 
I just have troubling examining my consience. I can really go to confession that often either sadly…
 
Angel17, I think it is a sin that you were given a mind set that would allow you to ask such a question. The original meaning of “sin” is “to miss the point,” similar to the mistranslation of “metanoia” as “repent.” The Church has a shameful history of rule by fear. Is that what you want in your life? An abdication from your own competence to see things as intellectualized complications beyond the two Great commandments and the two forms of the Golden Rule? No wonder Wise Men have always advised “Know thySelf.”
 
I am sorry if anyone is confused, but I have scrupulousity, and I would like to know if this were acceptable since I can’t be 100% positive myself. I have a lot of “Is this a sin…?” type of questions that I would like answered.
 
Yes, my confessor told me the same thing about my own attitude towards sin. I like the quote that says “Let your mind and heart be so full of Life, Truth, and Love that sickness, disease, and death have no room to enter in.” Remember, what you dwell upon tends to manifest, as what we give ourselves as an organizing point will tell us what the world looks like from that perspective. So always take the perspective of Love and Life.

And again, the idea of “penance” was devolved from the word “metanoia” which means “a profound, usually spiritual, transformation; conversion.” or “spiritual conversion or awakening; fundamental change of character” Etymology: Greek ‘change one’s mind, repent (in the sense of re-think)’
 
Angel17, I think it is a sin that you were given a mind set that would allow you to ask such a question."
Respectfully, I think this advice is being overly scrupulous. His motive is to find other ways to remain virtuous, and his intent is to better himself.

Andy
 
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