Keep on sinning!

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dizzy_dave

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I have a problem I keep sinning the same sins week after week after week. Yes they are mortal! I have the tendancy to commit a mortal sin and once I have I think well your already damned you might as well keep on sinning until confession. I know this is wrong but I don’t know how to stop this cycle. How do I get that thought pattern to go away, I posted other threads somewhat related to this but this topic alone for me needs adressed.
 
Given what makes a sin mortal, remember that it’s not something you have to do. Yes, I know: the temptation can be awfully violent at times, but you don’t have to commit a mortal sin* if you choose not to*. Mortal sins aren’t accidental. Whether you commit a mortal sin is fully under your control.

Sinning mortally is not inevitable when temptation comes your way. You can choose otherwise.

If you repeatedly choose virtue, you’ll develop a good and strong habit of sanctity that will make it easier to avoid sin in the future. The battle is in the here and now. Every act you choose is like a strand you weave. Do it repeatedly, and you’ll have a cable so thick it takes an enormous effort to break. Habits are like cables. Build a good cable. You can do it.

What this means is that if you fall off the wagon, you don’t have to think, “well, I’m damned anyway, so might as well continue sinning”. If every act contributes to the formation of a habit, then if you’ve slipped, don’t beat yourself up over it. It’s just one strand you’ve messed, not the entire cable. Get yourself back up, repent, and even before the next opportunity for the Sacrament of Penance, realize that you don’t have to keep on sinning. Weave another good strand and keep building that cable. You can choose virtue. You can form a habit of sanctity. Choose it!

Grace is on your side.
 
Your signature line begins with “When you look at a crucifix…”

Do that when you are tempted to sin.

Look at a crucifix. If you need to, carry one in your pocket and take it out and look at it each time you are tempted. Put one above your desk, or in your bedroom, or wherever you are most likely to be tempted.

Each time you think of committing this sin, look at what Jesus did for you to wash your sins away. Imagine the hurt in His eyes when you choose to pick up that reed, or that flagron, and strike Him as He is tied to the pillar. It is through our sins and our transgressions that He was wounded, through His stripes we are healed.

Instead of running away in shame to sin, run to Him and ask for His help. He knows what it is like to be tempted. Ask Him for the strength to overcome this sin. Run to confession each time this occurs. Don’t be swindled by the devil in thinking that “Well, I’ve already fallen, so just as well stay in the muck.” That’s one of his best tricks.

Pray the Rosary. Sometimes it’s hard for us to know the words to say. Keep a Rosary in your pocket – there’s a crucifix on every one. Or say something simple like “Jesus, help me.” “Jesus have mercy on me.” “Mother Mary pray for me.”

You can do this and you are not alone. You have Your Heavenly Father who loves you, Your Brother Jesus who died for you, the Holy Spirit who will give you the grace you need if you ask for it, your Mother Mary who will pray and intercede for you, and all the angels and saints who will fly to your side to get you through this!
 
Dearest dave

What you are really wondering is this…‘I keep on committing the same sins, will the sacrament of the sick help me in this? …and…because you keep committing these sins…is there something wrong with me?’

This is what is running through your mind and your heart, so much do you love your Father in heaven though you cannot believe you do because you sin.

Well dear friend you do love Him and this fixation with your sins is what the evil in life which is Satan desires, he desires seperation by sin…dear friend, you are not seperate because your heart is stronger than this and so is your faith in Jesus.

They do say the more we strive to be closer to God our Father, the more temptaion we face and the harder the path becomes, take heart in this and draw all your resolve and love from God our Father, His Holy Spirit and from His Son who is always with you and goes before you in all things.

First keep going to confession, as and when you can get there, secondly ask your Priest to give you the Sacrament of the Sick and explain why ( not because I think you need it but because YOU think you need it dave). Thirdly, trust that now as you are in Him as your are anointed in the anointed one Christ Jesus, He will not let you slip from His hand…‘No-one can take My children out of My hand’ (John 10.28) However hard you find your circumstanes, it is as simple as a, b, c, to God our Father and all is resolute in His care for you, without God our lives are as a candle that would be so easily snuffed out, but He sustains all and sustains you, every waking day of your life, all danger averted by Him for the good of your salvation and sanctification, you are dear friend a child of God, He will not let you slip away from Him, if you surrender to Him.

God Bless you and much much love and peace to you

Teresa xx
 
Dave, I am so glad you started this thread because I feel this way often, too, and I really needed to read the posts above today. Each post helped me so much, so thank you, all of you, and God bless!
 
Treat each day as though it may be your last.
If you were to die today, where would you go. :confused:
The fear of eternal damnation should scare you enough to stop sinning.
Sit for a minute and picture the worst most horrible thing that could ever happen to you. (someone burning off your flesh inch by inch,…) :eek:

Now, multiply that by a trillion and that’s what Hell will be like.

Read about the martyrs.
 
Wake up with a new attitude, first go to confession clear out all the dust, every time the temptation comes take a broom (prayer, phrase, even something quick like Come Holy Spirit) beat the dust, sweep throughout the day everytime the dust reappears. Examine your conscience at night weighing the good and bad of your day. And start again the next day. The idea is to keep the house clean.
Everytime you fall you say well I already fell so I might as well keep on sinning, wrong, the attitude should be I fell I need to get back up find a confessor and clean my house again.

Keep your soul clean for Christ because you love him and want him to have a nice place to live not all cluttered with dust(sin).
If it helps watch good movies at night or when you are most tempted something to remind you of what Christ did for you out of pure love. (Suggestions, Jesus of Nazareth, The Passion)

Most of all take small steps everyday to make improvement on your life, people tend to jump in and take rather large steps and they often set them self up to fall back into those old habits.
 
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Hudsonite:
Treat each day as though it may be your last.
If you were to die today, where would you go. :confused:
The fear of eternal damnation should scare you enough to stop sinning.
Sit for a minute and picture the worst most horrible thing that could ever happen to you. (someone burning off your flesh inch by inch,…) :eek:

Now, multiply that by a trillion and that’s what Hell will be like.

Read about the martyrs.
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dizzy_dave,

We all sin, and the struggle to not sin can be great. I don’t really have advice, but I will tell you what really made me sit up and take notice about sin, along the lines of Hudsonite’s comment.

The whole feeling of “Well, I’m damned now, I might as well keep on sinning,” is dangerous. What if you die tonight or tomorrow? I don’t mean to scare or be mean or macabre, but it’s what I think about. If you think you can sin away until next confession, what if something happens to you before your next opportunity to confess?

So, if you have committed a mortal sin, STOP! If you are sorry and have prayed and God knows that you intend to confess asap, then your soul will be ok. But if you keep sinning, you don’t know when your life on earth will end.

So, FWIW, that really helped me with not wanting to sin again.

Also, I like all the suggestions everyone has posted above! Everything helps.
 
I have noticed that dizzy dave has started many threads, but it appears that he never comes back to them. I have read some of them, and everyone works very hard to provide good responses, but Dave doesn’t seem to return to read them. At least, I haven’t seen any comments after the initial thread opener. Wassup?

Peace,
Linda :confused:
 
Why is everyone so concerned about my question asking in these forums this is the 4th or 5th person who seems to have a problem with the “way” I conduct myself on the forums. I thought that was the purpose of the forums was to ask questions and get responses. I suggest you go back through my threads and see that I do respond to them if need be, I usually get such good answers that I do not need to respond, I am very grateful to all the people who do respond to my threads and I appreciate all the hard work they put into them. I’m sorry I don’t know as much as you do about Catholicism I hope I don’t get as uptight as you do when I reach your level of knowledge. I guess I’ll have to start blocking these “uptight” people from my threads, I’m really tired of people criticizing me for trying to learn my faith better. No one is perfect and not everyone is going to conduct themselves the way you want on these forums, everyone has a different style and way of doing things. I ask questions to learn and I get great responses from great people! Go back and read some more of my threads and you WILL see that I do jump in when I need to. Thanks God Bless! 👋
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LindaS:
I have noticed that dizzy dave has started many threads, but it appears that he never comes back to them. I have read some of them, and everyone works very hard to provide good responses, but Dave doesn’t seem to return to read them. At least, I haven’t seen any comments after the initial thread opener. Wassup?

Peace,
Linda :confused:
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Dear Dave,

We’ve all of us (or most of us) been where you are.
Now PLEASE don’t take offence if I say I’ve noticed you do start a lot of similar threads about your struggle with sin, and you get a lot of well-thought out answers and everyone tries to help as best they can.
But, the truth is, there’s no substitute for ACTION. Possibly (and I’m not judging you, because believe me, Dave, I’ve been there, and I too struggle with a totally different but very addictive sin), we can put off doing something about it by stalling in a variety of ways. Maybe your postings are a kind of stalling? I mean this kindly and sympathetically! :love: When we’ve got a lot of advice, and weighed up what we should do (pray, go to confession, use the various helps and tips we’ve received) then we’ve just got to do it (or NOT do it!!)
The Nike slogan is a good one, JUST DO IT! I use it a lot.
My stalling mechanism is to read ABOUT my problem, rather than do what I know I should do.
It’s not easy, and you really are in my prayers. Let’s pray for each other in our weakness!🙂
 
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ATeNumquam:
Dear Dave,

We’ve all of us (or most of us) been where you are.
Now PLEASE don’t take offence if I say I’ve noticed you do start a lot of similar threads about your struggle with sin, and you get a lot of well-thought out answers and everyone tries to help as best they can.
But, the truth is, there’s no substitute for ACTION. Possibly (and I’m not judging you, because believe me, Dave, I’ve been there, and I too struggle with a totally different but very addictive sin), we can put off doing something about it by stalling in a variety of ways. Maybe your postings are a kind of stalling? I mean this kindly and sympathetically! :love: When we’ve got a lot of advice, and weighed up what we should do (pray, go to confession, use the various helps and tips we’ve received) then we’ve just got to do it (or NOT do it!!)
The Nike slogan is a good one, JUST DO IT! I use it a lot.
My stalling mechanism is to read ABOUT my problem, rather than do what I know I should do.
It’s not easy, and you really are in my prayers. Let’s pray for each other in our weakness!🙂
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I concur with the “just do it” ripeness of time to actively commit to and behaviorlly choose to resist sinful behaviors/habits. This begins in the present moment reality…like, right now! as you read this. Don’t put off until tommorrow what God is calling you to today (never know, this may be your last day!). It helps to recommit at the beginning of each new day to resist from a sin behavior habit; and each night review your successes and failures to resist, and then to reinforce, strategize what additionally you need to do different by God’s grace.

I suggest keeping a picture of Jesus on hand and if you feel unable to resist the urge/lure to sin, then hold out the picture and confront your choice to sin. If all else fails (all the other suggestions provided above), then likely you need to break your isolation and develop at least one mature Christian (male) who is readily available for support/accountability. The choice is yours to make. It sounds obvious from your posts that God wants to deal with and rid you of this sinful habit, so He can move you on to more positive areas of transformation in your life.

God Bless.
 
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dizzy_dave:
Why is everyone so concerned about my question asking in these forums this is the 4th or 5th person who seems to have a problem with the “way” I conduct myself on the forums.
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Dave, Honey, it’s just a matter of good manners. I know I’ve answered quite a number of your questions and have worked very hard on my posts. It would be nice to know you’ve read our answers and found them helpful - a quick “thanks for all your helpful responses” post would let us know that our work is not in vain. It’s kind of like sending a wedding present to a bride and groom out of town. If they don’t send a thank you note, you don’t even know if the present got there, much less whether they liked it!

Just a little something like this…
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dizzy_dave:
Thanks God Bless! 👋
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Betsy
 
Hi Dave,
I will pray for you that the Holy Spirit give you strength, and St. Michael will defend you when you need it most.

Each one of us has something that we strive to overcome. Continue to ask us for prayers, support, advice as often as you need to - but also pray fervently for yourself so that God heals you.
 
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baltobetsy:
Dave, Honey, it’s just a matter of good manners. I know I’ve answered quite a number of your questions and have worked very hard on my posts. It would be nice to know you’ve read our answers and found them helpful - a quick “thanks for all your helpful responses” post would let us know that our work is not in vain. It’s kind of like sending a wedding present to a bride and groom out of town. If they don’t send a thank you note, you don’t even know if the present got there, much less whether they liked it!

Just a little something like this…

Betsy
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Ya know, sometimes we aren’t supposed to see the fruits of our efforts. If you are taking the time to answer threads or help someone in need, it’s a little prideful to want a thank you. When I anser a post, I don’t expect an answer. I have to trust that I have said what God needs me to say and that somehow, someway I have helped that person. And, how do you know that Dave’s question, isn’t also someone elses that is afraid to ask it, and the advice you give Dave is actually for someone else!

TRUST
Don’t look for the fruits, trust that the fruit is there, as long as what you are doing is for the Glory of God!

I hope the advice I gave Dave touched many sinners, it even touched me! 😃
 
Dave,

Before I entered the Catholic Church I was in a similar situation, but my reason for continuing to sin was just the opposite of yours. Being protestant I would say to myself, “God will forgive me so I’ll just try harder next time.” This is the trap of “once-saved-always saved” theology.

My advice to you would be to pray durring any and every free moment. Even if it is just to thank God for a break from work or a nice day. Pray the rosary throughout the day. Begin in the morning and work through the whole thing as the day continues. Or just meditate (think) about God, the gifts He’s given you, how you can serve him better, recite scripture to yourself… Just keep your mind focused on him durring those free-moments in the day. When our mind is free to wander tempation will enter. By focusing our thoughts on God we can flee from temptation or at the least be convicted of a sin before it manifests itself completely. As St. Paul said, “No temptation has siezed you except what is common to man. And God is faithfull; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” I Cor 10:13

Create a short verse for yourself, an arrow prayer, that you can quickly bring to mind as a prayer of desparation to the Lord when you are tempted. For example “Lord provide a way out!” I learned about this arrow prayer from Spiritual Combat Revisited – by Jonathan Robinson. Great Book!

Hope this helps a little,

God Bless,
Ken
 
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Hudsonite:
Ya know, sometimes we aren’t supposed to see the fruits of our efforts. If you are taking the time to answer threads or help someone in need, it’s a little prideful to want a thank you.
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When I answer a posted question, I understand that not only the original poster will read the answer, but many others, including those who lurk and do not post. I do not look for or expect thanks, and, like you, I trust the Holy Spirit to use my words in the way He sees fit.

On the other hand, a person who posts question after question without ever acknowledging the many replies he receives, might be perceived as ungrateful or rude. He probably does not mean any slight or offense, probably is not an ungrateful or rude person, and may be unfairly judged as a result of this oversight in manners. As a person grows in the love of God, as Dave is clearly doing, it is to be expected that he would also grow in human virtues, and be aware of the impact of his actions (or lack thereof) on others. So I mentioned the manners thing to assist Dave as he grows into his full stature as a Christian gentleman.

Betsy
 
Navy Ken:
Dave,
My advice to you would be to pray durring any and every free moment.
… Just keep your mind focused on him durring those free-moments in the day. When our mind is free to wander tempation will enter. By focusing our thoughts on God we can flee from temptation or at the least be convicted of a sin before it manifests itself completely.

Create a short verse for yourself, an arrow prayer, that you can quickly bring to mind as a prayer of desparation to the Lord when you are tempted
Ken
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This is excellent advice, Navy Ken.
Only if you keep close to God all day can you hope to resist the really besetting temptations.
Not to mention the benefit of growing into a deep and wonderful relationship with God! Then, you wouldn’t WANT to offend Him for all the world.
Sometimes, Dave, in our reading and study, or in your case, posting, it can be that we are waiting for something that will be like the magic word, sort of like critical mass (I’m not a scientist, so not sure of this concept!) - the THING that will tip us over the edge, move us to put into action what we know we need to do.
I used to have an eating disorder. It was an addiction. I can’t tell you how many books I read about it, seeking help. I didn’t want to join a group to get support, or get counselling. I wanted to be free, I prayed to be free, but I couldn’t let go.
In my case, it was a couple of sentences in a book that was my “Eureka” moment. Of course, it was God’s answer to my prayers, but He did help me through the words of another.
There’s been so much profound and wonderful advice in these posts, replying to you, Dave, that I’m immensely grateful for it myself!! Thank you so much, everybody. 👍
I’m sure Dave IS grateful. Here’s hoping and praying he will find in these replies the words that God will use to help him to freedom.
Someone, somewhere, recommended seeing “The Passion” film.
That was another great blessing to me, and I too suggest it to you, Dave.
We need to come to a true, deep love of our Lord and God . If we love Him deeply we won’t want to offend Him. To that end, we have to do what Navy Ken suggested - build that relationship by turning to Him every moment we can - just a glance or a word, all day, every day.
God be with you Dave - and thank you again, fellow-posters:)
 
Not sure if I’ve responded to your other posts, Dave, but here goes:

You have got to go back to the sin and examine how you got there. Look for the very last step that occurred before the sin. Then focus on that step. That is the warning sign from that point forward. I know I will sin if I take that step, even though that step was, of itself, harmless (by the time I take that step, the decision is pretty much already made).

Once I got used to that, I re-examined and looked for the step that preceded that last step and eliminated that near occassion of sin.

It is habit…plain and simple. I got to the point where I questioned if the sin was even mortal because it was so habitual. See how the mind works? Little baby steps deeper and deeper into sin. You have to make little changes to creep back up and eventually eliminate the habit.

Keep your chin up. Fight the good fight. Keep hoping, but add action to it. Pretty soon you’ll be a recovering sinner, thinking “I’ve been clean now for three months now”

(not that I would know, of course, heh, heh :o ).
 
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dizzy_dave:
I have a problem I keep sinning the same sins week after week after week. Yes they are mortal! I have the tendancy to commit a mortal sin and once I have I think well your already damned you might as well keep on sinning until confession. I know this is wrong but I don’t know how to stop this cycle. How do I get that thought pattern to go away, I posted other threads somewhat related to this but this topic alone for me needs adressed.
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Sorry. I guess I didn’t address your real question here. That thought pattern is exactly what the evil one desires. Awareness of that fact is what helped me overcome that pattern of thought. I thought to myself “Yep, that’s just what Satan wants me to think.” As far as the state of the soul, I suppose it is true that I was already in the state of mortal sin. But from the aspect of offending God, and distancing myself from Him, deepening my tendency toward sin, it really did matter if I continued to sin.

Then I stated thinking about what someone called the “Sin of Presumption.” That is to say, I was guilty of assuming God would allow me to live until I decided to go to confession again. Then I started thinking, “you know, there is no reason for me to believe I have another week to get to confession.” So at that point I’d make an Act of Contrition, and promise God I would go at the next opportunity.

The last suggestion I have for you is this: I started thinking about what happens on Sunday. Am I going to take Jesus’ flesh and blood, soul and divinity into my body? I take an inventory of the sins I was guilty of and imagine these things as decorations in my home. Would I invite Jesus to come into my home with all those decorations up?

…there’s my two cents again. :o
 
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