Making and breaking promises to God

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Ok, so I have a question here and something I’ve actually been wondering about for quite some time. First off I wanted to know if it would be considered a mortal sin to break a promise you aren’t sure/don’t know if you made to God. A long time ago, probably sometime around Christmas, I am not sure if I made a promise to God but I’m guessing I told myself that I wouldn’t commit any venial sins if I premeditated the sin. (Pretty ridiculous right?) Well, I can’t exactly remember if I made that as a promise or not… So since then I have just kinda ignored it but I still kinda worry that I am mortally sinning.

And I have another one (this also happened a long time ago) I made a promise to God to give something up but back then I didn’t know promises to God were like serious and stuff so after some time I decided I might try to get back the thing I gave up (not understanding that it would be a mortal sin…) Well I still really want it and I guess I don’t know if it would be a mortal sin to have it again since I didn’t know at the time that it would be a serious promise that I could never break. 🤷
 
Speak to your parish priest about this. Promises are not entered into lightly.
It can be more harmful to your spiritual growth waffle back and forth this way.
 
BlushingMango said:
Ok, so I have a question here and something I’ve actually been wondering about for quite some time. First off I wanted to know if it would be considered a mortal sin to break a promise you aren’t sure/don’t know if you made to God. A long time ago, probably sometime around Christmas, I am not sure if I made a promise to God but I’m guessing I told myself that I wouldn’t commit any venial sins if I premeditated the sin. (Pretty ridiculous right?) Well, I can’t exactly remember if I made that as a promise or not… So since then I have just kinda ignored it but I still kinda worry that I am mortally sinning.

And I have another one (this also happened a long time ago) I made a promise to God to give something up but back then I didn’t know promises to God were like serious and stuff so after some time I decided I might try to get back the thing I gave up (not understanding that it would be a mortal sin…) Well I still really want it and I guess I don’t know if it would be a mortal sin to have it again since I didn’t know at the time that it would be a serious promise that I could never break. 🤷
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Such promises do not bind under sin. To give up all venial sin, is like a soldier in a foxhole saying he will give up chocolate if he survives. These are not proper promises and does not bind under sin if they are broken. If you do not even know you made the promise it can hardly be sin as sin requires deliberate intent.

To your second question, whatever you are talking about it would not be mortal sin. Again, without knowing the details here, these kinds of promises are not binding under sin, and at worse would be venial.

Mortal sin is grave sin in which the person knows it is grave sin and has a fully unimpaired free will to deliberately thumb his nose at God and commit is anyway. One cannot commit mortal sin by accident or trip into it. It has to be a deliberate act in which there is no diminished capacity.
 
I googled and found this:
here
It says the promise to be binding it must be possible, IMHO I don’t think possible to avoid EVERY venial sin, even premeditated.
And if you are not sure you made it, I would say it is not binding. The text says it: “Again, it must be made with deliberation”.
 
Don’t worry too much about sin, I was exactly like you. You need to know about Divine Mercy and St.Faustina, that eased my scruples tremendously.
 
Also remember, that any valid promise, oath, or vow that you are likely to make as laity can be dispensed by your local priest.
 
gfvh said:
Don’t worry too much about sin, I was exactly like you. You need to know about Divine Mercy and St.Faustina, that eased my scruples tremendously.
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Ok, thank you so much! 🙂
 
BroIgnatius said:
Such promises do not bind under sin. To give up all venial sin, is like a soldier in a foxhole saying he will give up chocolate if he survives. These are not proper promises and does not bind under sin if they are broken. If you do not even know you made the promise it can hardly be sin as sin requires deliberate intent.

To your second question, whatever you are talking about it would not be mortal sin. Again, without knowing the details here, these kinds of promises are not binding under sin, and at worse would be venial.

Mortal sin is grave sin in which the person knows it is grave sin and has a fully unimpaired free will to deliberately thumb his nose at God and commit is anyway. One cannot commit mortal sin by accident or trip into it. It has to be a deliberate act in which there is no diminished capacity.
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It would be worth me mentioning that in my second question I did treat the promise as a serious promise back when I made it but later considered breaking it (just because I didn’t know it would be a mortal sin) So I am not sure if now, with full knowledge that I wanted to make it a serious promise (but still have a want for the thing I gave up) it would be a mortal sin because of my orginal intent for it?
 
Promises are not the same as vows. I’ve made formal promises as a Lay Carmelite which do not incur the penalty of sin if I break them. If I do make private vows, however, and break those - I will be in sin.
 
If you are scrupulous you should also check the ten commandments for the scrupulous:
fisheaters.com/scruples.html

And as far as I know, you can change a promise for other of the “same value” or more, but a priest can change a promise for one of a “lesser value”. (Excuse my english, I’m not a native speaker) But check that with your priest.
 
As BroIgnatius said, your priest can even dispense it altogether, no necessity to change it. But I think it has to be your own parish priest (not sure), both to change it for a lesser one or to dispense it, but I think, you can change it yourself (I believe, ask your priest to be sure) for a promise of equal or more importance.
 
It seems that what I was not so sure of is true:
catholicdoors.com/faq/qu238.htm

Canon Law # 1197 “What has been promised by private vow can be commuted into something better or equally good by the person who made the vow. It can be commuted into something less good by one who has authority to dispense in accordance with Canon Law # 1196.”

"(In simple English, # 1197 means “The person who makes a private vow can commute the work promised by the vow into a better or equal good; however, one who has the power of dispensing according to the norm of ? can. 1196 can commute it into a lesser good.)”

“To answer your question, private vows that are not associated with a Diocese or a religious Order, falls under the juridisction of the parish priest (see # 1196. 1° above). In order to have your private vow or promise replaced by something else of equal good or of a lesser good, please consult your local priest.”

But again, as Mary_Ellen said promises are not vows, I don’t know if breaking a promise (that is not a vow) is mortally sinful.
 
As someone else said it’s probably impossible for a human to not commit any venial sin, ever, unless the human happens to be Jesus Christ. So that wasn’t a very well-thought-out promise to make.

Also, I am not sure how your second promise involves a “mortal sin” unless the thing you gave up was something sinful in itself like pornography, in which case it might be a mortal sin to have the item. Emphasis on the “might”. If you just made a promise to God and broke it then it’s not a good thing to do but it doesn’t necessarily make it a mortal sin.

In general, you shouldn’t promise God things unless you fully believe you can do them and the circumstances are such that they are likely possible. You would also be better off to be prudent and cognizant of your weak human nature and instead tell God that you will make your very best effort with His help to give up such and such.
 
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