Masturbation Addiction

[Heliotropium]

I have been addicted to masturbation for a couple of years as an adolescent. I recently found out that it was a mortal sin. However, the habit was ingrained in me before I even knew how bad it was. It is hard to stop even though I am now trying to make an effort to do so. I went to confession about masturbation before. Is it a mortal sin in my case?

I have this same issue. My habit is so bad I have sought the help of SA. I spoke with my confessor and regardless of the time this has gone in ignorance, and habit it was still a grave and mortal sin.

 

[catharina]

because people here use a definition of mortal sin that is, largely, incorrect and automatically label a poster’s sin as mortal, a judgement none here are qualified to give.

**in your personal opinion.
In fact, a mortal sin is a mortal sin.
Serious matter, sufficient reflection, full consent of the will.
No one has disagreed with that, except perhaps you.

At issue is an individual’s culpability** for the mortal sin.

that’s why. It gets old fast, and totally ignores the flip side of god’s infinite justice: His infinite mercy.

**the “flip side” of god’s love and law?
Whatever … You seem to be trying to say something.

Nevertheless, a mortal sin is a mortal sin.
We are not allowed to pretend otherwise**.

 

[OraLabora]

For those addicted and trying to beat this habitual sin, I would suggest that saying “I will never masturbate again” is almost a guarantee that you will.

Instead try to fix more reachable goals. Wake up in the morning and say “I won’t masturbate today”.

Concentrate on what you can achieve. If it’s one day, then avoid it for one day. Don’t worry about tomorrow. You can do that when you wake up tomorrow.

Pray Compline every night and to an examination of conscience before Compline. If failed that day, don’t get broken up about it. Accept yourself for who you are with this issue, and say the Confiteor with conviction. Go to sleep, and try again tomorrow, setting that one day as your goal.

That’s what alcoholics do. They resolve not to drink today. Not tomorrow, not forever, just for today.

Maybe you’ll never be able to kick the habit, but you should be able to cut down.

If it’s hard for you… follow what my confessor says: sanctity is in effort, not perfection.

 

[OraLabora]

In your personal opinion.
In fact, a mortal sin is a mortal sin.
Serious matter, sufficient reflection, full consent of the will.
No one has disagreed with that, except perhaps you.

Not in my personal opinion. In the Church’s teaching. Sin comprises the act itself. An act is either grave matter, or it isn’t. If it isn’t grave, it can never be a mortal sin. But if it is grave, it can be a mortal sin, with consent of the will, and knowledge of the seriousness of the act. At best you can say masturbation is a potentially mortal sin but you can’t know the state of the penitent’s soul.

At issue is an individual’s culpability for the mortal sin.

It is the culpability makes the sin mortal. Other than that, on its own, the sin is simply a grave sin. Homicide is a grave matter, but an accidental death, is not a mortal sin; whereas premeditated murder done with full cooperation of the will, is.

the “flip side” of god’s love and law?
Whatever … You seem to be trying to say something.

Nevertheless, a mortal sin is a mortal sin.
We are not allowed to pretend otherwise.

A mortal sin is a mortal sin if all three conditions are present. If any one of the three isn’t, it isn’t a mortal sin. It is in fact you who is at odds with official Church teaching:

CCC: 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 do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin.

1860 Unintentional ignorance can diminish or even remove the imputability of a grave offense. But no one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are written in the conscience of every man. the promptings of feelings and passions can also diminish the voluntary and free character of the offense, as can external pressures or pathological disorders. Sin committed through malice, by deliberate choice of evil, is the gravest.

…

1862 One commits venial sin when, in a less serious matter, he does not observe the standard prescribed by the moral law, or when he disobeys the moral law in a grave matter, but without full knowledge or without complete consent.

Neither of us here are qualified to determine if the OP is in fact committing a mortal sin, hence my suggestion that the confessional is the valid place to discuss this. The sin of masturbation is a grave offense.

Whether it becomes mortal, is between the penitent, God and the confessor. By saying his sin is de facto a mortal sin, you’re imputing guilt on the OP that you aren’t qualified to determine.

As you can see in the definition of grave matter and mortal or venial sin, even before the sinner asks for forgiveness God has demonstrated His mercy through His Church by ensuring that even in a grave matter, sinners who don’t have full knowledge or consent aren’t held fully culpable and thus can’t be condemned to Hell, and those who do but genuinely regret their actions and seek sacramental confession are forgiven.

What really annoys me is how much posters here seem to ignore that Divine Mercy and instead immediately label a poster’s sin as “mortal sin” when we have no way of establishing that. It’s something that comes around again and again on this forum. Correct terminology and understanding the Church definition of sin would certainly be helpful in these discussions, and would be more charitable to people seeking answers.

 

[John_Monaco]

I encourage you all to check out and read some of the quality posts in this popular thread on the subject; they truly offer great ways to end the addiction!

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=373387

 

[catharina]

Not in my personal opinion. In the Church’s teaching. Sin comprises the act itself. An act is either grave matter, or it isn’t. If it isn’t grave, it can never be a mortal sin. But if it is grave, it can be a mortal sin, with consent of the will, and knowledge of the seriousness of the act. At best you can say masturbation is a potentially mortal sin but you can’t know the state of the penitent’s soul.

It is the culpability makes the sin mortal. Other than that, on its own, the sin is simply a grave sin. Homicide is a grave matter, but an accidental death, is not a mortal sin; whereas premeditated murder done with full cooperation of the will, is.

A mortal sin is a mortal sin if all three conditions are present. If any one of the three isn’t, it isn’t a mortal sin. It is in fact you who is at odds with official Church teaching:

Neither of us here are qualified to determine if the OP is in fact committing a mortal sin, hence my suggestion that the confessional is the valid place to discuss this. The sin of masturbation is a grave offense.

Whether it becomes mortal, is between the penitent, God and the confessor. By saying his sin is de facto a mortal sin, you’re imputing guilt on the OP that you aren’t qualified to determine.

As you can see in the definition of grave matter and mortal or venial sin, even before the sinner asks for forgiveness God has demonstrated His mercy through His Church by ensuring that even in a grave matter, sinners who don’t have full knowledge or consent aren’t held fully culpable and thus can’t be condemned to Hell, and those who do but genuinely regret their actions and seek sacramental confession are forgiven.

What really annoys me is how much posters here seem to ignore that Divine Mercy and instead immediately label a poster’s sin as “mortal sin” when we have no way of establishing that. It’s something that comes around again and again on this forum. Correct terminology and understanding the Church definition of sin would certainly be helpful in these discussions, and would be more charitable to people seeking answers.

I don’t recall that anyone accused the OP of guilt for commiting a mortal sin. I didn’t.
Yet a grave sin is mortally sinful, no matter how you might wish to parse words.

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 do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin. **

1860 Unintentional ignorance can diminish or even remove the imputability of a grave offense. **But no one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are written in the conscience of every man. **The promptings of feelings and passions can also diminish the voluntary and free character of the offense, as can external pressures or pathological disorders. Sin committed through malice, by deliberate choice of evil, is the gravest.

1861 Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as is love itself. It results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God’s forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christ’s kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the power to make choices for ever, with no turning back. **However, although we can judge that an act is in itself a grave offense, we must entrust judgment of persons to the justice and mercy of God. **

1862 One commits venial sin when, in a less serious matter, he does not observe the standard prescribed by the moral law, or when he disobeys the moral law in a grave matter, but without full knowledge or without complete consent.

1863 Venial sin weakens charity; it manifests a disordered affection for created goods; it impedes the soul’s progress in the exercise of the virtues and the practice of the moral good; it merits temporal punishment. Deliberate and unrepented venial sin disposes us little by little to commit mortal sin. However venial sin does not break the covenant with God. With God’s grace it is humanly reparable. “Venial sin does not deprive the sinner of sanctifying grace, friendship with God, charity, and consequently eternal happiness.”

As the Catechism equates GRAVE sin with MORTAL sin,
so it equates LIGHTER sin with VENIAL sin.
Please don’t mis-inform from your own personal standard especially
if it rests on other very personal issues that might influence you.

Better that this young fellow hear only the truth
so that he can determine to AVOID a habit of sin,
serious and otherwise.

 

[OraLabora]

I don’t recall that anyone accused the OP of guilt for commiting a mortal sin. I didn’t.
Yet a grave sin is mortally sinful, no matter how you might wish to parse words.

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 do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin. **

1860 Unintentional ignorance can diminish or even remove the imputability of a grave offense. **But no one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are written in the conscience of every man. **The promptings of feelings and passions can also diminish the voluntary and free character of the offense, as can external pressures or pathological disorders. Sin committed through malice, by deliberate choice of evil, is the gravest.

1861 Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as is love itself. It results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God’s forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christ’s kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the power to make choices for ever, with no turning back. **However, although we can judge that an act is in itself a grave offense, we must entrust judgment of persons to the justice and mercy of God. **

1862 One commits venial sin when, in a less serious matter, he does not observe the standard prescribed by the moral law, or when he disobeys the moral law in a grave matter, but without full knowledge or without complete consent.

1863 Venial sin weakens charity; it manifests a disordered affection for created goods; it impedes the soul’s progress in the exercise of the virtues and the practice of the moral good; it merits temporal punishment. Deliberate and unrepented venial sin disposes us little by little to commit mortal sin. However venial sin does not break the covenant with God. With God’s grace it is humanly reparable. “Venial sin does not deprive the sinner of sanctifying grace, friendship with God, charity, and consequently eternal happiness.”

Better that this young fellow hear only the truth
so that he can determine to AVOID a habit of sin,
serious and otherwise.

And your point is? I agree with everything you bolded. However I also agree with everything you didn’t bold.

As the Catechism equates GRAVE sin with MORTAL sin,
so it equates LIGHTER sin with VENIAL sin.
Please don’t mis-inform from your own personal standard especially
if it rests on other very personal issues that might influence you.

I don’t understand your logic. The Catechism does not “equate” grave sin with mortal sin.

It says that mortal sin requires that the sin be grave matter to be mortal.

But it also attaches two other conditions for it to be mortal. If any one or more of those three conditions are not present, then it is not a mortal sin.

This has nothing to do with my “personal standard”. It is what the Church teaches. I really don’t think there’s much more to say than that.

 

[Heliotropium]

As a young Catholic adult who also suffers from the same problem as the OP I would like to say a few things…

According to all the statistics, virtually all males masturbate to one extent or another, especially during our teenage years and beyond. So you are definitely normal and not alone in what you are doing. Actually, unless you are SUPERhuman, I would be extremely shocked if you were able to stop this masturbating habit, permanently. I think the best you can hope for is to reduce the number of times you masturbate each week down to a moderate level which will be acceptable in God’s eyes. God always likes us to do things in moderation, and not excessively.

Everyone should eat three times a day. But when somebody eats continually, because of the sheer pleasure of eating, to the extent where they weigh more than twice their normal weight, barring a medical condition, then they could be extremely close to committing the sin of gluttony.

Now, I am not implying that all males should masturbate three times a day, to maintain proper physical and sexual health, but you should get the idea of the difference between doing something in moderation, or doing something excessively.

I may be going out on a limb here, but for most teen boys, ejaculating 6 times a week or less, is probably still in the moderate range of normal male sexual activity. Ejaculating more than 7 times a week, consistently week after week, should probably have to be considered an excessive level of masturbation at least for most Adult males. The possible exception to this, might be in the summertime, when the weather is warm, and teen boys usually have more free time on their hands, so they tend to use their hands a bit more often, engaging in other ‘pleasurable activities’, like baseball, soccer, and masturbation ! !

You are a very normal teen male. Just because you masturbate, don’t think that you are a bad or worthless teenager, or that you don’t love God and want to live the life that God wants you to live.

And more importantly, just because you masturbate, don’t think that God has stopped loving you. He will only ask of you, what you are physically and EMOTIONALLY capable of achieving and delivering. Therefore, your honest efforts are more important than the final results. So keep on talking to God, and honestly try to figure out what level of masturbation each week, He will be okay with, and what would possibly be excessive, considering your young age. The answer is between You and your Loving and Merciful God. I do not want to believe that our Loving and Merciful God will put teen boys into Hell for all eternity, just because they masturbate, habitually and uncontrollably.

While this is advice given to support the OP I feel that it is very dangerous. This young man like myself is called to never masturbate regardless of how hard it will be to be sober or what season it is. There is no such thing as moderation when it comes to sin and deals cannot be made with the devil. The amount of acceptable sinning that God allows is ZERO and it is our duty to stay away from sin and the occasions of sin to the best of our abilities. Now JAW you are right in saying it would take SUPERhuman power to be completely sober from masturbation. This SUPERhuman power is Gods grace which does not take a SUPERhumans person to obtain. All we need is a pure heart, firm resolutions to forsake these sins and the occasions of them, prayer, and frequenting the sacraments. As Christ said “without me you can do nothing” John 15:5. I know that even though I have this problem that God loves me and will always love me. But what love do I show God by making excuses to stay in sin? What love do I show God if I do not strive to be perfect as my heavenly Father is perfect? All struggles give us time to show our love to God and to acquire virtues to continue following His will.

Why didn’t the Catholic Church ever mention anything about the sinfulness or morality of masturbation before the Six century A.D.?

Why didn’t Jesus Christ ever teach us that masturbation could be a mortal sin?

Why does the Catholic Church believe that it knows more, and has more authority and power, then Jesus Christ, Himself?

The Catholic Church doesn’t usually create doctrine unless something that is commonly held comes under attack and the position has to be made clear on where Christ and His Church stand. Christ taught much about the value of chastity, and the dangers of lust, and gave much to the Apostles in Scripture and Tradition. Furthermore the Catholic Church does not believe to know more than Jesus Christ. The Catholic Church uses the teaching and healing authority that Christ gave it when he founded The Catholic Church. Our doctrine is given to us by God Himself!

"He that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me; and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me."Luke 10:16

‘Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven.’ Matthew 18:18

'AND having called his twelve disciples together, he gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of diseases, and all manner of infirmities.'Matthew 10:1

“And if he will not hear them: tell the church. And if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican.” Matthew 18:17

“if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” 1 Timothy 3:15

God Bless

 

[tpw]

Funny, I always thought it was the role of the priest/confessor to make determinations about the sinfulness of behavior.

You know nothing of the context of this young person’s life yet appear all to ready to issue a judgement in the abstract. What if this young person has emotional problems? What if he’s seeking relief from major areas of anxiety in his life?

A good confessor is taught to take a variety of issues into play when helping a person dealing with a matter of conscience.