Non catholics don't feel guilty like catholics! does that bug you2?

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Detroit

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Non catholics don’t feel guilty like catholics!!
Does that ever bug you??

That some people don’t seem to have a conscious?
 
I’d gladly take a lifetime of a guilty conscience and what non-religious people view as pointless guilt in exchange for what Christ promised.
 
Lots of non-Catholics feel guilt. 🤨

And this forum is disporportionately populated with scrupulous types. It’s not a good sampling of how guilt ridden the average Catholic is.
 
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Doesn’t bother me, as they have made their choice. Before the judgment seat of Christ, I strongly suspect there ‘might be’ a trace of guilt. They will be judged on their works - which they avoided because works are “too Catholic.”

Ooops.

They will be extremely thankful for purgatory.
 
Since I choose to be frank online, I envy those who have less developed consciences. They are less culpable before the Lord. They are less guilty of sin due to ignorance. I don’t have that. Things seem easier to do without a conscience, but I’m not sure if it is worth to always think you’re guilt-free.
 
Guilt is an awareness that one has transgressed a standard of behavior. Catholics seem to have more guilt probably because we are more awareness of where the “lines” are. Not to disparage protestants, but the one think I would be leery about the lack of guilt in the protestant world, is the readiness to marry, divorce, and re-marry with no sense of guilt other than the rationale, “would Jesus want me to be alone and unhappy all my life?” I’ve heard that from any number of protestants and not a few Catholics who have remarried after divorcing a spouse. Yes, Jesus wants us to be happy, but didn’t he say, “what God has joined together, no man may divide?” Seems to me to be a bit of a contradiction, wouldn’t one think? At judgment, I really wouldn’t want to have to defend my position which is in opposition to his words.

Just sayin………
 
Oh, we have guilt. I’m in a sort of limbo—my family is entirely Baptist, as I was until recently when I came to realize the Catholic Church as the true Church, and not just legalistic bloodsucking papists. (Side note: that’s mostly facetious. My views weren’t quite so vehement or hyperbolic, but they were anti-Catholic.) A couple years back, I had a serious problem with lust (read: pornography and masturbation). I knew it was wrong, terrible and evil even. But there’s not much of an avenue for absolution or certainty of forgiveness in the Baptist Church. There aren’t any mechanisms for repentance, it’s all internal, with no way for verification, self- or otherwise. So I was stuck with the problem, and had massive amounts of shame and guilt.
 
  1. I’ve actually met quite a few non-Catholics who struggled mightily with guilt, especially those from certain Protestant background or Jewish backgrounds.
  2. For those who truly have no guilt, no I don’t envy them because they’re not even thinking about what happens after death. I have heard that oftentimes when these people are coming close to the end of their lives, they suddenly start thinking maybe they should have done things differently. Better to be prepared in advance, even if it means having to deal with guilt.
 
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Detroit said:
Non catholics don’t feel guilty like catholics!!
Does that ever bug you??

That some people don’t seem to have a conscious?
Click to expand...
Where did you get the idea that non-catholics feel guilt less than Catholics?
 
po18guy said:
Doesn’t bother me, as they have made their choice. Before the judgment seat of Christ, I strongly suspect there ‘might be’ a trace of guilt. They will be judged on their works - which they avoided because works are "too Catholic."

Ooops.

They will be extremely thankful for purgatory.
Click to expand...
🤨

You must not hang out with the same non-Catholics I grew up with.
 
One reason for a lack of guilt is bad theology which holds that Jesus paid the price on the cross, so our guilt was magically taken away. It was inevitable, I suppose, as the sacrament is gone from their communions. What else to do? How many altar calls or sinner’s prayers before it no longer feels efficacious?

Thus, some self-acquit. I have a feeling that the Lord will say, “You can pay Me now, or pay Me later…”
 
What’s wrong with guilt? Appropriate guilt for sin is a call by the Holy Spirit to repent. It is a wonderful thing. The closer you get to God, the more you are aware of sin. But also, the more you rejoice in His love and mercy!
 
Non Catholics like Hawthorne in the Scarlet Letter and Dostoyevsky in Crime and Punishment were very familiar with a sense of guilt.

I don’t think its something that is more prominent with Catholics at all
 
Detroit said:
Non catholics don’t feel guilty like catholics!!
Click to expand...
That’s not my experience at all. Some Catholics are more prone to feelings of guilt than others. Some non-Catholics – Protestants, atheists, Jews, Hindus – are more prone to feelings of guilt than others. I would say there is no observable statistical correlation.
 
Actually the purpose of confession is to remove all guilt as well as restore Sanctifying Grace, while a Plenary Indulgence removes temporal punishment for sins. If anything a Catholic should feel guilty if avoiding confession.
 
Yes, sometimes is bugs me.
My life would definitely be easier if I could disengage my brain, do whatever Oprah and Hollywood approve of and be “nice “ and never have to rock the boat.

But it wouldn’t be honest. I’ve read too much. I’ve seen too much . I know what right and wrong is. I’ve seen with my own eyes the result of not being in alignment with the truth.

So yeah, it bugs me, but I don’t see going along to get along as a viable option.
 
You shouldn’t feel guilty unless you have sin on your conscience. I think some people just have some type of guilt-complex and feel guilty about things that are not sin in God’s eyes. I know at times in my life I’ve had to work to separate guilt over sin (ie. real guilt) from guilt over honest or ignorant mistakes.
 
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