Removing past heresies

[McatholicN]

Yeah…

Must we make reparation for any heresy we have ever said, specifically on the internet? Must I scour everything I’ve done on the internet to see if I’ve made a heresy that others could see? You can probably tell from my recent posts that I was up to something.

Ah, scrupulosity…

Thanks for answers, anyway.

 

[baltobetsy]

Honey, it’s Christmas Eve. Have you wrapped all your gifts? Can you help your family prepare dinner or clean the house or something? You really need to make yourself useful and get your mind off the scruples. After Christmas, make an appointment with your priest to discuss this problem.

 

[McatholicN]

Anybody?

Am I obligated to search everywhere for any falsity I have ever posted?

 

[baltobetsy]

No.

 

[McatholicN]

Honey, it’s Christmas Eve. Have you wrapped all your gifts? Can you help your family prepare dinner or clean the house or something? You really need to make yourself useful and get your mind off the scruples. After Christmas, make an appointment with your priest to discuss this problem.

But if it is a mortal sin to keep false statements online, then I’m in trouble - Christmas Eve or not!

 

[baltobetsy]

The only trouble you’re in is this terrible preoccupation with yourself. Go give of yourself to someone else and put this subject aside. Talk to your priest after Christmas.

 

[1ke]

Yeah…

Must we make reparation for any heresy we have ever said, specifically on the internet? Must I scour everything I’ve done on the internet to see if I’ve made a heresy that others could see? You can probably tell from my recent posts that I was up to something.

Ah, scrupulosity…

Thanks for answers, anyway.

No.

And, what you should do, must do, is the one thing you seem to not be donig: get professional help for your scrupulosity. It’s a mental illness. The internet is not going to give you relief, in fact it will probably do the opposite. GET HELP.

 

[McatholicN]

Is everyone absolutely sure about this? Are you saying that there is no obligation to make reparation for things said in the past that conflicted with Church teaching?

 

[Vico]

Is everyone absolutely sure about this? Are you saying that there is no obligation to make reparation for things said in the past that conflicted with Church teaching?

Confess you sin, do your penance, accept, and strive, then you achieve both remission and repairation.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

**1472 **To understand this doctrine and practice of the Church, it is necessary to understand that sin has a double consequence. Grave sin deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes us incapable of eternal life, the privation of which is called the “eternal punishment” of sin. On the other hand every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory. This purification frees one from what is called the “temporal punishment” of sin. These two punishments must not be conceived of as a kind of vengeance inflicted by God from without, but as following from the very nature of sin. A conversion which proceeds from a fervent charity can attain the complete purification of the sinner in such a way that no punishment would remain.

**1473 **The forgiveness of sin and restoration of communion with God entail the remission of the eternal punishment of sin, but temporal punishment of sin remains. While patiently bearing sufferings and trials of all kinds and, when the day comes, serenely facing death, the Christian must strive to accept this temporal punishment of sin as a grace. He should strive by works of mercy and charity, as well as by prayer and the various practices of penance, to put off completely the “old man” and to put on the “new man.”

 

[McatholicN]

But would it be a mortal sin in and of itself to allow the falsities to keep ciriculating?

 

[baltobetsy]

But would it be a mortal sin in and of itself to allow the falsities to keep ciriculating?

Only if you are a person who is known to speak with authority. 99% of the people on the Internet are nobodies with no authority who sometimes are right and sometimes are wrong. Most people who use the net understand this and don’t take seriously what they read about truly important subjects unless they are reading an authoritative source.

 

[McatholicN]

Only if you are a person who is known to speak with authority. 99% of the people on the Internet are nobodies with no authority who sometimes are right and sometimes are wrong. Most people who use the net understand this and don’t take seriously what they read about truly important subjects unless they are reading an authoritative source.

So there is no obligation unless you are teaching with authority? Is this Church teaching?

Wouldn’t you still be leading others to believe falsely though?

 

[promethius]

But if it is a mortal sin to keep false statements online, then I’m in trouble - Christmas Eve or not!

The error you are labouring unders is believing that you can control the consequences of your sin. Let’s look at a parable my dad once related to me…
my dad:

A man was struggling with gossip. He didn’t necessarily always tell the truth and continually struggled NOT to spread vicious stories about people. One day he asked his priest for help with avoiding gossip.

“Go up to the top of the hill by the town with a pillow. There, cut open the pillow and fling all the feathers inside about. Then come and see me again.”

The man did as he was told, and then went to see the priest. He asked what was next. “Now,” said the priest, “you will go out and collect all the feathers from the pillow”

“That’s impossible!” Said the man in exasperation, “The wind has blown them so far that I cannot possibly find every single one”

The Father replied, “As with all sin, we cannot control the consequences, and thus we are called to avoid sin with all our might, and to atone for what we can, entrusting God to make right of our actions”

The point is, you’re laboring under the idea that reconciliation is somehow contingent upon YOUR actions being able to remit the consequences of YOUR sin. Can you go back and take away the thoughts out of the heads of everyone who read your posts? Can you even FIND every one of your posts? What about if someone copied one of your posts into another forum?

Of course not. Any heresies you might have uttered have flown like feathers in the wind and are far beyond your control. You might track down which posts you can easily find, particularly if they are especially damaging, and recant those stated positions, but you will never track them all down.

And this is the point of mercy: Christ was whipped, laid down and had nails hammered through His hands and feet, then hung on a cross and died to pay for the consequences of all of our sin. WE can never make right the effects of what we have done in violating God’s will, but we are also not expected to.

Rather, do as a catholic should. Recant what you can, understanding that recanting all is an impossible task. Repent and seek the sacrament of reconciliation. Resolve to be more careful of uttering heresy in the future. And pray that God will turn the damage of your sin towards His glorious plan.

And stop thinking that you are somehow called to fully repair the damage of your sin by your own actions. It cannot be done. Be at peace knowing that God restores the soul without requiring such an impossible thing of you.