Satan and being scrupulous

[peasful]

I was looking through some posts and noticed that being scrupulous was related to Satan or it seemed to be looked at as a bad thing thing. I’ve never heard about the whole ‘being scrupulous’ thing before I came here so I was wondering if someone can explain this. Why is it a bad thing and how is Satan involved in it?

 

[PhilotheaZ]

A bit of a definition:

“Scrupulous people are sincere, but they are ruled more by fear than by love. Their fear is distorted: small things are seen as large, and unfounded worries about guilt torture the individual from morning until night. The compulsions and obsessions of scrupulosity must be recognized for what they are and treated with care.” (Rev. Thomas Dubay, Seeking Spiritual Direction)

In other words, a scrupulous person sees sin where there really is none, and sees small sins as serious sins. Scrupulosity can interfere with what should be a loving, trustful relationship with God, and turn it into a relationship of fear.

Our conscience should be well-formed and balanced: not so lax that we think nothing is sinful, but not so scrupulous that we see sin where there is none.

The devil likes to work on us through fear, causing us to despair of God’s mercy.

 

[peasful]

Thank you for answering. That was really helpful.

 

[wjp984]

what if one fears being scrupulous and therefore goes the other way where they do not think enough things are sinful since they are more concerned about being scrupulous.

 

[StCsDavid]

Satan wants nothing more than for you to dwell on your sins and not your redemption. Sin is his department…redemption Christ’s.

Being scrupulous is kind of like trying to count your own breaths over a couple of minutes. Pretty soon you don’t know if you’re really breathing naturally or if your so focussed on counting breaths that it becomes unnatural. If you focus on your sin so closely, pretty soon you don’t know if you’re really committing the sin or if you’re just thinking your way into believing that you are.

 

[Ani_Ibi]

what if one fears being scrupulous and therefore goes the other way where they do not think enough things are sinful since they are more concerned about being scrupulous.

That is one reason Jesus gave us the Church!

Scrupulous people also tend to rely on their own devices: a kind of pelagianism. Martin Luther was scrupulous after the Wittenburg Plague. His monastic community exhorted him to reach out for comfort. But he only escalated his own plan.

If you are going to Confession regularly, the priests will pick up on whether or not you are being scrupulous.