Scrupulous or sinning?

[pgnat1]

Like most teenagers nowadays, I have a Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. On all of these, I am only friends with people I know. Is it wrong for me (being a young man) to go to my friends’ (who are girls) profiles and look at their pictures? I keep reminding myself that they are my friends, and I am not purposely going on their profiles to get “turned on.” They are my friends and I am just looking through their pictures to see what they are doing/see what is going on in their lives. If I see a photo that is immodest (In a bikini for example) I make sure I stay away from it to avoid sin. So, do you think with going on their profiles that I am committing sin? I keep telling myself that yes, I have to know my limits, but I will be looking for a wife in the future, and admiring a girl’s beauty is not a sin. Please give me some advice. Is it alright to go to their profiles to see what’s up and admire their attractiveness (keeping in mind my limits and knowing what I can and cannot so), or should I stop this all together. Is this possibly a mortal sin? Or scrupulous? I do not think I am lusting, just admiring beauty. Thank you, and again, my confessor is on a retreat and I cannot contact him right now.

 

[teachccd]

Like most teenagers nowadays, I have a Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. On all of these, I am only friends with people I know. Is it wrong for me (being a young man) to go to my friends’ (who are girls) profiles and look at their pictures? I keep reminding myself that they are my friends, and I am not purposely going on their profiles to get “turned on.” They are my friends and I am just looking through their pictures to see what they are doing/see what is going on in their lives. If I see a photo that is immodest (In a bikini for example) I make sure I stay away from it to avoid sin. So, do you think with going on their profiles that I am committing sin? I keep telling myself that yes, I have to know my limits, but I will be looking for a wife in the future, and admiring a girl’s beauty is not a sin. Please give me some advice. Is it alright to go to their profiles to see what’s up and admire their attractiveness (keeping in mind my limits and knowing what I can and cannot so), or should I stop this all together. Is this possibly a mortal sin? Or scrupulous? I do not think I am lusting, just admiring beauty. Thank you, and again, my confessor is on a retreat and I cannot contact him right now.

If you are indeed doing everything exactly as you stated then by all means look at the photos. If you are not then you need to discern what you already know. You can never fool God, only yourself…teachccd

 

[JackVk]

Like most teenagers nowadays, I have a Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. On all of these, I am only friends with people I know. Is it wrong for me (being a young man) to go to my friends’ (who are girls) profiles and look at their pictures? I keep reminding myself that they are my friends, and I am not purposely going on their profiles to get “turned on.” They are my friends and I am just looking through their pictures to see what they are doing/see what is going on in their lives. If I see a photo that is immodest (In a bikini for example) I make sure I stay away from it to avoid sin. So, do you think with going on their profiles that I am committing sin? I keep telling myself that yes, I have to know my limits, but I will be looking for a wife in the future, and admiring a girl’s beauty is not a sin. Please give me some advice. Is it alright to go to their profiles to see what’s up and admire their attractiveness (keeping in mind my limits and knowing what I can and cannot so), or should I stop this all together. Is this possibly a mortal sin? Or scrupulous? I do not think I am lusting, just admiring beauty. Thank you, and again, my confessor is on a retreat and I cannot contact him right now.

I do this sometimes as well, and I’m 21. I really don’t see a problem with it. Rule of thumb: Unless you wouldn’t hesitate to swear on a stack of Bibles that you sinned, then you didn’t sin. Like you, if I see something immodest, I just move along. Don’t worry.

 

[Iron_Donkey]

I am not aware of any moral law prohibiting noticing beauty (so long as you don’t find yourself thinking of these people as beautiful objects rather than people who are pretty -which is not to say that I think you are, I’m just trying to be complete). What you describe seems fine, though if you find that temptations that are hard to resist arise noticeably more often there then elsewhere, you may want to cut back.

 

[CrossofChrist]

I do this sometimes as well, and I’m 21. I really don’t see a problem with it. Rule of thumb: Unless you wouldn’t hesitate to swear on a stack of Bibles that you sinned, then you didn’t sin. Like you, if I see something immodest, I just move along. Don’t worry.

That actually seems like pretty good advice.