Should impure thoughts be confessed as "lust"?

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Ziggamafu

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I’ve usually confessed impure thoughts as “lust and impure thoughts”…but “lust” by definition is disordered sexual desires. So would it be more appropriate to confess such sins simply as “lust”?
 
It depends on how long one entertains such thoughts. One priest said, impure thoughts can be like a bus coming by a bus stop, it’s our choice if we get on the bus. The same with bad thoughts, we can’t control them popping in our minds, but it’s our choice whether or not to keep thinking them.
 
It’s more important to simply say what you did than to try to fit it into some category of sin.

The category of “lust” is a bit general and might include something beyond thoughts.

JLSacred made an important point about temptations vs. sinful entertaining of the impure thoughts.

So, just say what happened. The more simple you are, the more you please God.

Betsy
 
If the way you examine your conscience uses those categories, then go ahead and classify that way in your ordering of confession, but I would second the advice to confess what you did, not the category you put it in. If you wanted to get into the specifics of confession, the requirement is to confess species and number of your sins; lust is more of a genus, so you need to get more specific, anyway.👍
 
God knows what you are getting at. The priest will too.

One might say
" I have yeilded to the temptation of lust too many times to count, by action of impure thoughts, self satisfaction (masturbation), and by allowing myself to be entertained by films containing pornography"

or one might say
"I have been guilty of lust very many times, in both my thoughts and deeds.

And as you can see by the replys, there are many other ways of saying the same thing.

Lust is one of the seven deadly sins. It manifests in many ways.
IMO it is one of the sins that pleases Satan the most. You can lose so much chasing feeting moments of pleasure.

And… you didn’t ask for a sermon, so I’ll pass the soapbox to the next guy 😉
 
I generally confess them as lustful thoughts & desires, or that I have struggled with lustfulness. Though sometimes I will say impure thoughts & desires.
 
Confess them as “sins of impurity” specifying if they are impure thoughts or actions. Also clarify if they are with yourself or with others … I’ve committed sins of impurity with myself | ohers ] engaging in impure thought | actions ] …

There’s a funny story (*supposedly it’s true and happened in Errie, PA 😉 *) that a pastor felt uncomfortable about hearing these sins confessed in confession and instructed his parish to refer to these sins as “having loved my country” so people were going to confession say “I loved my country X times since my last confession”.

Then a new pastor was assigned to the parish and for a few weeks he kept hearing numerous people confessing that they “loved their country” and he kept telling them that that wasn’t a sin in the eyes of the church saying that it was alright to be patriotic :rolleyes:
 
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