It is somewhat shocking to see on this thread those who cannot grasp the difference between smoking (not a sin) and masturbation (a serious sin). What is seriously ‘disordered’ on this thread is some of the thinking.
In the garden satan told adam and eve that ‘you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil’. What this means is that they could decide for themselves what is good and what is evil.
This is the way much of the world today, even catholics, now think. They decide what is good or bad according to their own opinion rather than looking to God and his authority in the Church to tell them what is truly good or truly evil.
The Holy Father just yesterday in his address to the bishops mentioned this very problem. A copy of the speech is available in many places such as here.
chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/198041?eng=y
Here is the quote I am referring to:
This is aggravated by an individualistic and eclectic approach to faith and religion: far from a Catholic approach to **“thinking with the Church”, **each person believes he or she has a right to pick and choose, maintaining external social bonds but without an integral, interior conversion to the law of Christ
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This type of disordered thinking leads to all manner of not just sin, but fanaticism, a complete loss of reason and an inability to see and understand** truth**, which is why we are so warned about this.
If you do not smoke or find it distasteful or feel after years of nazi like propaganda that it is very harmful to one’s health…then don’t smoke. But to think that you know more than the Church and to think you should tell us what the Church ought to teach is disordered and arrogant thinking.
Likewise if the Church in it’s 2000 years of wisdom and guidance from the Holy Spirit has degreed that masturbation is indeed gravely evil…then you can be sure, they know what they are saying. We have God’s promise to be with the Church and guide it.
Catholics need to “think with the Church” not decide for themselves what is good or evil. To feel you know better than the Church, which is guided by God, is the height of pride.
Satan indeed knew what he was doing when he tempted adam and eve. And he is still using the same old tricks today.
Beware of not “thinking with the Church” and hence thinking in a disordered manner and sadly not being aware that you in a most dangerous state - that of losing the faith and worst of all losing the faith and not realizing you have lost it…
Trust in God and his Church not your own thinking because without the light of God we are indeed in a very dark state.