Struggling with jealousy

[Marry]

Hi Everyone,

I really hope this doesn’t turn into a big debate. I just want to clarify why I made my original post. It isn’t so much I am concerned that my jealousy is a sin. I simply want to quit be jealous because it is not a fun way to live. Also, I have always despised the behaviour that jealousy makes people do. I simply want to become a better person.

I hope that explains where I am coming from

That’s just it-sin makes us have the bad behavior and it’s not fun. It’s a grace just to admit you are. Pray for the grace to overcome. The main reason we get jealous cause we’re insecure and want attention from others.

 

[John_Russell_Jr]

john, you need to read more-jealousy is one of the 7 deadly sins. She is graced to be able to see that in herself, and confess. If she keeps praying god will give her the grace to overcome. You are just watering it down. God loves us, but he is also just. Excuses don’t count!

… my dear friend …

… your entitled to your opinion , i have not written a book length infallibly perfect explanation i know , i really could not be bothered arguing and debating it , let alone explain and prove it , talking is fine though - we should all just talk a whole lot more here and always , so what i have said i have said - if people want to come to conclusions and judgments they need to know they are always infinitely incorrect ,so why argue …

… god bless you …

… john …

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

But is an unwanted thought that flashes into one’s head a sin? I though a thought can only be a sin if someone consents to it and dwells on it.

It sounds like the OP regards these feelings as unwanted. Doesn’t that make them temptations and not sins?

Of course, we can learn, with God’s grace, how to uncondition ourselves from even some of these involuntary thoughts. But, coming from someone who struggles with scruples, it’s a very very very vicious circle when you feel like you have to confess every un-Christian thought that enters your mind.

Exactly.

Telling a person he has to consider every passing thought as sinful can drive someone nuts, and drive him AWAY from the Church.

Consult a priest if in doubt! Not someone on an internet forum!

You have to ‘entertain’ thoughts for them to be sinful. And there can be some extenuating circumstances (OCD, or whatever).

For someone who might already be prone to scrupulosity, that could be the worst possible thing to say.