Temptation and Sin - Where is the line crossed?

[timmyo]

As Father Carapi said, even the greatest saints experience temptation. He said, and I have heard countless others say, that evil thoughts in and of themselves do not constitute sin. It is what you do with the thoughts that constitutes a sin.

Now, what I don’t understand is that Jesus condemned those who had lust in their heart and those who held anger against their brother. He held their sins as equal to those who had committed adultery or struck their brother. With lust, how does one know if they are merely being tempted or if they have sinned? Do you have to enjoy the temptation, even briefly, for it to be a sin? I have heard it explained that if you are faced with a lustful temptation and respond with your will , “If I could, I would”, then you have sinned. What about cases where your body or emotions respond instantly to a thought or image before you have chance to process the morality of a thought or image? Haven’t you crossed the line then?

 

[trailblazer]

Bodily responses (such as an erection) or unintended emotional responses, such as a desire or thought are only temptations. They become sin, when we willingly dwell on the temptation or act on the temptation.

I believe it is a good idea to examine our life and such instances everyday…taking them to Christ in prayer, asking his help and pledging to strive to avoid these temptations in the future. Also, as for me confession is both the Sacrament od Reconciliation and spiritual direction, I would discuss these temptations and efforts to avoid (or not) these with my confessor.

Bob

 

[timmyo]

Thank you. That clears things up a lot for me. I agree with your use of confession. I go often, but I sometimes feel as though I confess sins that might not even be sins, they may just merely be temtations. I will pray more for clarity of my moral state when I do an examination of consciece. I already pray to Jesus to take temptations away when they happen, and it has yet to fail. My problem lies in the fact that I don’t really have a great understanding of the dynamics of temptation, the will, our emotions and our conscience. Does anyone know a good book which explains these things well? I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[Joysong]

Dear Timmy,

Do you remember one of the three conditions for a sin to be “mortal?” After recognizing the serious, grave wrongfulness of it, we deliberately choose to embrace it with our will and decide to carry it out. Suppose a thief was attempting to rob a store with a gun, irrespective of the danger to anyone inside. Now if he is apprehended by the police prior to carrying out the act, is it a sin? Of course.

In the matter of anger, unless we fully dismiss these thoughts from our mind in willingness to forgive the injury to ourselves, we may sin in our thoughts. The longer indignation is entertained in our mind, we may ultimately justifiy that it is ok to strike out at the offender in retaliation to redeem our wounded self. It can range from a mild retort or insult with intent to hurt/wound the other as we have been hurt, to a violent intent to kill.

You can see here that “degree” of sinfulness determines the mortal or venial nature when we confess. Wrongful thinking leads to wrongful actions, and that is why Jesus is so stern about nipping the bud in our mind, wherein is devil’s battleground.

I’m thinking at this moment about an example I read on another forum concerning St. Joan of Arc. She hated war, yet she was called by God to engage in it. Did she hate her enemy? On the contrary . . . when she came upon a dying enemy soldier, she embraced him in her lap and wept.

It might be a good idea to discuss your misgivings with a priest to put your mind at rest and come to fuller self-knowledge. http://forum.catholic.com/images/smilies/thumbsup.gif

 

[Joysong]

Dear Timmy,

You asked about a book, and I remembered some instructions from St. Francis de Sales. There are several chapters here about temptation that you might find useful: ccel.org/d/desales/devout_life/htm/vi.ii.htm#vi.iii

Chapter III, “The Nature of Temptations, and the Difference Between Feeling Temptation and Consenting to It.”

Click the bottom of the page afterwards to continue on to the next chapter.

 

[Joysong]

I forgot to mention that the section on temptation in St. Francis’s book begins with Chapter III and ends with Chapter X, so just keep clicking the bottom to go to the next page. There is quite a lot of good advice therein.