The soul and pornography

[billcu1]

I am interested in what pornography and sins against chastity do to the animal and divine part of our souls. First the soul must be defined and I guess Aristotle and Thomas have probably done that. I know it destroys dignity too.
These fleshly sins seem to be the hardest to overcome and are the most common in us.

 

[R_C]

to the animal and divine part of our souls. First the soul must be defined and I guess Aristotle and Thomas have probably done that.

Animal part of our soul? No such thing.

Man consists of two essential parts–a material body and a spiritual soul. The rational soul is per se the essential form of the body. Every individual soul was immediately created out of nothing by God. Sanctifying Grace is a created supernatural gift really distinct from God. Sanctifying grace sanctifies the soul, and it bestows supernatural beauty on the soul.

Aquinas, in Summa contra Gentiles, proves:

• the perfection of the universe required the existence of some intellectual creatures endowed with will and having freedom of choice in acting;
• the intellectual substance is not a body, is immaterial, is incorruptible, and is united to the body without intermediation;
• the whole soul is in the whole body and in each of its parts;
• the souls of brute animals are not immortal, but the human soul begins to exist when the body does, brought into being through the creative action of God, and it does not perish when the body is corrupted;

In the Catechism we read:

33 The human person: with his openness to truth and beauty, his sense of moral goodness, his freedom and the voice of his conscience, with his longings for the infinite and for happiness, man questions himself about God’s existence. In all this he discerns signs of his spiritual soul. The soul, the “seed of eternity we bear in ourselves, irreducible to the merely material”, can have its origin only in God.

362 The human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once corporeal and spiritual.

363 In Sacred Scripture the term “soul” often refers to human life or the entire human person. But “soul” also refers to the innermost aspect of man, that which is of greatest value in him, that by which he is most especially in God’s image: “soul” signifies the spiritual principle in man.

The human body shares in the dignity of “the image of God”: it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple of the Spirit …] The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the “form” of the body: i.e., it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature.

382 “Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity” (GS 14 § 1). The doctrine of the faith affirms that the spiritual and immortal soul is created immediately by God.

1934 Created in the image of the one God and equally endowed with rational souls, all men have the same nature and the same origin.

Effect of sin in the soul:

400 The harmony in which they had found themselves, thanks to original justice, is now destroyed: the control of the soul’s spiritual faculties over the body is shattered; the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions, their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination. Harmony with creation is broken: visible creation has become alien and hostile to man. Because of man, creation is now subject “to its bondage to decay”. Finally, the consequence explicitly foretold for this disobedience will come true: man will “return to the ground”, for out of it he was taken. Death makes its entrance into human history.

403 Following St. Paul, the Church has always taught that the overwhelming misery which oppresses men and their inclination towards evil and death cannot be understood apart from their connection with Adam’s sin and the fact that he has transmitted to us a sin with which we are all born afflicted, a sin which is the “death of the soul”. Because of this certainty of faith, the Church baptizes for the remission of sins even tiny infants who have not committed personal sin.

404 How did the sin of Adam become the sin of all his descendants? The whole human race is in Adam “as one body of one man”. By this “unity of the human race” all men are implicated in Adam’s sin, as all are implicated in Christ’s justice. Still, the transmission of original sin is a mystery that we cannot fully understand. But we do know by Revelation that Adam had received original holiness and justice not for himself alone, but for all human nature. By yielding to the tempter, Adam and Eve committed a personal sin, but this sin affected the human nature that they would then transmit in a fallen state. It is a sin which will be transmitted by propagation to all mankind, that is, by the transmission of a human nature deprived of original holiness and justice. And that is why original sin is called “sin” only in an analogical sense: it is a sin “contracted” and not “committed” - a state and not an act.

1863 Venial sin weakens charity; it manifests a disordered affection for created goods …] Deliberate and unrepented venial sin disposes us little by little to commit mortal sin. However venial sin does not break the covenant with God. With God’s grace it is humanly reparable. “Venial sin does not deprive the sinner of sanctifying grace, friendship with God, charity, and consequently eternal happiness.”

1861 Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as is love itself. It results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God’s forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christ’s kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the power to make choices for ever, with no turning back. However, although we can judge that an act is in itself a grave offense, we must entrust judgment of persons to the justice and mercy of God.

 

[R_C]

I am interested in what pornography and sins against chastity do [to the soul]. …These fleshly sins seem to be the hardest to overcome and are the most common in us.

377 The “mastery” over the world that God offered man from the beginning was realized above all within man himself: mastery of self. The first man was unimpaired and ordered in his whole being because he was free from the triple concupiscence that subjugates him to the pleasures of the senses, covetousness for earthly goods, and self-assertion, contrary to the dictates of reason.

Note well: the triple concupiscence, a quote from 1 Jn 2:16:

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.

Why the lust of the flesh seems the strongest? Well, lust can spring forth from pride or vanity…but it is also written:

We are well aware that the Law is spiritual: but I am a creature of flesh and blood sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand my own behaviour; I do not act as I mean to, but I do things that I hate.

While I am acting as I do not want to, I still acknowledge the Law as good, so it is not myself acting, but the sin which lives in me.

And really, I know of nothing good living in me – in my natural self, that is – for though the will to do what is good is in me, the power to do it is not: the good thing I want to do, I never do; the evil thing which I do not want – that is what I do.

But every time I do what I do not want to, then it is not myself acting, but the sin that lives in me. So I find this rule: that for me, where I want to do nothing but good, evil is close at my side.

In my inmost self I dearly love God’s law, but I see that acting on my body there is a different law which battles against the law in my mind. So I am brought to be a prisoner of that law of sin which lives inside my body.

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body doomed to death? God – thanks be to him – through Jesus Christ our Lord. So it is that I myself with my mind obey the law of God, but in my disordered nature I obey the law of sin.

There is something about the human sexuality that is profoundly sacred…and it is far from being evil, or bad…but we have a lot of disorders and passions…that is bad, not sexuality!

You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery.” But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

2331 “God is love and in himself he lives a mystery of personal loving communion. Creating the human race in his own image . . … God inscribed in the humanity of man and woman the vocation, and thus the capacity and responsibility, of love and communion.”

2332 Sexuality affects all aspects of the human person in the unity of his body and soul. It especially concerns affectivity, the capacity to love and to procreate, and in a more general way the aptitude for forming bonds of communion with others.

2335 Each of the two sexes is an image of the power and tenderness of God, with equal dignity though in a different way. The union of man and woman in marriage is a way of imitating in the flesh the Creator’s generosity and fecundity

2337 Chastity means the successful integration of sexuality within the person and thus the inner unity of man in his bodily and spiritual being. Sexuality, in which man’s belonging to the bodily and biological world is expressed, becomes personal and truly human when it is integrated into the relationship of one person to another, in the complete and lifelong mutual gift of a man and a woman.The virtue of chastity therefore involves the integrity of the person and the integrality of the gift.

2339 Chastity includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery which is a training in human freedom. The alternative is clear: either man governs his passions and finds peace, or he lets himself be dominated by them and becomes unhappy.

"Man’s dignity therefore requires him to act out of conscious and free choice, as moved and drawn in a personal way from within, and not by blind impulses in himself or by mere external constraint.

Man gains such dignity when, ridding himself of all slavery to the passions, he presses forward to his goal by freely choosing what is good and, by his diligence and skill, effectively secures for himself the means suited to this end."

 

[R_C]

2341 The virtue of chastity comes under the cardinal virtue of temperance, which seeks to permeate the passions and appetites of the senses with reason.

2346 Charity is the form of all the virtues. Under its influence, chastity appears as a school of the gift of the person. Self-mastery is ordered to the gift of self. Chastity leads him who practices it to become a witness to his neighbor of God’s fidelity and loving kindness.

2347 The virtue of chastity blossoms in friendship. It shows the disciple how to follow and imitate him who has chosen us as his friends, who has given himself totally to us and allows us to participate in his divine estate. Chastity is a promise of immortality.

Chastity is expressed notably in friendship with one’s neighbor. Whether it develops between persons of the same or opposite sex, friendship represents a great good for all. It leads to spiritual communion.

2351 Lust is disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of sexual pleasure. Sexual pleasure is morally disordered when sought for itself, isolated from its procreative and unitive purposes.

“The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose.” For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of “the sexual relationship which is demanded by the moral order and in which the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love is achieved.”

carnal union between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman…is gravely contrary to the dignity of persons and of human sexuality which is naturally ordered to the good of spouses and the generation and education of children. Moreover, it is a grave scandal when there is corruption of the young.

Pornography consists in removing real or simulated sexual acts from the intimacy of the partners, in order to display them deliberately to third parties. It offends against chastity because it perverts the conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses to each other. It does grave injury to the dignity of its participants (actors, vendors, the public), since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others. It immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world. It is a grave offense.

2360 Sexuality is ordered to the conjugal love of man and woman. In marriage the physical intimacy of the spouses becomes a sign and pledge of spiritual communion. Marriage bonds between baptized persons are sanctified by the sacrament.

2361 “Sexuality, by means of which man and woman give themselves to one another through the acts which are proper and exclusive to spouses, is not something simply biological, but concerns the innermost being of the human person as such. It is realized in a truly human way only if it is an integral part of the love by which a man and woman commit themselves totally to one another until death.”

2362 “The acts in marriage by which the intimate and chaste union of the spouses takes place are noble and honorable; the truly human performance of these acts fosters the self-giving they signify and enriches the spouses in joy and gratitude.” Sexuality is a source of joy and pleasure: “The Creator himself . . . established that in the [generative] function, spouses should experience pleasure and enjoyment of body and spirit.”

2363 The spouses’ union achieves the twofold end of marriage: the good of the spouses themselves and the transmission of life. These two meanings or values of marriage cannot be separated without altering the couple’s spiritual life and compromising the goods of marriage and the future of the family.

What is the problem with pornography? A good, long reading is this article: “Bought With a Price: Pornography and the Attack on the Living Temple of God” - more resources from the same source here.

 

[Robert_Sock]

Animal part of our soul? No such thing.

The Tanya, a collection of study books within Chabad, speaks of the animal soul which must be uprooted in men. It’s not Catholic per se, but it’s Jewish, and Jews laid the foundation of Catholicism.

 

[R_C]

The Tanya, a collection of study books within Chabad, speaks of the animal soul which must be uprooted in men. It’s not Catholic per se, but it’s Jewish, and Jews laid the foundation of Catholicism.

But this teaching on the soul is inexact.

 

[Zekariya]

The Tanya, a collection of study books within Chabad, speaks of the animal soul which must be uprooted in men. It’s not Catholic per se, but it’s Jewish, and Jews laid the foundation of Catholicism.

The pre-Christ Jewish prophets wrote the truth that we Catholics believe. Post-Christ Jewish teachings do not lay the foundation of Catholicism. The Tanya is a 16th century non-Catholic, Jewish writing. This writing has nothing to do with the foundation of Catholicism.

 

[Robert_Sock]

The pre-Christ Jewish prophets wrote the truth that we Catholics believe. Post-Christ Jewish teachings do not lay the foundation of Catholicism. The Tanya is a 16th century non-Catholic, Jewish writing. This writing has nothing to do with the foundation of Catholicism.

Many of the thoughts and Ideas in the Tanya have their roots in the pre-Christian era. Not sure about the animal soul, however.

 

[billcu1]

Many of the thoughts and Ideas in the Tanya have their roots in the pre-Christian era. Not sure about the animal soul, however.

Most of what I hear in catholicism is Greek philosophy. I have talked to modern philosophy scholars and one said something to the effect that he thought the old greek philosophers made a mystery out of things that weren’t such a mystery. It seems the church doesn’t go by modern philosophers such as well I can think of Kant and a couple others. When I think of soul I do think of
Nephesh
Ruach and
Neshamah

Which Jesus wouldv’e been familiar with.
I also think
3 fold body 3fold spirit 3 fold soul= 3 times 3=9. 9 The number of the evolution of man. I’m not saying that any metaphysical philosophy like Tanya,Kabbalistic or Aristotlean is right or wrong as much as different.

 

[billcu1]

Note well: the triple concupiscence, a quote from 1 Jn 2:16:

Why the lust of the flesh seems the strongest? Well, lust can spring forth from pride or vanity…but it is also written:

There is something about the human sexuality that is profoundly sacred…and it is far from being evil, or bad…but we have a lot of disorders and passions…that is bad, not sexuality!

Yes Jesus said to look upon a woman and lust is sin. So thoughts can be sinful. I have also heard catholics say that being and homosexual and thinking wasn’t action. Wouldn’t Man Lusting after Man in thought also be a sin if what Jesus said about heterosexual lust could be in thoughts?

 

[billcu1]

Animal part of our soul? No such thing.

Man consists of two essential parts–a material body and a spiritual soul. The rational soul is per se the essential form of the body. Every individual soul was immediately created out of nothing by God. Sanctifying Grace is a created supernatural gift really distinct from God. Sanctifying grace sanctifies the soul, and it bestows supernatural beauty on the soul.

Aquinas, in Summa contra Gentiles, proves:

• the perfection of the universe required the existence of some intellectual creatures endowed with will and having freedom of choice in acting;
• the intellectual substance is not a body, is immaterial, is incorruptible, and is united to the body without intermediation;
• the whole soul is in the whole body and in each of its parts;
• the souls of brute animals are not immortal, but the human soul begins to exist when the body does, brought into being through the creative action of God, and it does not perish when the body is corrupted;

In the Catechism we read:

Effect of sin in the soul:

So the Mass forgives venial sin. I need it. I haven’t been to a Mass in awhile. That begins to weeken a person. Is it also true that holy water forgives and washes away venial sin?

 

[billcu1]

Many of the thoughts and Ideas in the Tanya have their roots in the pre-Christian era. Not sure about the animal soul, however.

I don’t think “animal soul” literally means a makeup of a animal’s soul in man as much as the soul wanting animalistic things. The things of the world.

 

[Brendan_64]

So the Mass forgives venial sin. I need it. I haven’t been to a Mass in awhile. That begins to weeken a person. Is it also true that holy water forgives and washes away venial sin?

If you’ve been looking at pornography, I’d suggest you go to Confession before taking Communion. And if you haven’t been to mass in a while, that too will require Confession.

Not all sins are venial, and Mass does not forgive mortal sins.

 

[Charlemagne_II]

bill
**
These fleshly sins seem to be the hardest to overcome and are the most common in us. **

Yes, how true!

A sexual orgasm is certainly the single physical experience that approaches what we might loosely call ecstasy. However, it was meant by God as a spur to procreate in the family context. To separate orgasm from love is to objectify the experience, as in the case of masturbation. Masturbation, when it accompanies the viewing of pornographic materials, certainly involves no sense of love, but rather of pure selfish pleasure. Because of that fact, pornography and masturbation are generally kept as private and secret as possible … because of the inevitable shame that is associated with them. Where there is no shame (as in the case of the film pornography actor) the person has been debauched most likely by the addiction to sex, drugs, or alcohol.

One of the ways to avoid pornography is to view it as a personal affront. Think of the pornographic actor, for example, as someone’s son or daughter, sister or brother; your own son or daughter, your own brother or sister. Think of the payment of money for pornographic materials as a way that you might be contributing to the debauchery of your own son or daughter, brother or sister (we are our brother’s keeper, we are not supposed to enable the murder of their body or their soul.

If there is no way you could imagine yourself in a pornographic adventure, it’s because you have the grace of God to know that that way lies the death of the body and of the soul. The extent to which pornography now flourishes in America is an indication of how debauched our civilization has become. Pornography is now easily accessible even by children, and child pornography is rampant. But when was the last time you ever heard a television special exposing the psychological damage pornography has done to individuals and our society in general? When was the last time you ever heard of legislators up in arms over the pornography flooding our society. It’s as if we are supposed to accept this devil without a single solid objection.

 

[Brendan_64]

It’s as if we are supposed to accept this devil without a single solid objection.

Very true. It really is a cancer in our society and now freely available in the most extreme form, to anyone (adult or child) who has access to a computer, tablet or smart-phone. At least in the past people had to go through the embarrassment of going to a seedy sex-shop to get hold of it, or have to publicly reach up to the top shelf of the newsagent to get it, and at least children were protected from exposure to it then.

But now anyone can get hold of it, at any time, and in the most extreme forms. The damage it does to individuals and society is immense and widespread, yet almost nothing is done about it. Does Satan have so much sway over those who are in a position to do something about it?

 

[Charlemagne_II]

Brendan

**Does Satan have so much sway over those who are in a position to do something about it? **

It would appear so. Nearly a hundred years ago the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that pornography was not protected by the 1st Amendment because it did not constitute speech.

A later Supreme Court reversed that decision. What does that tell you about our so-called Philosopher-Kings?

 

[R_C]

Yes Jesus said to look upon a woman and lust is sin. So thoughts can be sinful. I have also heard catholics say that being and homosexual and thinking wasn’t action. Wouldn’t Man Lusting after Man in thought also be a sin if what Jesus said about heterosexual lust could be in thoughts?

Of course, all disordered sexual thoughts are grave matter! Homosexual lust is also disordered. But homosexual attraction per se is no more sinful than heterosexual attraction - disordered, but not sinful (unless we act on it - sin requires knowledge and consent).

So the Mass forgives venial sin. I need it. I haven’t been to a Mass in awhile. That begins to weeken a person. Is it also true that holy water forgives and washes away venial sin?

Well, the Eucharist remits venial sins because Christ carries to a soul in the state of grace a superabundance of grace, ex opere operato.

Other sacramentals can aid us in obtaining pardon for venial sins - ex. the sign of the cross with holy water, etc - they don’t forgive sins, though…they predispose us to obtain God’s forgiveness. See here for more

 

[billcu1]

Of course, all disordered sexual thoughts are grave matter! Homosexual lust is also disordered. But homosexual attraction per se is no more sinful than heterosexual attraction - disordered, but not sinful (unless we act on it - sin requires knowledge and consent).

It takes a strong man to control his thoughts. I know graces can be granted for this but although Jesus said it and I know it’s true that thoughts are like the act. But things enter your mind. Where do you draw the line between admiring a beautiful woman and lusting after her? Especially with the way some of these women dress nowdays.

 

[Charlemagne_II]

bill

Where do you draw the line between admiring a beautiful woman and lusting after her?

By asking yourself whether her beauty is only skin deep.

I always lusted after Marilyn Monroe, but I never admired her.

 

[R_C]

It takes a strong man to control his thoughts. I know graces can be granted for this but although Jesus said it and I know it’s true that thoughts are like the act. But things enter your mind. Where do you draw the line between admiring a beautiful woman and lusting after her? Especially with the way some of these women dress nowdays.

To control our thoughts and be more faithful we must not become greater and stronger, but smaller and weaker.

As for our thoughts, no sin is mortal unless there is deliberate consent, and you can always tell if there has been deliberate consent. To be blunt: a woman dressed provocatively walks by. If in my mind I chose to indulge on what I see and desire to possess her and imagine having a physical encounter with her, I’d say that is mortal sin. If I feel something and simply keep moving forward and shift my thoughts towards other things (especially spiritual things) then no matter what I saw, it is not mortal sin.

And I draw the line as follows: when I don’t see her as a soul, as a whole human being, but as parts, I know I am in danger of grave sin.

Devotion to Our Lady helps very much in this context.