The ten commandments for the scrupulous

[johnnyt3000]

The 9th states

When you are doubtful, you shall
assume that the act of commission or
omission you’re in doubt about is not
sinful, and you shall proceed without
dread of sin.

But when I watched a video where a priest explains if you don’t know if something is grave or not, and you do it anyway then you commit a mortal sin because you are willing to offend God. I am scrupulous, so I am scared because I did as it states, I did something even thought I didn’t know if it was a sin or not. How do I know when I should abide to the 9th commandment for the scrupulous? Here is the link for the ten commandments for the scrupulous: mission.liguori.org/newsletters/pdf_archive/Ten_Commandments_for_the_Scrupulous_2013.pdf They have a description for each commandment.

 

[ready]

You should find a holy and learned traditional priest to help you. If he tells you that you are scrupulous and that you should go by the 10 Commandments for the Scrupulous, then by all means you should, without any worries. God bless you.

 

[MaryT777]

A message board cannot help you with scrupulosity. You need the guidance of a priest and should follow his advice and not second guess the priest.

Mary.

 

[Auntie_A]

A message board cannot help you with scrupulosity. You need the guidance of a priest and should follow his advice and not second guess the priest.

Mary.

I agree with this poster. The problem with simply following Scrupulosity “Commandments” is that with such a problem as scrupulosity disorder, the discernment certainly is impaired. Making my own massive one-size-fits-all decision such as “When in doubt, do the opposite” is a recipe for disaster.

Looking at it another way, if I have OCD and I thought I left the oven on when I left the house, but then assume that that thought is erroneously stemming from my OCD, without checking ONCE to see if my thought is correct–well, it might cause a fire.

Gaining objective assistance OUTSIDE of yourself with a trusted and TRAINED person would be important. Not all priests can handle this issue. Make sure they understand this disorder which is often a by-product of an anxiety disorder.

 

[Patti_M]

The 9th states
But when I watched a video where a priest explains if you don’t know if something is grave or not, and you do it anyway then you commit a mortal sin because you are willing to offend God. I am scrupulous, so I am scared because I did as it states, I did something even thought I didn’t know if it was a sin or not. How do I know when I should abide to the 9th commandment for the scrupulous? Here is the link for the ten commandments for the scrupulous: mission.liguori.org/newsletters/pdf_archive/Ten_Commandments_for_the_Scrupulous_2013.pdf They have a description for each commandment.

I have a question for you or anyone else. If you think that an act may be a mortal sin and you do it anyway, if it turns out that what you did is not a mortal sin have you in fact, committed a mortal sin because you were willing to offend God?

 

[Auntie_A]

I’m not a theologian but while it would appear that your intention was to do a mortal sin, the act itself was not.

A mortal sin is mortal for the weight of that act: how it affects God, humans, the world. An intention to do a mortal act, even if it were not mortal, might indicate that someone was breaking the first commandment.

This would all depend on the person’s awareness, etc and is probably one of the reasons we have been given the Sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession: to discern the weight of a sin, the intention, and the penitence before forgiveness. This would help me in avoiding the sin in the future.