Undertsanding human weakness?

[Greenfields]

I’m wondering if God allows us to be tempted,even fall into sin of a certain area we have formerly have no or little experience of therefore have no understanding/empathy for those trapped by weakness in that area?

Like getting a wee burn on a finger ,suddenly letting one understand just how much pain
a burn victim goes through?

 

[RitasKid]

My best guess of God’s mind is that He wills good only for us. Adam and Eve, without a fallen nature got tempted. With our free wills we can choose unwisely. At that point, I’m pretty sure that God will make it possible for good to come from it, maybe get empathy. I know my sinfulness helps me connect with a large group of troubled folks. That is something that I can use for bad or good. God really seems to keep things pretty good despite my best efforts.

 

[Joy2day]

Maybe we should crucify one another, so that all of us faithful can have more empathy for Jesus. I have a hammer & some nails & a tree - give me your wrists please - its in your best interests! - It’ll make you a better person!

 

[Joy2day]

Maybe we should crucify one another, so that all of us faithful can have more empathy for Jesus. I have a hammer & some nails & a tree - give me your wrists please - its in your best interests! - It’ll make you a better person!

 

[Greenfields]

Maybe we should crucify one another, so that all of us faithful can have more empathy for Jesus. I have a hammer & some nails & a tree - give me your wrists please - its in your best interests! - It’ll make you a better person!

:blush:Not quite the gentle and kind response helping to instruct a fellow catholic…

All of my life I have abhorred pornography (fair enough) but also those trapped in it’s grasp.
Hate the sin ,hate the sinner? Doesn’t work that way…LOVE the sinner is the correct way.
A recent lapse in purity ,depriving me of God’s grace, left me shocked and desperate to
be closer to Him…and an over whelming insight of the horrific cycle that must be experienced
by those trapped …the self loathing, loneliness and shame that is encountered by millions and growingIt now feels my mission to pray in earnest and help in anyway possible and not to run from them.
I guess after all ,only Jesus knows what is best for ones soul.

 

[Casilda]

I always wondered about that. In protestant circles there is always such an emphasis on one’s testimony, how one was led to Christ. I never understood that, since from the earliest time I can remember, I was just always with Christ. People relate the condition they were in or the struggles and pain they had and how they now can help others trapped in the same struggles. I think it gives them credibility.

 

[Avila123]

God’s ways are mysterious so I could not second guess what His reasons are. When I recall times of suffering, it is either simply part of life that most people experience, I have deliberately chosen to sin, or discovered that I have distanced myself from God and He in His loving mercy is calling me back. Life is a journey of faith and I have repeatedly fallen into the same boggy mires, repented and received the Sacrament of Reconciliation. All I can do is keep praying and listening.

My personal thoughts (at this moment) are that as we journey in faith, the more we ask and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us, the more we can be drawn closer to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The journey is very personal in many ways, but it is not in isolation from others because we are a community (the body of Christ) and the Church guides us in our giving of prayers and resources. When giving in prayer (with or without resources) I believe it should be openly, without judgement, with love and trust in God. If I rely on personal experience or empathy, there is a danger that I move away from God, simply by applying my biased and imperfect judgement.

But there again, maybe sometimes something happens and the Holy Spirit gives a nudge in the right direction. We just need to be careful that we don’t justify our sins and remember that if something good happens, it is God salvaging the situation for our salvation and maybe the saving of another soul.

Just my thoughts. Thanks for the question, it is always good to reflect on possibilities and where God may be leading us on our way home.

 

[Greenfields]

God’s ways are mysterious so I could not second guess what His reasons are. When I recall times of suffering, it is either simply part of life that most people experience, I have deliberately chosen to sin, or discovered that I have distanced myself from God and He in His loving mercy is calling me back. Life is a journey of faith and I have repeatedly fallen into the same boggy mires, repented and received the Sacrament of Reconciliation. All I can do is keep praying and listening.

My personal thoughts (at this moment) are that as we journey in faith, the more we ask and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us, the more we can be drawn closer to God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The journey is very personal in many ways, but it is not in isolation from others because we are a community (the body of Christ) and the Church guides us in our giving of prayers and resources. When giving in prayer (with or without resources) I believe it should be openly, without judgement, with love and trust in God. If I rely on personal experience or empathy, there is a danger that I move away from God, simply by applying my biased and imperfect judgement.
But there again, maybe sometimes something happens and the Holy Spirit gives a nudge in the right direction. We just need to be careful that we don’t justify our sins and remember that if something good happens, it is God salvaging the situation for our salvation and maybe the saving of another soul.

Just my thoughts. Thanks for the question, it is always good to reflect on possibilities and where God may be leading us on our way home.

Thank you Avila for your wise words :)

 

[Brendan_64]

I always wondered about that. In protestant circles there is always such an emphasis on one’s testimony, how one was led to Christ. I never understood that, since from the earliest time I can remember, I was just always with Christ. People relate the condition they were in or the struggles and pain they had and how they now can help others trapped in the same struggles. I think it gives them credibility.

Be careful about knocking such testimony. I notice you area ‘revert’, I was too. I had strayed right into mire and wallowed willingly in it for decades (Paganism (of several different varieties), Buddhism, Atheism, Communism). I was eventually, and quite dramatically called back. It seemed like a sudden, out of the blue, event at the time, and in many ways it was, but looking back there were people, places, and unusual (out of character) career choices leading up to this event that had been nudging me into such a position that when the ‘lightning bolt’ came I would be ready.

Personally I think that Protestants that speak of such experiences are doing so genuinely and honestly. As a Catholic I don’t stand up in Church and tell my story as they do in Protestant churches, but I’ll happily tell it to any who I feel would be willing to hear.

You may have been lucky enough to have ‘always been with Christ’ but I wasn’t. He may always have been with me, but for decades I wasn’t with him.

 

[fred_conty]

I’m wondering if God allows us to be tempted,even fall into sin of a certain area we have formerly have no or little experience of therefore have no understanding/empathy for those trapped by weakness in that area?

Like getting a wee burn on a finger ,suddenly letting one understand just how much pain
a burn victim goes through?

I believe that temptations are opportunities that God provides us so that we may then demonstrate the real love we have for him by suffering thru them willingly and without complaint. These are times when he draws us close tho he seems farthest away from us. It is also a time when we can suffer for some other person to help them back to travel the narrow road. This indeed is a blessing to bring back a lost soul, for what we do to others we do to Christ.

It seems to that a temptation is also the moment when we realise just how much we rely on the strength of Jesus to help us. This helps to control our pride because we see that we must have reliance on Jesus if we are not to fail for he is our strength. Strength manifests itself in weakness, our weakness. And in understanding how frail and weak we are, we can also understand the frailty of others and their need for compassion as well.

 

[kingston1]

I don’t know the church’s official position on the saints who seemed not only to suffer but suffer as a part of their calling to God. See St. Gemma, St. Therese of Avila, St Padre Pio, etc. They suffered because they believed God allowed them to suffer and join in the suffering of Christ.

Does not the priest say “…accept the sacrifice…” of all of us in communion with our Savior?

I believe (and again, not to say this is catholic doctrine, I don’t know at the moment) that God does allow us to suffer in our ways and that suffering is not a bad thing in and of itself.

However, the stain of Original Sin has corrupted the whole world and those in it and it is the rippling of a billion actions that cause suffering.