Want to convert but struggle with habitual sin

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I am a Christian from a protestant background who has spent the last 6 years learning about Catholicism, going to RCIA, Mass, etc. I believe what The Church teaches and want to convert. My local parish priest suggested a Christmas baptism and confirmation.

Simply put, my one road block is that I struggle with habitual sin and have for many years, which I would categorize as lust and masturbation. I want to join The Church, but I don’t want to do so, dishonestly. Should I overcome my habitual sin before joining The Church?

I know some of you will say I need to talk with my priest, but I’m simply not comfortable discussing this face to face with anyone. I know I would have the courage to do so in confession after conversion since it does not have to be face to face. But I feel like it’s not honest to bring a sinful habit with me when I convert, because even though I could say “I resolve to avoid sin and the near occasion of sin”, I know I’ll likely fall back into it. Thusly, joining The Church while still plagued by this habit feels dishonest to me.

Any thoughts or advice is appreciated. God love you!
 
First of all, we’re all sinners.

Second of all, the graces conveyed by the Sacraments and us living our lives as faithful Catholics helps us fight back against sin. We cannot conquer habitual sin ourselves. We need the Lord to help us. It is not a matter of our personal willpower.

Third, we get many posts here from people discussing things to whole groups of us strangers on an Internet forum but saying they can’t personally discuss them with their priest. The priest is actually the person who’s in the best position to help you. Posting here and not talking to a priest in person is like describing a bunch of medical symptoms you’re having on an Internet forum rather than going to see a doctor in person.

Do not wait to join the Church if you truly want to join. Remember the Scripture parable (Luke 14: 16-24) where the Lord and Master invites people to the banquet and they all have excuses why they can’t come right now, such as they just got married, they just bought a field or some oxen. So the Master got upset and disinvited them and invited others instead who would come right away. You saying you have to conquer this habit is an excuse like that. Don’t miss your chance to join the banquet.
 
I suggest fasting and prayer. It has helped me a lot and I believe it will help you too. Fasting can bring your cravings under control. If you fast, it will be as if you had prayed all day; it’s constant worship. What you are doing when you fast is that you are denying the flesh and weakening it. The flesh is something that you can beat into submission and fasting is a great way to do that.

If you decide to fast, your flesh will get weaker and weaker, which will help you stop masturbating. I know because I have experienced that. There are occasional slip ups, but I am free from pornography and I’m making progress towards stopping masturbation. Give fasting a try. You’ve got nothing to lose. 😀
 
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Excellent news your decision to join the Holy Church!

Regarding your struggle, all I can say is that you will find what you need to overcome it, that is grace, once you’ve joined the Church.

So do an act of contrition (the best you can), talk to a pious priest, go to Catechism, and aim for Baptism if you’re not Baptized yet. This Sacrament will clean your soul. This is how the Church welcomes you: with love and mercy!

And in case you fall after Baptized, which unfortunately happens to anyone, there is always the Sacrament of Confession: the best proof of God’s Mercy.

You are in my prayers.

Saint Joseph, pray for us.
 
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Don’t wait. If you wait to start loving until you can do it perfectly, you’ll never do it at all. We’re a church of sick people waiting and working to be healed. You’re only joining dishonestly if you’re claiming to be perfect!

There are some prayers that are an expression of hope as well as an expression of will. For example - I love you, Jesus. On the one hand, I do, and I try to show it to him. On the other, clearly I don’t really love him, because I continue to sin. The resolution to avoid sin and its near occasion is a prayer like that - an expression both of will and of hope.
 
Definitely do not wait, as the Sacraments confer grace to avoid sin.

I reccomend praying the Rosary, the 15 traditional decades or the 20 (which include the optional luminous mysteries), to help avoid sin. This may sound like a lot at the moment: start slowly. You can start with just one decade as you work to at least 5 at once.

Combined with other daily prayer (ie meditation, spiritual/Bible reading etc) and fasting, the demons will be greatly affected. Keep in mind to pray at the beginning of temptations. Of course, avoid “triggers” or tempting things. Ultimately, though, it is up to the will moved by grace to avoid temptation, so asking for superfluous grace makes sense!

Keep this in mind: the devils may try to do anything they can to prevent you from converting. A guilt trip, doubts, etc. Don’t let it get to you. Keep fighting on. The Church is like a field hospital for sinners, not a prize for saints. Sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly, we are transformed by our practice of the Faith and trust in Christ.
 
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Advent_Conversion said:
I am a Christian from a protestant background who has spent the last 6 years learning about Catholicism, going to RCIA, Mass, etc. I believe what The Church teaches and want to convert. My local parish priest suggested a Christmas baptism and confirmation.

Simply put, my one road block is that I struggle with habitual sin and have for many years, which I would categorize as lust and masturbation. I want to join The Church, but I don’t want to do so, dishonestly. Should I overcome my habitual sin before joining The Church?

I know some of you will say I need to talk with my priest, but I’m simply not comfortable discussing this face to face with anyone. I know I would have the courage to do so in confession after conversion since it does not have to be face to face. But I feel like it’s not honest to bring a sinful habit with me when I convert, because even though I could say “I resolve to avoid sin and the near occasion of sin”, I know I’ll likely fall back into it. Thusly, joining The Church while still plagued by this habit feels dishonest to me.

Any thoughts or advice is appreciated. God love you!
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We are all sinners. The Church is a hospital for sinners. And God’s grace is primary in this healing. Grace is primary to our sins. Your sense of your own sinfulness is itself a grace and an invitation.

You know God is gracious. You know you are a sinner in need of God’s grace. The response is to give yourself to God.
Your response is…to be responsible and enter the Church as you are called to do.

Is your sense of shame keeping you from taking responsibility and simply doing God’s will? (I’ve been there done that, many times. And usually, the “I’m not worthy” thing is about avoiding responsibility for conversion)
 
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Replace bad habits with good ones. And pray every time bad thoughts come to mind. The enemy is better defeated at the threshold. It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail.
 
I would pray the rosary and on top of that fast and set up web blockers on your phone and computer. I would also recommend looking into the youtube channels Sensus Fidelium and if you need a sterner talking to about the vice of lust check out vaticancatholic.com on youtube. vatican catholic has several videos on lust which are very full metal jacket boot camp but it helped me. The sensus fidelium is great if you wish to learn on how to stop this vice in a less boot camp way. I would still get baptized but before ask him if it would be okay to go into the confessional and discuss this with him. YOUR PRIEST IS YOUR SPIRITUAL ADVISOR do not throw away your soul over what he may think about it especially since I can tell you you are more than likely not the only one who has gone to him about the vice of lust. I hope my comment helps you. oh I almost forgot Our Lady of Sorrows is good to invoke for the vice of lust or any chastity saint will definitely help pray for you.
 
What they all said! Thoink of the Church as a hospital for siuinners. IO have2 hadw some hsbitual sins w1hichhave fa1llen by the wayside since `I ha
 
po18guy said:
What they all said! Thoink of the Church as a hospital for siuinners. IO have2 hadw some hsbitual sins w1hichhave fa1llen by the wayside since `I ha
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Including the struggle of fat fingers on small keyboards! 😂

Sorry, I couldn’t resist! Believe it or not, I was able to read that! 😂😂❤️
 
If only non sinners were allowed to be part of the Church it would only consist of two people. Receiving the graces from the Sacraments will help you with your habitual sins. Trust your Priest.
 
I can’t believe I didn’t fix that! Actually, yes I can. Chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy from treatment for three cancers plus diabetic neuropathy from 5 years of high dose steroids. Plus aging. Other than that, I’m fine!

EDIT: Forgot to mention that Friday evening I sliced off part of my left ring fingertip and nail with one of those super duper mandolin slicers. My life is like a pinball.
 
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You can do this at home and wait while the lockdowns are every where and church mass limits attendants and prayers meetings.

Be patience, it often takes time to remove lust habits.
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Lord we can never thank You enough! Spirituality
Devotion to the rosary is top priority. Few more inspiration pictures just completed today. Can not post to the evangelization category! (Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.) (Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.) First step to keep a fallout to remember the Lord and this makes he/she feel great to make sacramental bread and wine like the priest, later he/she will know the difference. Please pass them to others and the fallouts. Walmart 4x6 pho…
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We ALL have chronic sin…! Scott Hahn, in one of his talks I heard on CD, shared about telling the priest that he felt bad that in his confessions, he felt like he mentioned the same sins over and over. The priest said back to him, “What do you want? New sins?” He went on to explain that confession and the other sacraments give grace to not fall into greater sin.

Pray over and over for God’s holiness to fill your sexuality. Be stubborn in seeking holiness in this part of your life - be like Jacob when he said, “I won’t let you go until you bless me.” And remember that chronic sin gains power in secrecy; so this is one of the truly beautiful advantages of confession. We willingly expose our sin (in humility but also in hope!) to the cleansing light and love of Jesus.

Chastity Project has some really superb resources too. Fr Mike Schmitz also has some really great things to say about what a properly ordered sexuality is (in the context of addressing same-sex attraction). You’re not alone in this, and there are some great resources to plug into, to help you towards victory. Just don’t ever give up!
 
Excellent response above… really good. I would just like to draw your attention to the following:
Habitual sin is NOT a bar to entering the Church. Knowing that you struggle with habitual sin is not the same as lacking resolve to change. If you willfully and intentionally continued the sin with no intention of stopping, that would be different. But if you have the resolve to stop, if you want to stop, you’ll need all the help you can get, chiefly the help of God’s grace through the sacraments
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You did state in your opening post that " I know I would have the courage to do so in confession after conversion since it does not have to be face to face." You could always ask your question here: Ask a Priest Archive - RC Spirituality You could remain anonymous.

Insofar as I am aware, habitual sin is not of necessity a reason to delay Baptism in that you did state that you have a desire to overcome your habit
and overcome it for good. I do doubt even that you are in a state of mortal sin per se because:

Catholic Catechism: #1860 https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s1c1a8.htm “…The promptings of feelings and passions can also diminish the voluntary and free character of the offense, as can external pressures or pathological disorders.”…

It is spot on that The Catholic Church is a hospital for sinners, not a club for saints. 🙂 Probably many do struggle with some kind of habitual sin.

**Don’t delay! Be Baptised and consequently received the other Sacraments of Initiation i.e. Confirmation and Eucharist ** - Baptism is the most important of our Sacraments since no other Sacrament can be received without it.

Welcome…and many blessings. 🙂
 
Advent_Conversion said:
I struggle with habitual sin and have for many years, which I would categorize as lust and masturbation. I want to join The Church
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I lived in a catholic boarding high school for 3 years our teachers were nuns and priests and religious brother’s. We were taught everyone has this issue. At puberty we start getting sexual dreams and sexual desires and this is normal as it is genetic. So when you go to the mall when you go to the park when you see people realize that everyone has sexual desires. It’s as normal as going to the bathroom. There is a way to minimizing this issue which is what saint Paul said by " living a fasted" life and praying in tongues as in jude 19. This will help keep your “flesh” your body under control. But living a fasted life is difficult especially in the beginning. This is the catholic mortal sin that is common every one has.
 
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Your local parish is likely the best resource in to be fully incorporated into the Catholic Church.

A licensed therapist is the correct resource for behavior modification in regard to issues of sexuality.
 
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