Was this a sin?

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Aeden

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Hi, I have a question regarding oaths made to God in private. A while ago, I committed a mortal sin, and I prayed to God that, if He would take me back, I would meditate about the Crucifiction ten times every night until the day I died. Recently, I came across the passage James 5:12 passage regarding swearing. So I’m wondering: was it a sin to make that kind of oath? Especially since I have been falling out of practice for a little while.
 
Aeden,

I think the verse you were reffering to, James 5:12, is talking about swearing rashly, or without a suffcient reason, which would be sinful. The kind of oath you made is not a sin, as long as you took the oath for a good reason, you are convinced that what you say under oath is true, and you do not take an oath on what is wrong, which are the three things that make an oath lawfull in the Baltimore Catechism. Also from the Baltimore Catechism, the obligation to fufill a promise under oath is grave or light, depending upon the gravity of that which is promised. So, I may have went a little off track but I hope this helped a little.
God Bless!!
Tricia
 
A different spin…

Why do people make confession out to be some big scary deal? You don’t have to vow to do X so many times a day for the rest of your life to be forgiven, all you have to do is go to confession!

You can bargain with God to forgive your sins (which doesn’t work), or you can accept the bargain that God made on the cross and accept forgiveness by confessing your sins.
 
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to go to confession. I couldn’t and I felt so cut off from God that I couldn’t stand it. It may be more accurate to say that I said that I would do it if God would just let me pray to Him again so I could be confident that I was repentant when I went to confession next. Believe me, I’d have loved it if confession was an option, but I didn’t feel repentant, not truly, just sorry that I wasn’t sorry, it that makes any sense.
 
Aeden said:
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to go to confession. I couldn’t and I felt so cut off from God that I couldn’t stand it. It may be more accurate to say that I said that I would do it if God would just let me pray to Him again so I could be confident that I was repentant when I went to confession next. Believe me, I’d have loved it if confession was an option, but I didn’t feel repentant, not truly, just sorry that I wasn’t sorry, it that makes any sense.
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Second sentence was poorly phrased. Better is to say “it would be more accurate to say that I promised to meditate before bed every night if God would help me pray and make me repentant for my next confession.”
 
Aeden said:
Second sentence was poorly phrased. Better is to say “it would be more accurate to say that I promised to meditate before bed every night if God would help me pray and make me repentant for my next confession.”
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Discuss such with your Pastor he has the authority to dispense various like things…(if they need dispensing)
 
I would say…imagine yourself as a child, and God as your Father. If you think of a situation where a child would say to you “I promise, Dad, I won’t ever do that again. I will keep my room clean every day for the rest of my life.” Now we know as parents that in all likelihood the room will not stay clean forever. We know that the child is repentant and wants to make reparation but they try to promise something big to show how sorry they are. We know they are sorry, and won’t hold it against them if the room is dirty from time to time.

I would go to confession. I would tell the priest all of this. I would do whatever pennance the priest tells you to. And I would ask God to simply guide you in whatever path He wants for you…and to be open to doing whatever He wants you to do. Go to church weekly. Take Communion. Pray the rosary and read books about the saints. Be charitable to your neighbor.

Just some suggestions. 🙂
 
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