What areas are you struggling in?

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Chris_LaRock

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I struggle with my anger, my wondering eye for the oppisite sex/lust, turning the other cheek, forgiving people, and the occaisional over indulgance in food and strong drink. I think I’m improving in these areas, but I still struggle. 👍

What areas of your spiritual life do you still struggle with?
 
These are things best left between you and your confessor- as my answer to this question will be.
 
there is a forum rule against asking personal questions, and this is too personal–matter for confession is not material for a public forum discussion
 
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puzzleannie:
there is a forum rule against asking personal questions, and this is too personal–matter for confession is not material for a public forum discussion
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Feel free to answer this question. 😃

How often do you change and wash your bed sheets?
 
Faith is an awfully personal thing, and this whole site is dedicated to discussing that. 😛
 
Chris, I think I understand why you asked that question but I don’t think that my fellow Catholics did your question justice (I hope you don’t all shoot me) because they didn’t understand where you are coming from. Protestants don’t have the Sacrament of Penance where they verbally “out” their sinfulness. Because their heart cries out for the graces that we know come only from Confession, in an effort to find an alternative, Protestants have a culture of finding a “confidante” for such discussions.

Catholics are zealous to make sure that they are not getting advice not grounded in the faith and in error (a heresy). Additionally, “confidantes” without ill-intentions but actually with the good intention of being supportive can become enablers by essentially supporting a rationalization that “it really isn’t that wrong.” Finally, so much of our sin is the fruit of greater problems deep in our soul that require the skills of a trained confessor or spiritual director to uncover the root. (For instance, my sin could be expressing anger with my wife. However, the root of the sin is that I’m not really being the husband I should be by helping her overcome her sinfulness. Becuase being a good husband is my vocation, this failure is actually the greater sin. But your confidante might end up saying things like "I can understand why you’d be so angry w/ the B*****) For these reasons, Catholics are taught to reserve confession to the confessional or their spiritual director.
 
I see.

Sometimes it helps to know you’re not the only one struggling with a specific problem. Maybe you can even get advice.
 
Chris LaRock:
I see.

Sometimes it helps to know you’re not the only one struggling with a specific problem. Maybe you can even get advice.
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I read somewhere that “all our problems are theological” meaning that the solutions are only found in God and with graces given to us by God. We take that very seriously which is why we are hesitant to discuss this outside of family and close friends if not exclusively with our Priest/spiritual director. We fear that some advice is not of God but of Satan.

Just trying to tell you why we all gave you the same response: If you are having struggles with anything, talk to a Priest. I assure you that after a year in the confessional, there will be nothing that he hasn’t heard.
 
Chris,

I won’t deal with whether or not we should be discussing in a public forum about our vices/sins. I will say, that ironically I just posted this on a non-religious m.b. that I run. I think it fits in very well to the question you posed and those who wouldn’t respond even if it were an “appropriate topic” to be discussing.

Where Are YOU in the Crowd?

members.lycos.co.uk/jloughnan/despised.htm

dailycatholic.org/issue/Sep/sep2age.htm this one you need to scroll down a paragraph or two.
 
I get the impression that Catholics in general take what people like me say the wrong way. It’s like we are speaking totally different languages sometimes. When Protestants and other non-Catholic Christians engage in fellowship, we often times discuss our struggles and what we have learned from them. It helps us grow in our faith sometimes.

Just so you know where I’m coming from on this.
 
Chris,
I understand where you are coming from. I think you will find the support you are looking for here. The hang-up, as you point out, is simply in terminology. By asking a blanket statement “What do you struggle with?” people responded with the blanket statement, “I’m not going to tell YOU that!” (You specifically not being the problem, but the idea of laying it all out there for a complete stranger to see being the problem.)

I would suggest if there is an area that you are needing support in (how to not overindulge on food, for example) that you start a thread with that topic. Explain your circumstances, and I am sure that you will receive many responses from people who will offer advice and their own experiences with the issue. The support network is there. I think you just triggered an invisible wall with your choice of words is all. Please don’t feel frustrated!

Another point I would like to make is that it is more common to hear a Protestant give a testimony, so to speak, or talk about how he overcame his sinful ways of the past. Many Protestants have a defining moment they look back to that changed their perspective and brought their focus back on God. The Protestant idea of “being saved” being a defining moment in your life is one we Catholics do not share. While we definitely believe that such conversions happen, it is not something we call for, much less expect of every person. Instead, we see life as a journey, a process, where we are continually called to bring our steps in line with Christ’s. Because of this, many Catholics do not have a defining moment in their lives in which they turned from sin and accepted the Lord, but instead have lived their entire lives doing so, step by little step. Because of this difference in perspective (defining moment vs. continuing journey) many Catholics do not see themselves in the same view as Protestants (ie greatly different now than who they once were). So, the Protestant climate is more likely to produce a conversation that openly and bluntly discusses sins of the past because the Protestant’s worldview is that he is now a different person. A Catholic (esp. a cradle Catholic) is more likely to see himself as a work in progress. Therefore, you most likely won’t hear a comparison of previous life to current life.

This is why you are more likely to find the support you seek in the Catholic church by addressing a particular situation. A person will feel more comfortable in saying he has overcome that sin enough to feel comfortable in offering support and advice to you. However, if you just throw out everything you struggle with, a Catholic is likely to view himself as no better than you (the sins might be different, but we have them just the same) and not able to offer you more than the same avenues he seeks to deal with sins in general as well; namely, confession. However, a particular sin will generate a discussion on how that particular sin is dealt with. I hope this is of some assistance to you (and not just more confusing).
 
People are free to either answer or not to answer. I don’t see why someone would respond just to say they don’t want to discuss something. That’s odd to me. They can say they don’t want to discuss the topic just by not posting anything.

I posted this topic at my site, in case someone is willing to discuss this.
 
Chris LaRock:
I struggle with my anger, my wondering eye for the oppisite sex/lust, turning the other cheek, forgiving people, and the occaisional over indulgance in food and strong drink.
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Well, welcome to the club. These fall into some of the 7 deadly sins: pride, greed, lust, sloth, gluttony, anger, envy. As you probably know well, they can easily lead to mortal sin, thus their denomination as “deadly”.

Yet, all of them start with pride, as it did with Adam and Eve.

Thank God for giving us baptism.

:blessyou:
 
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Augustine:
Well, welcome to the club. These fall into some of the 7 deadly sins: pride, greed, lust, sloth, gluttony, anger, envy. As you probably know well, they can easily lead to mortal sin, thus their denomination as “deadly”.

Yet, all of them start with pride, as it did with Adam and Eve.

Thank God for giving us baptism.

:blessyou:
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What steps do you take to avoid giving in to these sins?
 
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puzzleannie:
there is a forum rule against asking personal questions, and this is too personal–matter for confession is not material for a public forum discussion
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I can understand that some things are “too personal” , however many of us learn from our mistakes by watching and listening to others. this person was asking about struggles with faith perhaps looking for someone who experiences the same struggles so they could support each other. I think we are all looking for someone we can relate to. When you find someone with the same personal struggles you have you can share and help one another.
 
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nico1089:
Don’t use 'em. I sleep on the floor with a sleeping bag. I have to get a new bag from the thriftstore (five bucks) every few months because my pet rabbit chews them up and pulls the stuffing out.–nicolo
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interesting… I recently made a post asking if life has to be simple to be spiritual.
 
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