What Sins Are Forgiven?

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Catholic theology says Christ Died For Our Sins. So, every time we sin we are forgiven. What is forgiven?
Our guilt, temporal punishment for those sins? Are we are relieved of God’s justice? So what EXACTLY IS FORGIVEN BY CHRIST DIEING ON THE CROSS? Please don’t use words like expiation. Plain English please.

Nick
 
Nick362 said:
So what EXACTLY IS FORGIVEN BY CHRIST DIEING ON THE CROSS?
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As per Catholic theology, all our sins were accounted for by Christ’s death on the Cross. Personal forgiveness of sins happens in the Sacrament of Confession, although God is not bound by His Sacrament and is fully capable of absolving a person without it, should He see fit.

Catholic theology teaches that a “stain” of the absolved sin remains even after Confession, which requires a stay in Purgatory to clear up.

Does this help?
 
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Justification does not equal forgiveness.
Justification is when God gives “grace”, gives his Holy Spirit, who infuses the person with the Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity, and enlightens the person’s soul to see the places to use these virtues in his actions.
Thus, the person who is “justified by this grace infused in his soul” does deeds that are good, virtuous.
So, with “justification”, God creates a new creature who does virtuous manifestations of his soul wherein the Holy Spirit dwells and shines. This person is found justified in his doings - they were the right things for him to do - he hit the mark rather than missing the mark (“missing the mark” is the biblical word for “sin”).
Justification in no way means a legal change of “guilty” into “not guilty”.
Forgiveness of confessed sin changes “guilty” into “I am not holding you accountable for the sentence for your missing of the mark of Holiness”.
 
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When we go to confession and truly mean what we say our sins are forgiven. Always remember God knows us better than we know ourselves.
 
Nick362 said:
Catholic theology says Christ Died For Our Sins. So, every time we sin we are forgiven.
Our guilt, temporal punishment for those sins? Are we are relieved of God’s justice? So what EXACTLY IS FORGIVEN BY CHRIST DIEING ON THE CROSS? Please don’t use words like expiation. Plain English please.

Nick
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The Christ died for our sins means that Christ made voluntary atonement to God for the sins of the whole human race. “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous.” – Romans 5, 19.

Catechism
1263 By Baptism all sins are forgiven, original sin and all personal sins, as well as all punishment for sin.66 In those who have been reborn nothing remains that would impede their entry into the Kingdom of God, neither Adam’s sin, nor personal sin, nor the consequences of sin, the gravest of which is separation from God.

1450 “Penance requires . . . the sinner to endure all things willingly, be contrite of heart, confess with the lips, and practice complete humility and fruitful satisfaction.” 49

1861 Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as is love itself. It results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God’s forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christ’s kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the power to make choices for ever, with no turning back. However, although we can judge that an act is in itself a grave offense, we must entrust judgment of persons to the justice and mercy of God.
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Yet, we’re told that sins against the Holy Spirit can never be forgiven.
 
JanR said:
Yet, we’re told that sins against the Holy Spirit can never be forgiven.
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The “sin against the Holy Spirit” is basically the sin of rejecting God.

We must repent of our personal sins in order to have the benefits of Jesus’ sacrifice applied to ourselves. This repentance is done by expressing repentance in Confession and being absolved.

If one has completely rejected God, one also rejects repentance and rejects God’s gift of salvation through Jesus’ death. We cannot be forgiven for a sin if we won’t even come to God and repent.

thecatholicfaq.com

Why do we have to confess our sins if Jesus Christ already paid for our sins by dying on the cross?

... They may be presupposing that Jesus's death resulted in all of our sins, past, present and future being forgiven. This is false. This is not what it says in scripture.
thecatholicfaq.com
 
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He atoned for our sins. You’ll have to look that up. We are not forgiven - never - until and unless we are truly sorry and ask. However, as Jesus commanded the woman caught in adultery (with whom?) 'go and sin no more" - therefore we must have the firm intent to amend our lives, change our ways, turn from sin.

The only way we can know with any assurance that we have been forgiven is to hear the words of absolution. Have a look at Mark 2:5, Luke 5:20 and 7:48. In each and every recorded case, Jesus told the sinners so that they could hear and be sure.
 
Thank you for clarifying that, overall. If we accept God and try to obey his precepts, there’s no chance we can sin against the Holy Spirit. That’s reassuring, if I am understanding your reply correctly.
 
We are forgiven, but there is still a temporal punishment for sin.

The example usually used is that a boy’s father tells him not to throw his ball in the yard because it might break the window.
The boy disobeys his father, throws his ball and breaks the window.
The boy confesses to his father that he disobeyed and in so doing broke the window, and sincerely says he is sorry.
His father, who loves him, forgives him. (<-----Like God forgives us for disobeying his commandments.)

However, even though the boy has been forgiven and the loving relationship with his father has been restored, the window is still broken and the glass needs to be swept up and the window repaired. Temporal punishment, such as making the boy sweep up the glass and contribute his allowance towards the window repair, is needed to fix the damage. (<-----Like we have to go to Purgatory after death to make up for our sins that we’ve repented and God has forgiven)
 
Nick362 said:
Catholic theology says Christ Died For Our Sins. So, every time we sin we are forgiven. What is forgiven?
Our guilt, temporal punishment for those sins? Are we are relieved of God’s justice? So what EXACTLY IS FORGIVEN BY CHRIST DIEING ON THE CROSS? Please don’t use words like expiation. Plain English please.

Nick
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Just as in human relations, forgiveness means nothing until and unless the offending party acknowledges their trespass and cares enough to repent, to want to make things right; no change takes place, no reconciliation-and so the relationship isn’t mended. And Scripture even tells us that unless we forgive others their sins that God does not forgive ours.

Either way, Jesus won forgiveness for us-His sacrifice itself at once demonstrated and constituted that forgiveness- but we don’t have to care and accept the offer.
 
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Think of it as when you fall and dirty yourself with mud whilst wearing a white shirt. You remove the mud off the shirt, but a stain remains. The mud is sin. The shirt is the soul. Stains of sin remain on the soul even after washing (Confession).
 
But those are consequences for your actions… not punishments. You might think paying the price for your action is a punishment but it’s not… it’s sometimes just a consequences for something you did.

Even if you were allowed to throw the ball you’d still have to pay the price of the broken the window.

If you kill someone God forgives you sin but you still have to go to jail… it might be a punishment for some but for other going to prison is what saved their life.

You have sex outside of marriage, then get pregnant. God forgives the adults but.the baby some might think punishment but others… rather nost would be a Blessing from God.

And If you still have a stain on your shirt and it’s still there after you washed it, doesnt that mean you didnt do a very good job washing? I thought Jesus was suppose to help wash away those stains with His blood so that you did not have to suffer God’s wrath.

So I dont understand…

I thought purgatory was where you go when you die out of God’s grace… not really a punishment…but a place to go to recieve God’s grace so you can enter allowed into heaven clean… isnt that what it is?
 
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annad347 said:
I thought purgatory was where you go when you die out of God’s grace…
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That’s the wrong terminology.

When you die “out of God’s grace”, as in “out of the state of grace”, that means you died in a state of unabsolved mortal sin. According to Church teaching, you are likely to go to Hell in that case, unless perhaps you made an act of perfect contrition to God just before you died and he accepted that and was merciful to you.

If you die in a state of grace, with all your mortal sins forgiven and absolved by God, then you will either go directly to Heaven, OR if God thinks you need further purification - which would mean serving out the temporal punishment remaining from your sins that have been forgiven, in essence sweeping up the glass and paying for the broken window - he sends you to Purgatory and then when you’re done there you go to Heaven.

But if you don’t die in a state of God’s grace then you have a likelihood of not even making it into Purgatory, much less making it to Heaven.

And yes, Purgatory is a type of punishment. It’s not like it’s fun to be there, even though you know you will be eventually going to Heaven and you are learning from the experience.
 
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Sounds like even though Jesus died for our sins we are still not forgiven… because we still have to ay the price for our sin. Very confussing.

Guess I should rewatch that video by Father Mike… so what
 
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If you are still finding it confusing, I would suggest that you read up on it some more, watch a Fr Mike video, or talk in person to a priest.

It’s really not that confusing. It makes sense to me that we would have to make some atonement for our sin beyond just saying “Sorry” and getting forgiven. Our sins cause damage to ourself, others and to the world. Forgiveness saves us from eternal death and gives us eternal life. But we still need to make some atonement and be purified of our faults. That’s what Purgatory is for.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
makes sense to me that we would have to make some atonement for our sin beyond just saying “Sorry” and getting forgiven.
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To build on this, Confession should not be seen as a “get out of jail free” card. Some people erroneously believe that they may sin as much as they like and simply get absolved in Confession, but the reality is that sin has consequences even after its been confessed.
 
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