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dove51
Guest
…inside the mind, in the words that we speak, or in our actions?
I think most of my sins come from my thoughts. What about you?
I think most of my sins come from my thoughts. What about you?
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eyeod26
Guest
Definitely in my thoughts…maybe because no one can hear my thoughts
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jmcrae
Guest
I am the same.
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Starwynd
Guest
Thoughts, but I do believe that there is a difference between thought and action. I wouldn’t know how to explain it though. It’s really hard to overcome a lifetime of sinful thoughts that just keep poking their way inside.
I also don’t understand why just thinking about it is a sin as well. It seems to me that acting on those thoughts have more visible consequences than just thinking about it.
I also don’t understand why just thinking about it is a sin as well. It seems to me that acting on those thoughts have more visible consequences than just thinking about it.
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jmcrae
Guest
How we think has a subtle effect on our behaviour, though, too, even when we’re not directly acting out our thoughts.
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Dranu
Guest
When you realize how little control you actually have over ‘physical’ actions you will understand this better. God can prevent you from having the ‘potential’ to actualize your will from affecting others physically. The truest source of evil comes from a man’s heart.
The distinction is more crucial than you may think. What matters most is one’s love in God, works only necessarily flow from it and are allowed because God gave you the power to actualize a will. So if one’s will is contrary to God but seems to do good, it is a thousand times worse than one who seems to accidentally do harm, even while willing to serve God (as can sadly happen). We should measure by eternal truth not a false appearance of ‘utility’ of actions, and trust that God governs all of nature.
Remember all nature inevitably serves God, and thus the greatest possible good, for only God ultimately gives power to nature. The only thing that can be contrary to God is a will and the corruption that results. Even the devil (so long as he exists) has a part to play in service to God (probably to his own horror
). So willing (even just a thought) contrary to God is the only way to sin. Thus, willing evil thoughts should be rightly feared and hated. The only thing left should be to thank God that not all wills and thoughts affect others and just end up harming the particular willing agent!
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Newbie2
Guest
I was going to answer the Title, “Where is most sin committed” with “In the bedroom”. 
Definitely in the mind. One can “think” sin exponentially faster than one can “act” sin, and besides, there are no civil consequences for sin of thought, only spiritual.
One can think “What an _________!” about someone, sin by doing so, but not offend the person whom they think that about, right?
Definitely in the mind. One can “think” sin exponentially faster than one can “act” sin, and besides, there are no civil consequences for sin of thought, only spiritual.
One can think “What an _________!” about someone, sin by doing so, but not offend the person whom they think that about, right?
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puzzleannie
Guest
sitting on my duff
most of my sins are those of omission, failure to get off said duff and do what I should be doing.
most of my sins are those of omission, failure to get off said duff and do what I should be doing.
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newbetx
Guest
I went to confession once to confess some awful thoughts I had had at one time. I was told by the priest that thoughts are not sins. It’s actions that are sins. Since I did not act on my thoughts but did what I was expected to do instead, then there was no sin.
Now I realize that conflicts with the “Lust for a woman is committing adultery in your heart” statement, so was I given bad advice from my confessor? Or is “thinking sin”, over played?
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Dranu
Guest
It really depends on exactly what was meant. If it was just a thought beyond you willing it, then you did not act on it and the advice was sound. But the second you will (in favor) of a tempting thought, you are sinning. In other words, when you will any evil thoughts or desires, either to indulge in or continue them, you are acting on them. The difference is just mental action versus physical. If he was advocating the latter as sinless, then the advice was very bad. I would give him the benefit of the doubt, but just know that willing a sinful thought or desire is a sin.
One can sin in thought, word, and deed, what is done and what is left undone. From the CCC (my emphasis added):
“*1853 Sins can be distinguished according to their objects, as can every human act; or according to the virtues they oppose, by excess or defect; or according to the commandments they violate. They can also be classed according to whether they concern God, neighbor, or oneself; they can be divided into spiritual and carnal sins, or again as sins in thought, word, deed, or omission. The root of sin is in the heart of man, in his free will, according to the teaching of the Lord: “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man.”[128] But in the heart also resides charity, the source of the good and pure works, which sin wounds. *”
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Maxply
Guest
Las Vegas.
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mercygate
Guest
Some people would say “In the back seat of a Chevrolet.”
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mercygate
Guest
I dunno. When we go to Mass we confess, “I have sinned through my own fault in my thoughts, in my words, in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do.”
The distinction would be in whether you allowed those thoughts to take hold, if you raised them to the level of a scenario, if you took pleasure in the contemplation of a sinful act, if you WANTED to commit the sin.
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newbetx
Guest
I was very specific with my description. It does sound as if he gave it a wrong diagnosis. Yes, I have learned that what priest says and what the CCC says sometimes can be very different.
It actually wasn’t thought about an action on my part. It certainly could be considered inaction. It was thoughts of hatred. Hard to explain without the details but this is nothing I’d want to share the specifics with others.
In Mass, we can confess venial sins… and, I would suspect we all have those, to some degree, through everyday living. My sin was way past “normal, everyday, human condition”.
So then, given the proper responses about heart and mind… is it true-er to say you sinned in your heart or in your mind? If it is true that all sins are sins of the heart, then I guess we’ve discovered our answer.
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mercygate
Guest
Don’tcha love it when you think something through and come up with a reasonable conclusion? In this case, I would think, the “heart” and the “mind” are one thing.I was very specific with my description. It does sound as if he gave it a wrong diagnosis. Yes, I have learned that what priest says and what the CCC says sometimes can be very different.
It actually wasn’t thought about an action on my part. It certainly could be considered inaction. It was thoughts of hatred. Hard to explain without the details but this is nothing I’d want to share the specifics with others.
In Mass, we can confess venial sins… and, I would suspect we all have those, to some degree, through everyday living. My sin was way past “normal, everyday, human condition”.
So then, given the proper responses about heart and mind… is it true-er to say you sinned in your heart or in your mind? If it is true that all sins are sins of the heart, then I guess we’ve discovered our answer.
And, along with you, when I have been severely tempted to commit a sin and thought about it, planned it, but then “repented before the act” – I HAVE confessed it. And, also along with you, having learned that a confessor might not be on the same page I was, have placed the confession in context by saying: “While I contemplated committing this sin (details), even though I did not act upon it, the motivation to do it was very strong at the very least participates in the nature of sin.”
It takes you out of the “scrupulous” department while nevertheless submitting your soul to the merciful power of the keys.
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Dranu
Guest
Not that I am implying you think otherwise at all, but we should always remember that an act can be something that occurs exclusively in the mind without a physical movement (well maybe the brain ‘moves’ but that is getting picky).
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mercygate
Guest
That is pretty much what I mean. But some confessors think that if you didn’t DO something it ISN’T a sin. But that is quite contrary to the teaching of Our Lord. So it sometimes pays to set up your confession in a way that indicates your understanding that some people do not recognize “sins of thought”. Keeps you from getting a lecture about your “scrupulosity.”
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water
Guest
On the tip of our tongue.
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newbetx
Guest
I disagree. There is thought, and there is commitment to thought. You can think the Eucharist is the body and blood in your mind or you can believe in your heart… A different level of “thought”.
And I’ll requote the CCC with different emphasis:
The emphasis is that sins can be thoughts, but it is what is in your heart (belief, way of acting, etc.) that is key. I think it is one thing to think something, it is the next step to plan it or to gain pleasure in imagining taking it to an end.
Say I see a bag of money fall from a treasury truck… I may imagine how neat it would be to have that money for my own. But did I ever believe I really SHOULD take it for my own? If “no” then no sin. If I tried to figure out a way to make it mine, to believe I was, somehow justified in taking it, then yes, it is a sin. Even if I pick it up and give it to the delivery people.
It’s a fine line, I admit. But temptation is all around us. The human condition will cause impure thoughts at some level. We really are judged on what we do and believe. So I would have to think (there I go again) that not all less than noble thoughts are sins. But then, I’m no apologist either.
So I contend that if the thought does not move to the heart, then it is no sin. I don’t believe the heart and mind are so tied.
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Dranu
Guest
Just remember that its can still take place in the mind without a will to act on it externally. Internally is enough. Willing to induldge in hate, lust, envy, despair, pride, and those sort of things can be removed from an external plan to bring them into another action outside the mind and still be a sin. The initial thoughts being unwilled, no, but the consenting will and knowledge to the thoughts, yes.
This can be a dangerous place for scrupulosity, so remember to seperate the act of will and knowledge in it from the thought itself. Just remember an act of will can take place internally, and internal acts of the mind can be both evil and good.
Better to take advice from the CCC than forums I think
. Forums are a good place to start though.- Status