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cessnawag
Guest
With the relative ease of just going to confession again and again why not sin again and again? I know this is a bad way to live but I’ve never had a real good answer for this when people ask me.
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Brendan
Guest
The absolution given in Confession is only valid if the person is sorry for their sins.
What you describe would most likely involve invalid confessions, and thus the sin is actually compounded.
What you describe would most likely involve invalid confessions, and thus the sin is actually compounded.
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nightranger
Guest
Becaue sinning again and again and using confession to excuse that is in itself a mortal sin. You are in fact fooling yourself if you think that God will forgive sins that you have no intention of trying to avoid.
If you go to confession with that mindset, you are only heaping more sin on top of more sin. Confession requires true contrition to be valid.
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vsedriver
Guest
not only must you be sorry for your sins you must resolve to sin no more. In other words you must make an effort not to sin anymore.
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Turtle_Turtle
Guest
And also, this is addressed to the person who started this topic, but I chose to use your quote, you are not only to feel sorry for the sin, to resolve to not sin, but also to turn away from it.
Without these three things being met, the Confession is invalid and you run the risk of being in a state of Mortal Sin.
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LilyM
Guest
The word ‘repent’ literally means ‘turn again’ - as in turn again to God, which means turning away from sin. It is what we are called to do in confession.
A valid confession requires sorrow for the sin (which surely is not genuine if one intends to keep right on sinning) and a resolve to amend one’s life (which also cannot be genuine in such a case).
When one abuses the sacrament of in this way it is a grave sin called ‘presumption’ - one presumes (takes overly for granted) God’s mercy without doing what He requires in terms of ‘go and sin no more’.
Of course we all DO sin again, but at least at the time of confession one must at least WANT to sin no more, rather than intending to sin again but rely on confession.
Besides which, I don’t find confession easy at all - it makes me nervous, and I know God will not be fooled if I am not genuinely sorry for my sins no matter if the priest is fooled or not.
A valid confession requires sorrow for the sin (which surely is not genuine if one intends to keep right on sinning) and a resolve to amend one’s life (which also cannot be genuine in such a case).
When one abuses the sacrament of in this way it is a grave sin called ‘presumption’ - one presumes (takes overly for granted) God’s mercy without doing what He requires in terms of ‘go and sin no more’.
Of course we all DO sin again, but at least at the time of confession one must at least WANT to sin no more, rather than intending to sin again but rely on confession.
Besides which, I don’t find confession easy at all - it makes me nervous, and I know God will not be fooled if I am not genuinely sorry for my sins no matter if the priest is fooled or not.
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loko
Guest
Only a fool will deliberately sin and confess in an unrepentant state. If you are not truly repentant for your sins why confess. You may fool the Priest but you are making a fool of yourself.
God can read our hearts, we are not fooling him, we are only fooling ourselves if this is how we approach Confession.
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HailStarofSea
Guest
Because it would be a waste of time. If you are not genuinely repentant, going to confession won’t do anything even if the priest says a blessing. St. Padre Pio has seen people in Hell who made insincere confessions.
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IesumPerMariam
Guest
It would be worse than a waste of time. It would indeed be the sin of presumption (a sin against the First Commandment).
Here is a very small selection of good answers.
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica III, 84, Article 8:
Here is a very small selection of good answers.
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica III, 84, Article 8:
CCC 1451, citing Trent’s definition of Contrition:
The Council of Trent continues (Session XIV, 25 Nov 1551):
CCC 2092:
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englishredrose
Guest
ah but, one can be continually sorry for their continuing sin or even be sorry they are not sorry - if its a genuine they are sorry they are not sorry
priests are far kinder than anyone posting on these boards…
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Padraig1972
Guest
I have been asked this too by friends as from experience, this is my take to it:
Willing in spirit, but weak in flesh. That i believe is the answer to why it is important to confess regulary, pray and work as hard as human possible to live the life God want you as a christian to live.
- as christians, we are asked to love a holy life and strive for it from day to day
- the confession is a gift and such a great and as a christian you must believe and treat it that way
- If you don`t take the confession and your sins seriously, you create a distance between yourself and the Lord.
Willing in spirit, but weak in flesh. That i believe is the answer to why it is important to confess regulary, pray and work as hard as human possible to live the life God want you as a christian to live.
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GaryTaylor
Guest
My thinking also. I also do not believe there is a relative ease of just going to confession again and again for mortal sin? Confession developes your conscious also and in effect becomes a deterrent, this thinking is opposed. You should be thinking twice before involving yourself in the same act. My opinion anyway.
google.com/url?q=http://www.cfalive.com/articles/why-confession/&sa=U&ei=Yc3AT4v3EsvH6AG8tPCSCQ&ved=0CBEQFjAA&sig2=ZW0TXAj5QmvqxkQwOh-wXw&usg=AFQjCNFRbFNNyeei9oaJEqhdIgFuIYHGVw
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thistle
Guest
Living that way is the sin of presumption.
PRESUMPTION. The desire to undertake, or the actual undertaking of, what is above one’s capacity. It is a result of pride, which makes a person overestimate his abilities and blinds him to his deficiencies.** It also leads one to expect graces from God without doing anything to obtain them, and even when acting the opposite, as when sinning, the person presumes that forgiveness is assured. (Etym. Latin praesumere, to suppose, take for granted.)**
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GaryTaylor
Guest
Exactly
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constantconvert
Guest
Sorry to go all caps on you, but this question made me teary. We don’t continue in sin BECAUSE WE LOVE GOD. Jesus gave His life to rescue us from sin! Do we trample his sacrifice withe the attitude that, No biggie, I’ll just enjoy my sin until I go to confession. As Paul said, “Do we sin more that grace may abound? God forbid!” So much talk about the sacrament, so little talk about why the sacrament is in place: to restore a right relationship with the God we love with all our hearts and never want to offend!
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drforjc
Guest
I agree completely that the sacrament is there to restore our right relation to God because we love Him. I do, though, agree also with the Church’s constant teaching that even imperfect contrition suffices in the sacrament. God is so generous and forgiving that even the fear of punishment is enough to reconcile us when we avail ourselves of the Sacrament of Penance,
I totally agree, again, though, that love of God is the absolute perfection of our motivation in uniting our will with His, and seeking to perfect this relationship by His grace is the most perfect participation in this most wonderful Sacrament.
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Bookcat
Guest
In terms of mortal sin – one cannot confess a mortal sin and be absolved for it if one is for example intending on doing it again…
If there is no repentance there is no forgiveness…
In terms of venial sins – yes we can find ourselves confessing some of the same sins or similar in each confession – such is the struggle in life. Especially with those that are more of a habit.
One needs to in the case of venial sins – at least seek to be better --to struggle against them… to make them fewer etc.
But we ought not take the attitude that “one can just confess them” or have them forgiven in other ways …we ought to struggle against them…(and on the other hand we ought not be excessively downhearted about them --but repent right away and follow Christ)
Let us seek to ever -convert to follow Christ more and more faithfully…living the Gospel.
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Incomplete
Guest
A friend of mine, a truly good man, said something to me that he did not mean as an insult. He said that he and his wife wished they had what Catholics had, a “do-over”. I asked what he meant, and he meant confession. He understood it just as you (the OP) said…that we can just sin, go to confession, sin again.
Which makes me curious about whoever it was who has asked you about it, when you say you can’t explain it.
Assuming that person is a Christian who is thinking the same way as my friend, I’ll tell you what I explained to my friend.
Non-Catholic Christians say they confess “directly to God.” Yet they never say that this means they can just continue to sin. As everyone else has said, you need to repent. It’s not about the words; it’s about repentance.
Having said all of that, of course, we do sin again. We’re human. But if you truly repent, you don’t intentionally sin again.
But in that regard, we are like other Christians. No matter if you go to God through His priests or through your own private prayer, it’s the same thing; you need to repent.
Which makes me curious about whoever it was who has asked you about it, when you say you can’t explain it.
Assuming that person is a Christian who is thinking the same way as my friend, I’ll tell you what I explained to my friend.
Non-Catholic Christians say they confess “directly to God.” Yet they never say that this means they can just continue to sin. As everyone else has said, you need to repent. It’s not about the words; it’s about repentance.
Having said all of that, of course, we do sin again. We’re human. But if you truly repent, you don’t intentionally sin again.
But in that regard, we are like other Christians. No matter if you go to God through His priests or through your own private prayer, it’s the same thing; you need to repent.
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cessnawag
Guest
Thank you all for your answers. When I was converting to Catholicism I would get questiins like this from an agnostic freind. Not knowing exaclty what it took to be absolved of sins, it makes the Catholic position seem flawed(as would be the protestant position too). With these replies I will be better armed if this question comes up again. Thanks again and don’t worry about going all caps on me
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Incomplete
Guest
It’s good to be prepared! I’m so glad you asked.Thank you all for your answers. When I was converting to Catholicism I would get questiins like this from an agnostic freind. Not knowing exaclty what it took to be absolved of sins, it makes the Catholic position seem flawed(as would be the protestant position too). With these replies I will be better armed if this question comes up again. Thanks again and don’t worry about going all caps on me
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