occasion of sin

[bx_racer]

is it alright if u are on a website where you go for a clean purpse and you think you see something bad to make sure its not like porn? or should you just go away and always remain with the doubt but not expose yourself to occasion of sin? what if you are aware that it might be a sin but not sure its a sin (to put yourself in a possible occasion of sin in this case ) but do it anyways just to satisfy that nagging doubt?

[blovedwolfofgod]

Well, this can be a complicated issue. It largely depends on a number of things. Nature of the curiosity, and your personal strength.

My first question is, why are you curious? Okay, you may want to figure out if this is porn, but why? You must not let yourself be tricked by your flesh. In this fallen world, we have three enemies: the world, the devil, and the flesh. The devil has been around since time began. If you feel even the slightest qualm, perhaps you should flee. I dont know if this is a picture on the site, or if its a banner or what you are talking about. Another question: if you are going for a clean purpose, why would you worry about porn on this site? Not questioning your integrity here... but you should question it. Not all curiosity is of God. Nor is it healthy. This leads to my next point.

Your personal strength here is a big question. Speaking from a personal expereince, I know that I am not strong enough to resist the temptation of pornography is I see something suggestive online. I must always pray before I go online so that I may only go to sites like xanga and phatmass. Can you see something suggestive and not fall to it? You should not always flee from every temptation. I did that for a long time, and my confessor told me to stop fleeing because eventually it traps me and I fall. Learn to resist, he told me, otherwise it will catch you off guard and you fall again.

If you are strong enough, question your motives extensively, then check it out IF THERE IS A NEED. If you can exist without ever knowing this site has porn and yet still visit this site then that would probably be better. Better to be ignorant of it than to fall to it, unless you financially support it and it supports porn. Then you should find out. Basically, try and live beyond reproach. Imagine if your younger siblings were sitting with you and taking you as an example. Christ says that if your hand causes you to sin, chopit off. If you can be tempted to fall to porn, you need to aviod it.

Another good point, I read in one of the letters of Paul, i think, that if you have doubts as to whether something is a sin, you should treat it as if it were a sin until you find out otherwise. Consult a clergymember or someone of that sort as to the sinfulness of it. Dont do anything just to satisfy a nagging doubt. Not all things that nag are of God. Dont be controlled by your passions (ie. that nagging feeling). It would be similar to a friend trying to tell you not to enter a room and you do it anyway and discover that someone has just slaughtered a small animal. You didnt need to see it. It didnt help you at all. It just was. And possibly it should not have been.

[scardella]

Well, I ran into a similar sort of situation when I was looking for emulator stuff. (Emulators are more convenient than having an extra game system around, and it's games I already own). The problem is that there's lots of porn ads associated with the sites that I found. After finding several dead ends and little fruit from it, I wound up getting frustrated w/ all the poozers and figured it wasn't worth it. (Guess where poozers is from! Betcha have to search for it!)