Have I Sinned?

[Pauly Walnuts]

Another Moderator ( I think ) told me that I havent. But here is my situation.

She told me that I have not sinned.

I have an addiction to masturbation and pornography. I heard sometimes people would say to God " I promise that I will only do this for another month and then quit this sin of mine"

I did this except I promised for a day, then I would quit.

Is it okay to do this in the first place?

Should I confess this as a sin if this was okay to do?


Please just be specific. I dont need reasons for your answer. I am a devout Catholic.

Just a simple:
" 1.Yes 2.no"

Or

" 1.No 2. yes you must confess this sin. "

But I understand if it is more complicated then that so you can still write a lot. Please keep it short though.

Thx

[CatherineM]

It is not a sin to promise God that you won't commit a certain sin again.

If you promise that you will only sin for one more day, you aren't committing a sin with the promise, but you are committing a sin by doing whatever it is that you've promised not to do in the first place, and would need to confess that.

By promising you won't sin after a certain length of time doesn't give you a free pass to sin today. If you do make such a promise, and find you can't keep it, breaking the promise isn't the major problem, the sin is the problem.

[Theologian in Training]

"Pauly,"

No one can "quit" sin in the sense that we quit smoking, because there is more that is going on here than just that. Grace builds on nature which means we need the grace to conquer the sin, when we start to believe we can do it on our own (no matter the sin) we are not allowing grace to grow but putting the burden upon ourselves.

By making a promise to God all you are doing is giving yourself time to sin within the allotted bracket of time, a better way to look at it is to not make a promise at all but ask God for assistance throughout the day, this way there is no pressure to fulfill the promise but, rather, an ongoing struggle, with the help of God to conquer the sin, if God so Wills it.

Remember St. Paul asked for the thorn to be removed from his flesh, no one really knows what that "thorn" was but whatever it was, it haunted him and helped him struggle. The struggle against sin is the same, because the same reply that God gave St. Paul is the same we should follow "My grace is sufficient." Take it moment by moment, hour by hour, rather than day by day and you will have a different perspective, and the struggle will be current and constant rather than put off for a day a month or a year.

One more thing, even though it is a struggle, in and of itself it is a sin, there are no two ways around it, and it should be confessed. Frequent confession helps to root out sin.

God bless

Fr. Brian

Edited March 21, 2009 by Theologian in Training