I'm an atheist, but my bf is Catholic. I respect all religions and the people who worship them, but we always have this debate:
My bf admits that with the life he has led and things he's done in the past God may not be giving him a thumbs for them, but he says that all one has to do is repent and they'll be forgiven. He says that God will know who is really sorry or not.
But to me that sounds like an easy way into heaven! If people are not living their lives holy everyday, and doing things they know are wrong but just feeling they can repent for them later isn't that too easy?
If the apocalypse (if that exists) were happening tomorrow, would everyone be repenting until the end, hoping that God would forgive them? Why do they have to wait until there is trouble, why not just live your life right to begin with, or repent the next day?
Please no rude answers, but I'd like to a variety of opinions...thanks!
2007-07-20 02:03:52 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Well, there is such a thing as being overconfident in God's mercy. Which is actually a sin. So if a Catholic person (or any person, really) is super cavalier about sin and just does whatever they want to and thinks "I'll just confess later," they are actually in a state of mortal sin because they are willfully doing things they know are wrong, enjoying the fact that they are doing things wrong, and then trusting God to show mercy with no intention of changing their ways.
The true definition of repentance includes the concept that you are doing a 180. So if a person, say, goes out and gets laid, knowing that sex is supposed to only be within marriage, and thinks "Oh, I'll just go to confession later" but has no intention of giving up sex until marriage, then they are NOT making a good confession and they remain in a state of mortal sin.
Your boyfriend is right in saying that God will know who is really sorry or not. But he may have an ill-formed conscious -- in other words, he may have an attitude about sin that is an insult to the work that Christ did for us on the Cross, and THAT is what he needs to be confessing and turning around in his life primarily. He can work on the other sins later, but that's the biggy.
2007-07-20 02:30:13 · answer #1 · answered by sparki777 7 · 5⤊ 0⤋
The natural thing for a sinful mind to do would be repent and beg forgiveness, however no religion is an 'easy way out'.
The hardships faced through life aren't a simple act of execution, it merely reinforces that what you give is what you get. Religion is about the events in life and how to cope with them.
It is true that the Catholic god is a forgiving god, however the key to forgiveness is learning from mistakes and taking the time to better oneself.
2007-07-20 09:09:53 · answer #2 · answered by -Нџήтея’ѕ Ғє£ǿηу- 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Well, at least it sounds like someone's willing to learn. Let's cover the bases here about sin and penitence in the Catholic Church.
Repentance is not just a bunch of words you say in front of a priest. The Act of Contrition is pretty specific about being "heartily sorry" for our sins and "depising" them. So let me break down the penitence process for you:
The priest does not forgive your sins. The Priest is basically a therapist. It's part of your healing process. All major monotheistic faiths believe that wrongful acts are damaging to the psyche. That people do not have an inherent desire to cause harm or injure others, and regret the things they do that cause harm. Penance is a lot like a 12-step program. First you have to admit you have a problem. Alcoholics stand in front of crowds of people and say that they are an alcoholic. Catholics sit down next to a priest and say they are a sinner.
Talking to a priest when you screw up life is not only a great way to force you to admit the problem, it also lends you an objective ear to listen to how these things affect you, and help you to find a solution.
God is compassionate and forgiving. But he's not stupid. He does know the difference between those who are "heartily Sorry" and truly want to strive for a better life and those whose mouths say one thing while their hands do another.
We're supposed to try every day to emulate that kind of love and compassion in our lives. But we are not God, we're going to fall short. Recognizing where we fall short, how we fall short, and how we can do better is part of our becoming better people.
Which, in theory, is the idea.
Where your Boyfriend has the double edged sword is that he knows he's screwed up...but he figures he's either not sorry enough for screwing up, or he'd rather finish screwing up before working on trying not to screw up.
There's four things that have to happen in order for penance to be effective:
1. Admit the Sin.
2. Forgive Yourself
3. Ask for Forgiveness from those you have wronged (God falls into this category as sin is as harmful to him as it is to anyone)
4. Do not repeat the Sin.
He may feel like he can't do those four things, or he may feel that they are not necessary.
2007-07-20 09:59:06 · answer #3 · answered by lystrayel 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Catholicism isn't an "easy way out religion" - it is an "only way out religion."
On our own merits, none of us lives lives that are holy every day. Who among us has not, during the course of the day, hurt someone with an insensitive comment, taken a certain dark delight in the misfortunes of others, cut someone off on the road because we were in a hurry, or ignored somebody who needed our help?
Our faith tells us that we must accept, in all humility, that none of us reaches that - that kind of holiness, in fact, is an idol, because to achieve it, we'd have to concentrate so hard on "being good" all the time to an extent that we would have to worship the sanctity itself, and not God the author of sanctity.
Repentance, in fact, is an important part of holiness - because repentance is humility. It is an acknowledgement of our small status, of our incomplete orientation towards goodness - it isn't about "feeling bad" so you know you can later get away with stuff. It is the simple acknowledgement that the struggle to be good - as opposed to just effortlessly being good - is a struggle that will always be with us.
"Only God is good," Jesus says at one point in the New Testament, and I believe it. Repentance is an acknowledgement that we are only a pale shadow of this goodness, and only when we are at our very best. Most of the times, we are the fellow from the parable of the Good Samaritan bleeding by the roadside, and it is God, like the Samaritan in his goodness, that takes pity on us when we acknowledge our failings and weaknesses.
2007-07-20 09:14:52 · answer #4 · answered by evolver 6 · 8⤊ 0⤋
Each religious denominations has their own ideas and beliefs about sin. Some feel that only god and take away sin or rather forgive those who sinned, while others, like catholicism, feel that going to a priest who speaks for god forgives your sins.
Given that your BF is catholic then I have to say that the priest will forgive his sins.
Even though I am not a believer based on people that I know who are religious they feel and believe
that if a person asks god to forgive them of their sins on judgment day they will be forgiven.
2007-07-20 09:10:38 · answer #5 · answered by independant_009 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I would think that Fundamentalism is even easier. According to the people in that religious movement, all you have to do is accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. That's it.
Your BF is right that God knows who is really sorry or not. If you make a confession to God, it has to be with a sincere and contrite heart. When you confess, you also have to really want to not commit that sin again. You really have to try.
But if you are saying you're sorry for something that you know very well you're going to do again tomorrow, God is well aware of it that.
2007-07-20 10:10:06 · answer #6 · answered by Faustina 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Jesus accepts us as we are and forgives all our wrong doings, but once we come to know Him, and walk with Him every day we cannot remain the same. His holy presence has the power to transform our lives and change everything in us. "Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; all thing has passed away;behold, all things have become new" 2 Corinthians 5;17.
The word CHRISTIAN; means being a true disciple of Christ, but when we don't follow His foot steps, we are only taking His name in vain.
2007-07-20 09:55:22 · answer #7 · answered by songchai 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
When one confesses one's sins, if one does not really repent (turn away from) one's sins, it's as if confession never happened.
2007-07-20 09:34:01 · answer #8 · answered by smt 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋