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Is it a sin to think a bad thought?..if not when does it become a sin?..other..

mikeforjesusmikeforjesus
edited May 2006 in Faith Issues
Are all bad thoughts that pass through a persons mind sins?

Also what if you remember something that happend one day or someone .. e.g remembering a beautiful woman.. would a pure hearted male remember this woman or would he not even remember her because he is occupied with God and his business and God's will?.. If it is not a sin to remember this woman (maybe it is not since maybe satan reminds him) would it be a sin to take delight in remembering her even if he is not undressing her in his mind? (maybe not as it may not be a sin to take delight in remembering a nice flower.. or do you think even that might be a sin? waste of time? or maybe because God is not involved?)

I think sometimes it might be satan reminding a person of this woman but do you think maybe the person himself may remind himself? how do you know if it is yourself or satan?

What if a person remembers a sexually attractive woman who was mean to him but he does not undress her in his mind? would the remembrance in this case be a sin? or maybe satan reminds this person of her?..what if a person likes the attention he gets from her even if it is her being mean to him?

I hope I make some sense atleast..

Comments

  • WMAWMA
    In my opinion you should ask your Father of confession these things

    Are all bad thoughts that pass through a persons mind sins?

    I asked a priest from San Francisco a similar question a while ago. I asked him are all bad thoughts sin, even if you try to get them out of your head and don't contemplate on them. The answer he gave me was that if you did not like the thoughts or where they came from and didn't contemplate on them then they are not sin. He said it is when I start to desire the thoughts or think on them it becomes sin, otherwise it's Satan trying to make me sin, he said.

    e.g remembering a beautiful woman.. would a pure hearted male remember this woman or would he not even remember her because he is occupied with God and his business and God's will?.. If it is not a sin to remember this woman (maybe it is not since maybe satan reminds him) would it be a sin to take delight in remembering her even if he is not undressing her in his mind?

    Well if you are thinking about her in a lustful desireful way it could be sin I think. But as I said, you should probably ask your FoC
  • Unknown
    According to Orthodoxy, the term sin simply refers to "missing the mark" or "falling short". That is why as Orthodox we pray for sins that we commit willingly and unwillingly, and the sins we commit knowingly or unknowingly.

  • mikeforjesusmikeforjesus
    what are some examples of unwilling sins?
    are not all sins willful?
  • jjrpickensjjrpickens
    I have had this problem myself and it seems the more i asked jesus to take these thoughts from me the more i thought about it its the devil tryin to get to you so you pray harder put it in gods hands he will take it and cleanse you if you truely want to be.Your brain is constantly processing information and some things the eyes see stick in the mind but im not an expert so i would also recom end seeking advice from your father but i will pray for you for i know what you are dealing with.
  • Unknown

    what are some examples of unwilling sins?
    are not all sins willful?

    Sins committed unwillingly are more or less sins that people fall into out of negligence or carelessness rather than direct intention. For example, one may never really intend to engage in bad thoughts, but may nonetheless find himself engaged in such thoughts for any number of reasons, as opposed to another person who intentionally engages in bad thoughts by, for example, deliberetely exposing himself to material that would certainly induce such thoughts.
  • Unknown
    Would a sinful dream be considered a sin that we unwillingly commit? I think it is, but others might argue that it is a sin that we willingly commit becuase when we dream, we usually dream of things that we constantly feel, think about, or frequently see.
    Is a sinful dream even a sin in itself, since you really have no control over it?
    I don't know if I'm going off topic but this sorta has to do with the title of the topic.
  • Unknown
    Generally speaking, our activities do indeed have an affect on what kind of dreams we have (though the reason behind the nature of our dreams is surely more complex than that), but nonetheless, though such activities are intended the dream itself is never intended since it is induced in the absence of consciousness. Thus, a sinful dream may at most be categorised as a sin arising out of negligence. For example, if one views sinful material before they sleep, and they consequently have a sinful dream that would not have occured if they never viewed such material, the fact that they did not view the material in question for the intentional purpose of later dreaming about such material renders the dream itself unintentional. So in this instance, one willingly committed a sin when they viewed sinful material, though the consequences of this, though also sinful, were committed unwillingly.

    Another extreme example would be if one intentionally sought to hurt another person, yet ended up killing them. There are numerous examples of this in Criminal law court cases where the Court itself in fact reduces the sentence of the accused upon the basis that the accused murdered the victim in the absence of intention.

    We should not however view our sins in such legal terms. Sin is not about wrong as opposed to right - it's not black and white - as I said earlier, sin is about missing the mark or falling short of what is good and perfect. In this sense, lust commited willingly or unwillingly, is nonetheless a sin, and we pray for the forgiveness of both types of sins, and we further confess both types of sins.
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