Help Discerning Mortal And Venial Sin

This month I am celebrating my 2nd year back at the sacraments after a 20 years absence, pretty much my whole adult life. I am having an issue lately and I cannot find an answer to online so I thought I would reach out to the MOG community and see if anyone has an answer.

Now I would love it if someone could find an actual Church teaching on this but short of that any advice would be helpful.

To start with I should state that I have scruples so I have a hard time differentiating venial from mortal sin, which is aggravating to no end. Just reading the Church's teaching on the difference is not clear to me. To me it pretty much feels like whenever I sin it is mortal.

As I have grown in my spirituality the past 2 years I have been moving in different ways to align my life closer to what God expects, sometimes with more or sometimes with less success. The latest issue that I have come to grapple with is this:

Is it a sin to own something not pleasing to God?

And if so where is the line between venial and mortal sin?

Here are some examples of what I am talking about. I have successfully removed anything from my house that would be a near occasion of sin, so I am not talking about that. But is it a sin to have a book/movie/CD, etc. that has something sinful in it. I have become more attuned lately to the fact that a lot of the novels I own/read or movies I own/watch have scenes in them that take God’s name in vain or have sexual scenes and things like that.

I guess my problem is this: Is it a mortal sin to even have these in the house? I literally have thousands of books, movies, CD's etc. Now I am not saying I have slasher movies or pornography or anything like that. These are just your normal mainstream books/movies/music, but I am just becoming more attuned to this and it seems that almost everything produced by the modern world has something it it that is not desirable.

Another issue is that I am an artist as a side vocation and so I have art books with nudes in them, etc. Are these sinful to own? They are not occasions of sin and I am not talking about anything pornographic. At first I though maybe it was wrong to own them, but then I thought there are many pieces of art owned by the Church with nudes in them so maybe not.

I am just really confused by all of this. So much so that it is making me have a hard time even receiving the Holy Eucharist until I sort all of this out. I want to do what the Church expects, but I cannot find a clear answer online so any help from anyone would be appreciated.

 

Hi Praetorian, this is my opinion to your question :

The very fact of having the Greatness to talk about it online has eleminated any Mortal sin, in no way these materials in your home makes of you a sinner in a state of Mortal Sin, now anything related to Pornography must be put in trash as you probably know but anything representative Art can be kept home without any problem as long as the Artist of this art is not Freemason or from any other so called Religions who denies the Trinity, simple as that my Good Friend.

 

The greater issue. It depends on where the person is spiritually. Perfect example of casuistry...I can probably give you reason to throw all that stuff away by using the law. But every soul is in a different state spiritually. For you, it might be alright but for Mother Theresa it is not.

Not sure that gives you answer but your question is not as cut and dry.



Hope I have right understanding of casuistry...I guess I should leave it to theologians

 

From my own experience, and as St Teresa of Avila recommends, I believe a good spiritual director, one with a lot of experience (usually priests of older age) and sound doctrine, is the best way to deal with scruples and grow in discernment. Some priests are more rigid than others, it is simply a personality trait. Exercising your spiritual freedom, I would stay away from more rigid priests when looking for a spiritual director. I am not saying here rigid priests are bad per se, indeed, for some people it may be better to find a more rigid priest. But for people with a tendency to scruples it is better to find the opposite. But just make sure they have sound doctrine, specially in the current times.

 

Thanks Aviso, that is kind of how I was feeling about the art aspect of it, but it helps to hear it from you as well.

 

Thanks FS,
The funny thing is I am very, very gentle with others and am actually pretty good at "counseling". I don't lay into people about their sin or point fingers and I know that God is gentle. I am not rigid at all with others, but when it comes to me dealing with myself I am very harsh. I don't want to be, but my mind just works that way. It is kind of strange. I don't know why that is.

 

Thanks Jarg. I live in a very liberal area and so it is hard to get good spiritual help. Something you said really resonated though. I have felt pulled to go to this one priest lately for confession. He is very gentle and "easy". I am not going to him because I am looking for the "easy out", I am going to him because I already am so hard on myself that the last thing I need is someone else coming down hard on me. It is good to see this corroborated from someone else though. You have great posts. I love reading them, thanks for the advice.

 

I have found that the more I grow spiritually and the deeper my desire to walk in union with God, I don't need these things anymore. Don't be so hard on yourself, you will become frustrated and possibly crash and burn. No pun intended. LOL

 

Praetorian did you ever think the day would come when I would be telling YOU something that might help
God Almighty himself knows who you are and knows how gentle and humble a person you are. What's is in your heart is plain for all to see let alone God whom knows you best. As you say just about everything in the modern world can possibly be offensive, God knows where your at in your soul and I'd say he's pretty pleased. Keep up the good work your on the right road and I don't think the books etc you have are going to throw you off of it.

 

Thanks SoC, I do feel kind of overwhelmed and a bit like I am burning out

 

Thanks Martina,
Yes we all can help each other. No one has it all together, so I welcome your input. I have a lot of book knowledge and I think that masks the fact that spiritually I not too far along the spiritual path. Our Lord and Our Lady have been very gentle with me, though I have been a horrible sinner. I guess I keep looking for a "rule" about this and I can't find it which is frustrating. It is a vague area and I can't rely on my "conscience" because that is screwed up with the scruples.

 

Another way to look at it......it could be sidetracking tactics by the other fella to have you worried and confused on this, if this was to be the case you may never bring a newspaper home again as I said God KNOWS you and I think if he was directing you to remove everything it would be with complete clarity in this direction. As you have told me God will guide you.

 

Our Lord and Our Lady are guiding me, of that I have no doubt. My greatest fear though is receiving the Holy Eucharist in a state of mortal sin. I do not want to offend God in that way. I have been trying to complete my First Saturdays and am nearing the end so I am wondering if this is just anxiety and doubt being sent my way, but at the same time it is a real worry.

From my understanding sorrow for sin comes from God, but anxiety and doubt do not.

 

Someone once said to me the more you are closer to what God wants, the more that satan tries to temp you, like Martina is saying. It is that he is afraid of you bringing more people back to the light of God. Your example of returning to the faith with such robust can have a huge impact on others, that you are not even aware of... but he is. Keep your head up and keep marching on..

 

Hi Praetorian, if this can help you, please let me add few words, I was myself a very Great sinner before by own Conversion years ago, please be sure of that, I had many girls friends before my marriage, fights in bars, army jail and so on, I even lived next to the Famous Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris for years but never went to visit it, probably one of the most famous Church in the World, I was even insulting the Cathedral Bells every morning because they wake me up at 6 or 7 O'clock in the morning but today I am here with many others next to you and reminding you that you are on the good road and according to many who contacted me in Private, your Posts are also highly Appreciated, so stay strong, you are Great.

 

If I would not want my mother to see it or read it, I get rid of it. Even if it is not necessarily an occasion of sin for me. This is my way to gauge if I keep something I am not sure about. Hope that helps you.

 

I think you just hit the nail on the head and answered your own doubts. Praetorian out of everyone on this forum of which I have a lot of respect for you are the one I have turned to because I know you are very conscience of how you respond and I am positive I am not the only one. Doubts like this are side tracking you, you are not in mortal sin regarding your items as you say it's not pornography or slash trash. If God wants you to remove certain things he will I am sure give you this direction without the confusion or frustration you will know it's to be gone. You have answered your own question you know.

 

That's a good way to look at it too

 

Thank you.
I am sure I am being tempted. I guess the worry is that I am not amending my life enough or quickly enough.

 

Thank you Sterph. That is a good gauge. I just think my family is too permissive