Every week I go to Confession thinking that I have committed mortal sin because I will see a bare-chested woman on an uncensored music video or on reality shows like "Girls of the playboy mansion" or the plastic surgery show "Dr. 90210" or when watching a love scene in a no-under-16 movie or even a national geographic program about an African tribe where the women don't cover themselves. Television and magazines shove nudity in our faces and it just seems impossible to escape it. I feel completely guilty and think I am going to hell after seeing nudity even if it is unintentional. I hate going to Confession each week confessing "seeing impure images", the priest is starting to get the impression that I'm a porn-addict when that's not true at all. Please tell me - Is it a sin to see nudity? Grave or venial? If some of it is not, how do I judge between what is sinful and what is not so I don't accidentally profane the Eucharist when receiving it.
81 comments
So you feel guilty for something you don't really have any control over, exept if you'd sell your tv, don't read anything whatsoever and don't come out of your house. Can you say 'cultic mind control'?
For one who feels like they can't avoid "porn" you certainly seem to know where to find it. Relax, it's perfectly natural, and if you reject the beauty of those naked people, you're rejecting God's creations! Shock! Horror! Guess you're going to hell no matter what! Too bad.
Looking at breasts is just venial sin. Staring at nipples is mortal.
So said my parish priest when I was in high school.
I didn't ask about the vagina and clitoris because he was getting really red in the face and he had a heart condition.
Dude, what's wrong with your head? I was raised Catholic, by a mother who went to Catholic school, and still didn't have your issues when my friends and I found porn dumped in a creek in my neighborhood when we were about 13. The moral question of "Is this sinful and will we all go to hell for looking at 'Hustler'?" was far from our minds. I don't think I ever confessed that, and still got Communion until I stopped going to Mass. Never bothered me.
LOL at Werewolf!
@JSS - yes, The Catholic Church divides sins into venial sins and 'mortallers' (i.e. mortal sins).
Venial sins are those which can be forgiven with due amounts of Confession/penance/Purgatory.
Mortal sins can NEVER be forgiven AFIK. At least, that's what I was told in Catholic School. Now I realise that JC is supposed to have said the only unforgiveable sin is blaspheming the Holy Spirit and I don't understand how the Catholic Church figured out their premise.
But seeing as Catholics don't, as a rule, read the bible, nobody figures these things out.
I find it absolutely 100% crazy that these people have problems with nudity.
We are all born naked and go through life with a naked body. I bet you guys don't even have mirrors at home much less have sex unless it's under the covers, lights off and fully dressed. Must be a damn boring sex life if you ask me.
Pimpsta, you are obsessed with boobies.
Seriously, Were you starved as a baby or something? They're just boobies, Sit back and enjoy them already.
If nudity was a sin, why are we all born nude? Ah, these are Catholic Answers, you still believe in original sin (contrary to teaching that Jesus died for our sins)... Carry on!
Okay... According to the Bible (Genesis, Chapter 1), God judged "good" every day of his creation, save for the sixth, when he created Adam and Eve; he then found his work "very good". This was a few pages before the snake incident, so we can presume these two were, yes, NEKKID!
Please explain how God can judge something impure better ("very good") than the rest of his creation ("good").
Television and magazines shove nudity in our faces and it just seems impossible to escape it.
It is very well possible to escape it, your TV has an off switch you know ;)
Good for you.
*backs away*
You can't help what you accidentally see, it's the action that comes after the seeing that might be a sin. A program called "playboy" is bound to have nudity, avoid these if you don't want nudity, 90210 probably has some nudity in it too, so avoid them as well.
Sin must be an active action, something you actively choose to do. Surely. If you accidentally see a breast and immediately look away, that must be a virtue, as your action was to NOT look.
Or, become a more secular person and worry about real problems, like starvation, the climate change, the lack of drinking water, the overpopulation, war and sufferings.
I'd criticise you for being so fucked in the head as to actually be afraid of tits, but there's something more fundamentally disturbing here:
How can you possibly worship and condone the actions of a god so insane as to punish you eternally for passively, involuntarily experiencing something entirely outside your own volition?
or even a national geographic program about an African tribe where the women don't cover themselves. Television and magazines shove nudity in our faces and it just seems impossible to escape it.
You've got to be kidding me.
Nudity isn't a concept that's unique to modern times. Try looking at some of the art in the Vatican for a start.
Dude, seriously, lighten the fuck up. This may come as a shock to you, but there's nothing wrong with nudity. It's just reality. Take a deep breath and learn to appreciate life.
I thought the Playboy channel was one you had to sign up for and pay extra for. How the hell are they shoving it in your face when you signed up for and pay extra to have those boobies brought into your house?
Oh, and don't try using the excuse that you didn't know Playboy channel showed boobies, any male (and most females) over the age of 13 know what's inside a Playboy.
how do I judge between what is sinful and what is not so I don't accidentally profane the Eucharist ...
Where, exactly, is the line between me going to hell and the loophole that lets me read Playboy for the articles, watch boob jobs on cable for the medical knowledge, check out the bra ads in the Sears catalog to keep up with clothing trends, scan National Geographic to better understand my African sisters, oh, and brothers, and put just a little tiny one over on that other dumbass in the phone booth with me week afer week, so he doesn't catch on. Mistakenly, of course, I'm a good christian, got nothing to hide. heh heh heh.
>>"I hate going to Confession each week confessing "seeing impure images""
Ok, so don't go to confession. ;)
At any rate, I'm kind of surprised that someone who's so religious that a pair of boobies freaks them out would be watching reality TV shows or rated R movies. Just sayin'.
>>"...or even a national geographic program about an African tribe where the women don't cover themselves."
Well, those ladies aren't going around that way deliberately for sexual attention. It's just kind of their custom. I could see how it might be kind of thrilling/shocking/erotic at first, to people whose customs are different, but once it's known that nothing sexual is going to take place, one should just let it go in the interest of cultural relativism.
Given the name, "Pimpsta", it's probably a Poe.
However, the fact is many fucked up religions make young people feel guilty for something that is harmless and natural. This fight against sexuality is counterproductive. The religious US has one of the highest rates in industrialized nations for both teen pregnancy and abortions. All this guilt causes is psychological damage and teenagers ignorant about sex.
The sin is living in fear of seeing a nipple.
Yeesh.
1. God creates people. They're naked. This is "good" according to god.
Your TV, stop watching it!
Go play video games (no AO ;) games), read a text only book or go see a PG movie.
Don't let the fucking machine control your life you pathetic loser.
I dunno about that "poe" verdict. It's entirely possible for fundies like this to be so dumb that he might not understand what a pimp is, and just thinks it sounds hip. And then ask a dumbass question like this.
No matter what he is, this is hilarious!
Gotta love how he has to be told that National Geographic documentaries about African tribes is not porn. Which means he has no idea what porn is. And therefore has no understanding of why it's sinful.
This is what happens when people depend too much on others to dictate their morality to them all their lives, and never develop the ability to tell right from wrong on their own.
You poor sexually repressed person.
This is what church can do to ya kids!
Edit: Yup a very poorly disguised Poe!
Television and magazines shove nudity in our faces and it just seems impossible to escape it.
Here's two news flashes for ya, Pimpsta:
1) TVs can be turned off.
Wow, that was hard to figure out. [/sarcasm]
Hoping on Poe based on the name too.
FTR: I was taught mortal sins could also be confessed away, but what often gets talked about is suicide. Suicide is a mortal sin that you usually go with on your soul because you don't exactly have time to talk to the good priest beforehand and you don't get the prayer for the sick AKA Last Rites. So, no, in the Catholic Church all sins are still forgivable, just there are different amounts of hoops to go through and a few occasions that those hoops are pretty impossible.
Ah, Wiki for the win:
Why are you watching those shows and those no-under-16 movies if you're afraid of committing a "mortal sin" simply by seeing a bare chest?
You do realize that TVs have these amazing things known as power and channel buttons.
how the fuck is a human body "impure"?
what exactly makes something "pure", a high level of prudishness and asexuality?
also, if you get your panties in a wad every time you see nudity, why the fuck are you watching a show called "Girls of the Playboy Mansion"?
"I feel completely guilty and think I am going to hell after seeing nudity even if it is unintentional."
That's the Catholic guilt speaking. The only way to get away from it is to leave the church. Here's a little tip: Nudity is not evil! You are on your way to becoming a sexually repressed Christian who's not only afraid to let anyone see you naked, but to even see anyone else naked. Have fun doing it with the lights off while crying the whole time.
The question is, why are you watching playboy mansion on the first place?. Concerning the African women, if God wanted them to cover, he would have made them born with a dress.
"Please tell me - Is it a sin to see nudity? Grave or venial? If some of it is not, how do I judge between what is sinful and what is not so I don't accidentally profane the Eucharist when receiving it."
That's the great thing about being an Atheist. As long as what you do doesn't harm other people nor their property in any way, and you obey the law, there's no guilt involved in what you say/see/do/wear/eat/whatever. Religion has no right to tell you what to do.
Ergo, the superiority of Atheism. QED.
This is what religion can do to people: make them constantly precocious and unsure of themselves, to the point where they are literally frightened to turn the television on for fear of seeing nudity and then go into meltdown if they do, which leads to anxiety, stress, mental and physical health problems, and so on.
This is what religion can do to people.
Fuck religion.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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