Another “Is this a sin?” question

[Principal Moo]

Hello everyone,

This is purely hypothetical (I am not doing this), but is it sinful to not follow your spiritual father’s advice? For example, let’s say someone has a gambling problem. So, the spiritual father advises the person to avoid casinos. Is it sinful for the person to ignore the advice and go to the casino, but not gamble? I know that they are just asking tempting themselves, but is this sinful? If so, how does one confess it?

I ask because there is a lively discussion about it on a Facebook group and I wanted your thoughts.

 

[Lucian Hodoboc]

It is if you lie to the spiritual father that you have followed his advice.

 

[Dave G.]

My experience with the Father is he convicts me of my sin, generally it will be the sin itself causing a turn away. In your example it would be the gambling itself. And then I tend to convict myself of things associated with or surrounding that sin ( the casino). But there might be a good restaurant I could get too by skirting the casino floor in the casino, I could possibly go to that unless my mind justifies not . But see that's my mind, you don't want to have to be re-convicted by the Holy Spirit because sometimes it doesn't happen pleasantly.

 

[truefiction1]

Hello everyone,

This is purely hypothetical (I am not doing this), but is it sinful to not follow your spiritual father’s advice? For example, let’s say someone has a gambling problem. So, the spiritual father advises the person to avoid casinos. Is it sinful for the person to ignore the advice and go to the casino, but not gamble? I know that they are just asking tempting themselves, but is this sinful? If so, how does one confess it?

I ask because there is a lively discussion about it on a Facebook group and I wanted your thoughts.

It's not necessarily sinful to not follow your spiritual father's advice. There have been "spiritual fathers" falsely so-called (within the context of Eastern Orthodox confessions) who have advised their "children" to do things that require them to disobey God's commandments in the Gospel. In such cases a person must follow the Gospel commands and the demands of their own conscience. The advice to gamblers to avoid going into casinos is good advice, because it is the same advice given by the Lord in His sayings: Matthew 5:29-30

With regards to other reasons given to justify entry into a casino, such as eating there, if one goes into a casino merely to eat at the grand buffet, is one not supporting the operation and success of the casino itself with one's presence and money? Could we serve God better by eating at a restaurant owned and operated by someone of Christian faith? Does the Church build and operate casinos? Do we finance our parish operations with profits earned through parish "bingo night"? Are such endeavors Christian? Does such activity help us to obey the Gospel command to "Pray without ceasing"? It's good to ask such questions, I think. No?

 

[~Anastasia~]

Hello everyone,

This is purely hypothetical (I am not doing this), but is it sinful to not follow your spiritual father’s advice? For example, let’s say someone has a gambling problem. So, the spiritual father advises the person to avoid casinos. Is it sinful for the person to ignore the advice and go to the casino, but not gamble? I know that they are just asking tempting themselves, but is this sinful? If so, how does one confess it?

I ask because there is a lively discussion about it on a Facebook group and I wanted your thoughts.

My take on it is this. (So mostly just gathered opinion.) A monk may have given a vow to be under obedience to his SF. A layperson with a SF is not in the same situation. So we don't "owe obedience" in the same way. So that part is not specifically sin.

However, we are blessed, often, by showing obedience. We can miss spiritual benefit that we might have otherwise had if we had been obedient, but that is not sin.

If the advice is good and we don't do it out of contrariness, the contrariness at the root of it all is the sin - the disobedience is the out working of it.

As far as confession, I try never to ask myself "is this sin, so if it is not, can im avoid confessing it?" Rather in confession, I TRY to bring up all those things I do or fail to do, at least in a general sense and sometimes confessing the root behind it, if I am aware enough to do so.

And if we fail to follow his advice, and it leads to more sin, then we might as well confess the whole mess. IMO, it is better to wipe the slate completely clean than to deliberately or even through lack of being sure leave something unsaid.

I always try to confess when I fail to follow my SF or my Confessor's advice.

Lord have mercy.

 

[ArmyMatt]

Hello everyone,

This is purely hypothetical (I am not doing this), but is it sinful to not follow your spiritual father’s advice? For example, let’s say someone has a gambling problem. So, the spiritual father advises the person to avoid casinos. Is it sinful for the person to ignore the advice and go to the casino, but not gamble? I know that they are just asking tempting themselves, but is this sinful? If so, how does one confess it?

I ask because there is a lively discussion about it on a Facebook group and I wanted your thoughts.

it depends. if you know your SF loves and is looking out for you, then yes, it would be a sin. humility and obedience are virtues. plus, there is more than one account of someone not listening to his father and problems arising, even if it seemed like something to fudge