Remain or Not

Goatee

Jesus, please forgive me, a sinner.
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I am at a crossroads in my faith......................Remain Catholic or jump ship?

I have sinned badly................................I continue to sin badly..................

I need help

Stay or leave?
 

anna ~ grace

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I am at a crossroads in my faith......................Remain Catholic or jump ship?

I have sinned badly................................I continue to sin badly..................

I need help

Stay or leave?

How will leaving help your injured soul in the long run?
 
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Stabat Mater dolorosa

Jesus Christ today, yesterday and forever!
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I am at a crossroads in my faith......................Remain Catholic or jump ship?

I have sinned badly................................I continue to sin badly..................

I need help

Stay or leave?

John 6:68
Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.

Where else shall you go Goatee ?
Is there a doctor that can heal your soul but Christ?
 
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Serving Zion

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I am at a crossroads in my faith......................Remain Catholic or jump ship?

I have sinned badly................................I continue to sin badly..................

I need help

Stay or leave?
Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.
Isaiah 55:6
 
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football5680

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Stay, because there is nowhere else to go for the truth. If your problem is sin, then leaving the Church would not help you at all, it would actually be worse.

For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. (2 Peter 2:21)
 
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dzheremi

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When I am in this kind of trouble, which is often, I will pray the Sunday psali to the Lord Jesus Christ, which is a prayer prayed during the midnight praises (tasbeha) in the Coptic Orthodox tradition. I will reproduce it below, so that maybe it will help you too. The Lord tells us that our requests will be answered; if we knock at the door it will be opened to us. (Matthew 7; Luke 11). Keep asking of the Lord. He will guide you through fervent prayer and repentance of sins, as surely as he guided and saved King David the psalmist, the people of Nineveh in the time of Jonah, and every other sinner who has ever called upon Him and persisted in prayer to Him.

+++

Sunday Psali to the Lord Jesus Christ:



I sought after You, from the depths of my heart, my Lord Jesus, help me.
Loosen for me, all the bonds of sin, my Lord Jesus Christ, help me.


+ Be a help to me, so that You may save me, my Lord Jesus, help me.
+ May Your goodness, come speedily to me, my Lord Jesus Christ, help me.


Overshadow me, with the shadow of Your wings, my Lord Jesus, help me.
In six days You have made, all the creation, my Lord Jesus Christ, help me.


+ Seven times everyday, I will praise Your name, my Lord Jesus, help me.
+ All the creation, glorifies Your name, my Lord Jesus Christ, help me.


Yours is the lordship, and the authority, my Lord Jesus, help me.
Make haste O my God, so that You may save me, my Lord Jesus Christ, help me.


+ Every knee, bows down before You, my Lord Jesus, help me.
+ All the diverse tongues, together bless Your name, my Lord Jesus Christ, help me.


Turn away Your face, from all of my sins, my Lord Jesus, help me.
Blot out O God, all my iniquities, my Lord Jesus Christ, help me.


+ You know my thoughts, and You search my reins, my Lord Jesus, help me.
+ Create in me, a clean heart, my Lord Jesus Christ, help me.


Your Holy Spirit, do not take away from me, my Lord Jesus, help me.
Incline Your ears, make haste and hear me, my Lord Jesus Christ, help me.


+ Set before me a law, in the way of Your justice, my Lord Jesus, help me.
+ Your kingdom O my God, is an eternal kingdom, my Lord Jesus Christ, help me.


You are the Son of God, I believe in You, my Lord Jesus, help me.
You who carries the sins of the world, have mercy upon me, my Lord Jesus Christ, help me.


+ Forgive me the multitude, of my transgressions, my Lord Jesus, help me.
+ All of the souls, together bless Your name, my Lord Jesus Christ, help me.


Have patience with me, do not hasten to destroy me, my Lord Jesus, help me.
Early in the morning, I will rise and bless Your name, my Lord Jesus Christ, help me.


+ Your yoke is sweet, and Your burden is light, my Lord Jesus, help me.
+ In the accepted time, hear me, my Lord Jesus Christ, help me.


O how beloved, is Your holy name, my Lord Jesus, help me.
Disperse away from me, all of the devils, my Lord Jesus Christ, help me.


+ Sow within me, the seed of Your righteousness, my Lord Jesus, help me.
+ Grant us Your true peace, and forgive us our sins, my Lord Jesus Christ, help me.
 
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Open Heart

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I am at a crossroads in my faith......................Remain Catholic or jump ship?

I have sinned badly................................I continue to sin badly..................

I need help

Stay or leave?
The Church is a hospital for Sinners. Christ is the Great Physician. He did not come for the well but the sick. How much sense does it make to leave now, when you are so in need of a Doctor and a Hospital?
 
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Tigger45

Romans 12:2…be transformed…
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Confession and sin, again and again and again! Same old sin/s............When will it end?
Have you asked your priest for addition resources to help you combat this/these problem/s? Also I wouldn't abandon your faith because you'll still have the same sinful tendencies and one less tool to work with and you'll probably end up spiraling downward.
 
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Goatee

Jesus, please forgive me, a sinner.
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Have you asked your priest for addition resources to help you combat this/these problem/s? Also I wouldn't abandon your faith because you'll still have the same sinful tendencies and one less tool to work with and you'll probably end up spiraling downward.

Asked several priests but i am still in the same boat.
 
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dzheremi

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This is the struggle of the Christian life. Remember St. Paul the Apostle's letter to the Romans:

7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

+++

These words are probably very familiar to every Christian -- some from having read them, but more from living them.

One of my most favorite saints, Abba John the Little, prayed to God not for a cessation of struggles, but for strength in the fight. This is what we all need, though the flesh would have it otherwise. Remember also the words of the Psalmist (Psalm 66):

Oh, bless our God, you peoples!
And make the voice of His praise to be heard,
Who keeps our soul among the living,
And does not allow our feet to be moved.
For You, O God, have tested us;
You have refined us as silver is refined.
You brought us into the net;
You laid affliction on our backs.
You have caused men to ride over our heads;
We went through fire and through water;
But You brought us out to rich fulfillment.

The purpose of struggle is the rich fulfillment of the followers of God. This is what is behind all Christian (and Jewish, I suppose, since we're referencing the OT) asceticism, such as fasting. It is given by God that we should do this, and not shirk it. We even say in the Coptic Orthodox Church (in the response to Psalm 150/the communion hymn during Lent) "Jesus Christ fasted for us, 40 days and 40 nights." We are being refined in the hands of the Master Who made us, that by our struggles we train the body to be obedient to the soul, and are cleansed and made pleasing to God. Do not give up! The Lord's strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9), and He desires to give you the strength that you do not have if you persist in asking for it.

A sermon by HH Pope Shenouda III on this topic with English subtitles: "Come back to God"

 
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brinny

everlovin' shiner of light in dark places
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Thanks.

I hate myself.

:heart: The enemy is messin' with you. God LOVES you and His grace and loving kindness and tender mercies are inexplicably plentiful.

Sin happens.

And yes, we can seek God's mercy and grace each and every time. Even David (in the Old Testament) did so, and he sinned abominably.

Yet, God called him the "apple of His eye" and a "man after His own heart". This is because David always returned to God. Always.

It's not that we sin, brother, it's what we do after we sin.

Do NOT let the enemy tell you these lies, that you cannot go to God after you sin, or that you are a loathesome creature, thus prompting you to hate yourself.

God LOVES you.

Praying for you (((hug)))
 
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Open Heart

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Confession and sin, again and again and again! Same old sin/s............When will it end?
Confession isn't always enough when a sin is an obsession.

Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous. Find a meeting. You need the support of the group that understands perfectly but doesn't excuse. You need a program. You need names to call immediately when the temptation arises. It's probably the only way you can cut it off with her cold turkey, and then STAY away from her. No phone calls, no texts, no pics, no emails, no messages through friends...

Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous – Fellowship-Wide Services

Does your wife know?
 
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Stabat Mater dolorosa

Jesus Christ today, yesterday and forever!
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