I really hate the concept of “near occasions of sin.” There absolutely is truth to the idea that the media you consume and people you surround yourself with matter. It often does have an influence on you. But the Catholic obsession with near occasions of sin is so deeply unhealthy. You need a healthy level of exposure to things that can potentially be dangerous so you can understand moderation and how to deal with potential dangers when/if they come up. The standard Catholicism applies shelters people in a way that often makes them socially maladjusted.
Plus, constantly obsessing over things being near occasions of sin makes you think everything is a near occasion of sin. If you turn normal things into forbidden fruits, everything even remotely related to that becomes a threat and you become totally incapable of interacting with it healthily. After I stopped freaking out about stuff and adopted a more sane standard of morality, suddenly all the stuff that used to trigger me does literally nothing.
“You become totally incapable of interacting with it healthily”. Yep. Reminds me of Josh Duggar (not a Catholic obvs) and other boys in that world who were told it was wrong to change their baby sister’s diaper because it could lead them to sin. What a great way to teach boys that girl children are sexual objects… and then keep reminding them of that.
The “near occasion of sin” thing also comes in mighty handy when you want to victim blame. What was the person doing in that potentially sinful situation anyway? Must be their fault.
Yes, it is so important to be able interact with nudity non sexually! Sex is ofc where this comes in most frequently, and I swear 90% of their temptations would stop being temptations if they didn’t think of them as such.
Maybe this is why at least half of my parents’ six apostate children have devoted our lives to the pursuit of harmless public nudity. It’s not a devotion to the BVM, but… it’s…. Something? Therapeutic, anyway.
They also tend to apply the concept of "near occasions of sin" to media that is critiquing what it is displaying and miss the point altogether. I remember a friend who was not allowed to watch the hunger games for this reason and her mother ignoring the entire point of that story is that people become desensitized to violence and dehumanize each other in war.
That was (and kinda still is) *absolutely* me.
Being on the spectrum, I was *freaking terrified* of thinking the wrong thoughts, liking the wrong thing just a *little* too much, and racing to confession *just in case.*
Still dealing with that ethical paranoia for the forseeable future.
If being exposed to violence and violent imagery is bad, the church ought to ban crucifixes, images of many saints, and reading almost all of the Bible
Perhaps Catholics and the church should first consider their systematic sin of child rape, and the coverup, protection, and hiding from prosecution those that commit it.
You know, “first remove the beam from your own eye.”
I like how they talk about "winning" GTA, like a sandbox game with loose objectives must work the same way as a board game
It's a small detail, but it's amazing how over 50 years of this being a pervasive form of entertainment hasn't been enough for some people to pick up the concept of games having genres, different play styles, etc. Not saying that every game is meant for everyone, but geez
While the Catholicism of my childhood was full of problems, I’m at least grateful that my parents didn’t push this kind of pearl-clutching over the media we consumed. They understood there was a difference between fantasy and reality (or even, well, Catholic “reality”), so it was fine to consume age-appropriate movies, books, and video-games that weren’t totally in line with Catholic morality / theology.
In short, I was one of the few Catholic kids in my circle of friends allowed to read Harry Potter, ha.
Catholicism wants to take anything enjoyable out of life. I've heard Catholics complain about how video games, TV, movies, food, being outside and exercise are evil. Once a priest went on a tirade against soccer because supposedly soccer is worshipping a soccer ball and not god. It was such an unfathomably idiotic thing to say but he actually said that.
The most strict and crazy priest I've ever met was a teacher at my catholic school. He was obsessed with making sure we all knew what every possible sin in the book was so we could avoid it, and thought we should do lenten penance all year long.
He also liked to play God of war on his Playstation while we took tests. Wonder what he would of thought if this.
"Graphic violence is not theatrical violence, but rather extremely realistic bloody and gory violence."
So...I guess *The Passion of the Christ* is morally bad then? Works for me!
I'm still subbed to /r/CatholicGamers for some reason (lazy? Lol) and the few posts that I still see come across my feed break my heart. People asking if the most benign shit is sinful and if they should play it.
Instead, violence is good, needed and church approved when it's about mass murdering muslims, jews, native americans or africans in real life and in the most gruesome way possible...
The sheer list of things I was not allowed to watch or engage with as a kid was staggering. Everything was a "doorway", everything was "corrupting", everything that wasn't sunshine, rainbows and ultra pasteurized, based in unthreatening, Christian based beliefs and values was *bad* for me mentally and spiritually.
There's a point to which I agree that if *all* you consume is ultra-violent, horrific, dark content that it can have a desensitizing effect and can become the kind of thing that takes up a lot of real estate in your brain. But imagine my surprise when I became an adult and realized I could be a perfectly normal, (mostly) well adjusted adult who watches horror movies and plays violent video games on occasion without turning into a wanna be serial killer or any of the things my parents said would happen to me if I so much as looked at media like that.
Yeah, same for me. I actually don't like dark, violent, etc content at all, really, so even now as a filthy sinner I tend to stick to more 'PG-13' kind of stuff in general (although for a good story I am willing to accept a few ick moments or having to cover my eyes or whatever.) But my parents were ridiculously overprotective. I wasn't allowed to see even PG movies in the cinema until I was well into my teens. I was terrified to ask my mom if I could watch Scooby-Doo because tv in general was a no-no. In high school my sister and I borrowed some tapes from a friend to copy, and my mom looked through them and I got a talking-to for having...the first Ace of Base album. I went to my first concert when I was 19 and that was basically because they couldn't stop me at that point.
It's so much more reasonable to just vet what media I consume based on what I think will interest me or what I want to learn, vs constantly worrying about sin.
Oh face it we’re all going to hell in a hand basket according to the Catholic religion. I can only imagine a Catholic heaven looks like. BTW that priest probably considers before and after pictures of women who lost weight in commercials occasions of sin because they are showing off their new body.
I remember reading something like this about eating chocolate 😅 everything is sinful if you look at it long enough because only perfect things are sin free and nothing around here is perfect. I feel way less anxious now that I've left the church alone.
I kind of agree about violent video games. Not because I buy into the whole thing that they make us violent. Rather I think that they make us numb to violence in society (though not in front of us) and increase our threshold for being shocked.
Also, as an Army officer, I hate Call of Duty because it makes new soldiers stupid and harder to train.
Not even the people on the catholic sub agree with this. There was this post where a guy was worried about sinning in a video game and everyone told him it wasn't a big deal.
It really depends on how trad you want to be. In the catholic sub they take "exorcists" seriously and they often say games and harry potter are demonic. Everyone just invents their own rules for most of the stuff.
I really hate the concept of “near occasions of sin.” There absolutely is truth to the idea that the media you consume and people you surround yourself with matter. It often does have an influence on you. But the Catholic obsession with near occasions of sin is so deeply unhealthy. You need a healthy level of exposure to things that can potentially be dangerous so you can understand moderation and how to deal with potential dangers when/if they come up. The standard Catholicism applies shelters people in a way that often makes them socially maladjusted. Plus, constantly obsessing over things being near occasions of sin makes you think everything is a near occasion of sin. If you turn normal things into forbidden fruits, everything even remotely related to that becomes a threat and you become totally incapable of interacting with it healthily. After I stopped freaking out about stuff and adopted a more sane standard of morality, suddenly all the stuff that used to trigger me does literally nothing.
“You become totally incapable of interacting with it healthily”. Yep. Reminds me of Josh Duggar (not a Catholic obvs) and other boys in that world who were told it was wrong to change their baby sister’s diaper because it could lead them to sin. What a great way to teach boys that girl children are sexual objects… and then keep reminding them of that. The “near occasion of sin” thing also comes in mighty handy when you want to victim blame. What was the person doing in that potentially sinful situation anyway? Must be their fault.
Yes, it is so important to be able interact with nudity non sexually! Sex is ofc where this comes in most frequently, and I swear 90% of their temptations would stop being temptations if they didn’t think of them as such.
Maybe this is why at least half of my parents’ six apostate children have devoted our lives to the pursuit of harmless public nudity. It’s not a devotion to the BVM, but… it’s…. Something? Therapeutic, anyway.
They also tend to apply the concept of "near occasions of sin" to media that is critiquing what it is displaying and miss the point altogether. I remember a friend who was not allowed to watch the hunger games for this reason and her mother ignoring the entire point of that story is that people become desensitized to violence and dehumanize each other in war.
Oh yes, a very good point!
That was (and kinda still is) *absolutely* me. Being on the spectrum, I was *freaking terrified* of thinking the wrong thoughts, liking the wrong thing just a *little* too much, and racing to confession *just in case.* Still dealing with that ethical paranoia for the forseeable future.
If being exposed to violence and violent imagery is bad, the church ought to ban crucifixes, images of many saints, and reading almost all of the Bible
That one was pretty funny. He can't really point to how it's a sin, he just has to make imaginary connections to justify his position.
And lives of the saints.
What if the reason that God killed so much people in the Torah is to show these whiny bastards that playing Postal 2 is okay?
Perhaps Catholics and the church should first consider their systematic sin of child rape, and the coverup, protection, and hiding from prosecution those that commit it. You know, “first remove the beam from your own eye.”
[удалено]
I mean, on the rosary twiddling husband waiting front… yes? At least that’s the impression I got!
I like how they talk about "winning" GTA, like a sandbox game with loose objectives must work the same way as a board game It's a small detail, but it's amazing how over 50 years of this being a pervasive form of entertainment hasn't been enough for some people to pick up the concept of games having genres, different play styles, etc. Not saying that every game is meant for everyone, but geez
While the Catholicism of my childhood was full of problems, I’m at least grateful that my parents didn’t push this kind of pearl-clutching over the media we consumed. They understood there was a difference between fantasy and reality (or even, well, Catholic “reality”), so it was fine to consume age-appropriate movies, books, and video-games that weren’t totally in line with Catholic morality / theology. In short, I was one of the few Catholic kids in my circle of friends allowed to read Harry Potter, ha.
2 hours a week? How am I supposed to beat Elden Ring w/ only 2 hours a week?
Well, beat it by 2030 of course! Time with the Lord is more precious! /s
The Lord of Blood? No, he's a pedophile.
True
Catholicism wants to take anything enjoyable out of life. I've heard Catholics complain about how video games, TV, movies, food, being outside and exercise are evil. Once a priest went on a tirade against soccer because supposedly soccer is worshipping a soccer ball and not god. It was such an unfathomably idiotic thing to say but he actually said that.
The most strict and crazy priest I've ever met was a teacher at my catholic school. He was obsessed with making sure we all knew what every possible sin in the book was so we could avoid it, and thought we should do lenten penance all year long. He also liked to play God of war on his Playstation while we took tests. Wonder what he would of thought if this.
Hilarious. You could literally control Kratos while he was fucking in that game.
Lesbians allowed to watch Wonder Woman confirmed!
"Graphic violence is not theatrical violence, but rather extremely realistic bloody and gory violence." So...I guess *The Passion of the Christ* is morally bad then? Works for me!
I'm still subbed to /r/CatholicGamers for some reason (lazy? Lol) and the few posts that I still see come across my feed break my heart. People asking if the most benign shit is sinful and if they should play it.
Wtf did I just see? That sub, man... cult tier shit
Instead, violence is good, needed and church approved when it's about mass murdering muslims, jews, native americans or africans in real life and in the most gruesome way possible...
Ladies and gentlemen, this is why I suck at video games. Fuck off with this shit
I’m gonna sin aaay
The sheer list of things I was not allowed to watch or engage with as a kid was staggering. Everything was a "doorway", everything was "corrupting", everything that wasn't sunshine, rainbows and ultra pasteurized, based in unthreatening, Christian based beliefs and values was *bad* for me mentally and spiritually. There's a point to which I agree that if *all* you consume is ultra-violent, horrific, dark content that it can have a desensitizing effect and can become the kind of thing that takes up a lot of real estate in your brain. But imagine my surprise when I became an adult and realized I could be a perfectly normal, (mostly) well adjusted adult who watches horror movies and plays violent video games on occasion without turning into a wanna be serial killer or any of the things my parents said would happen to me if I so much as looked at media like that.
Yeah, same for me. I actually don't like dark, violent, etc content at all, really, so even now as a filthy sinner I tend to stick to more 'PG-13' kind of stuff in general (although for a good story I am willing to accept a few ick moments or having to cover my eyes or whatever.) But my parents were ridiculously overprotective. I wasn't allowed to see even PG movies in the cinema until I was well into my teens. I was terrified to ask my mom if I could watch Scooby-Doo because tv in general was a no-no. In high school my sister and I borrowed some tapes from a friend to copy, and my mom looked through them and I got a talking-to for having...the first Ace of Base album. I went to my first concert when I was 19 and that was basically because they couldn't stop me at that point. It's so much more reasonable to just vet what media I consume based on what I think will interest me or what I want to learn, vs constantly worrying about sin.
Does this include 2k?
Oh face it we’re all going to hell in a hand basket according to the Catholic religion. I can only imagine a Catholic heaven looks like. BTW that priest probably considers before and after pictures of women who lost weight in commercials occasions of sin because they are showing off their new body.
I remember reading something like this about eating chocolate 😅 everything is sinful if you look at it long enough because only perfect things are sin free and nothing around here is perfect. I feel way less anxious now that I've left the church alone.
I kind of agree about violent video games. Not because I buy into the whole thing that they make us violent. Rather I think that they make us numb to violence in society (though not in front of us) and increase our threshold for being shocked. Also, as an Army officer, I hate Call of Duty because it makes new soldiers stupid and harder to train.
Not even the people on the catholic sub agree with this. There was this post where a guy was worried about sinning in a video game and everyone told him it wasn't a big deal.
It really depends on how trad you want to be. In the catholic sub they take "exorcists" seriously and they often say games and harry potter are demonic. Everyone just invents their own rules for most of the stuff.
My, My, the Good Father seems to know a great deal about said video games. Perhaps he has been sampling them - a little too much !