A sin to try to do something wrong?

[PeteZaHut]

Is it a sin to try to do something wrong or to plan on doing it? A good example that comes to mind is you see a $20 bill on a co-worker’s desk. You plan on stealing it when he gets up to go to the bathroom. You are 100% sure you are going to take it when he goes to the bathroom, but he never does, so you don’t get to steal the money. Was there a sin there?

 

[St_Aloysius]

Yup. The sin was in the intent, and in the firm resolve to sin when the opportunity presented itself.

Pax

 

[nkbeth]

Is it a sin to try to do something wrong or to plan on doing it? A good example that comes to mind is you see a $20 bill on a co-worker’s desk. You plan on stealing it when he gets up to go to the bathroom. You are 100% sure you are going to take it when he goes to the bathroom, but he never does, so you don’t get to steal the money. Was there a sin there?

If at the end you’re thinking “DARN, why didn’t he give me a chance to steal the money?”, I think it would most certainly be a sin.

Christ said that “whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart” Matt 5 28. That applies also to other cases of “sinning in your heart” by desiring to do something sinful (even if you can’t do it).

But if at the end you’re thinking “Oh, what was I thinking? Thank you God for keeping me from committing that sin!” and you don’t want to steal the next day, then I would leave it to God to judge (e.g. what was going on in your head and heart when you wanted to steal at first)

 

[rwoehmke]

That feeling that you want to commit a sin is a temptation, once you have decided that you will do what you wanted to do, it becomes a committed sin because you have made an act of the will, a decision to go ahead and do it first chance you get. Once that decision is made, should circumstances prevent your doing it or you change your mind, you have sinned despite the fact that your decision was not carried through.

 

[puzzleannie]

Is it a sin to try to do something wrong or to plan on doing it? A good example that comes to mind is you see a $20 bill on a co-worker’s desk. You plan on stealing it when he gets up to go to the bathroom. You are 100% sure you are going to take it when he goes to the bathroom, but he never does, so you don’t get to steal the money. Was there a sin there?

yes you sin against the 9th and 10th commandments when you think and plan a sin, fantasize about the sin or the persons you plan to hurt, their reactions etc., what you will do with the results of the sin.

 

[PeteZaHut]

Okay. What about when I don’t want to sin and I don’t intend to sin, but I know that if a certain situation arises, I will. It is hard to think of a good example for this, so I will try to use the same situation as before. I see the $20 bill on my co-workers desk. I know that if he gets up to go to the bathroom, I won’t be able to resist temptation, and I will go steal the money. I don’t want to steal it, and I don’t intend to steal it. Obviously, if he gets up, and I steal the money, then it is a sin, but if he never gets up, and I just hope and pray that he didn’t, was there a sin?

 

[BlaineTog]

I think it’s indicative of a sinful condition in which you reside rather than being sinful itself. To be a perfect saint doesn’t just mean that you don’t sin but that under no circumstances would you sin.

The image I’ve always found most useful for sin is that of distance. A sin causes you to walk further from God, whereas asking for forgiveness, doing good works, prayer, and the sacraments bring you closer to God. If under X condition you will sin, just being in that condition doesn’t bring you further from God (otherwise, you would fall infinitely far away every second, which doesn’t suit the image), but it marks how far away you are.

 

[briang72]

Okay. What about when I don’t want to sin and I don’t intend to sin, but I know that if a certain situation arises, I will. It is hard to think of a good example for this, so I will try to use the same situation as before. I see the $20 bill on my co-workers desk. I know that if he gets up to go to the bathroom, I won’t be able to resist temptation, and I will go steal the money. I don’t want to steal it, and I don’t intend to steal it. Obviously, if he gets up, and I steal the money, then it is a sin, but if he never gets up, and I just hope and pray that he didn’t, was there a sin?

If you have yet to come to a descision on doing something sinful, I don’t see how this is a sin.

If your thoughts start down that path, try to put yourself in the other person’s position. Aside from offending God, which is the main reason you shouldn’t do it, what if that $20 bill represented all of the money that person and his/her family had to live off of for the next week?

I recommend more frequent confession if you are so convinced in your inability to resist temptation. God’s grace is sufficient. Remain in it.