That is a very interesting question.
I think, in this case, the “full knowledge” part of it being a mortal sin would not be fulfilled?
Kathrin
Maybe…but the injury to the marriage that comes from not pursuing chastity would still be done. God’s laws are not arbitrary juridical concepts, after all. Mortal sins are actions or failures that do serious damage, even in cases where there is no culpability.
If the arsonist who burns your house down is truly “not guilty by reason of insanity”, and therefore has a moral excuse, your house is still a burned-down heap.
Which brings up another interesting question: is a person so easily swayed from what conscience dictates capable of a valid marriage? Don’t get me wrong: we can’t answer that! It is, rather, something for the young man to examine within himself. Who does he think is ultimately responsible for forming his conscience and making his choices: him or his confessor? Is it possible he’s mistaking priestly compassion for a priestly carte blanche? If I were his wife-to-be, I know what answer I’d want to hear.
i mean if he were to recommit the sin. like when we confess to little white lies. we know they are venial sins yet we confess them anyway sometimes, and when we commit them, we know we are sinning but its still not a mortal sin. if a person believes that their sin is venial (whether or not it is venial or mortal) are they still considered to be sinning in FULL knowledge of the sin he is commitin. because of this, sinc ethe answer seems like it owuld be NO, is his sin still mortal if he commits it again, thinking that the sin is not mortal?
I don’t know about you, but I’ve never had a confessor require me to decide whether a sin is mortal or not before confessing it. You play with fire when you get into that kind of hair-splitting.
You start with the most serious assaults you have made on virtue and your duties toward God and neighbor, in fact mentioning everything that even maybe falls into the category of “serious”, and if the list is not too long go on to anything that is less serious.
Do you wait around with a serious medical condition until even you, a non-professional, can see it clearly to be life-threatening? I hope not…especially not if your health care if free! You’d have to be a master of denial or else just plain nuts. And if your doctor shakes your confidence by seemingly taking serious symptoms lightly, even after questioning on your part, then, no offense intended Doc, you go find another doctor. If I asked the team doctor what to do in case I heard a really nasty “pop” and my knee gave way, I wouldn’t want him telling me to just finish the game and have him look at it on Monday…well, not until a second doctor said, “Your knees pop every time you walk. This other rule is the more appropriate rule for you, and here’s why, for you, this other way is the best way to care for
your knees.”
On that account, I don’t feel comfortable applying any of what I said to this particular case. The guy ought to talk to his confessor again, and if the answer is the same, to at least one other confessor as well. He’d do the same for his knees. Why not his soul and his marriage?
