Are sexual sins worse than other types of sin?

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This might be kind of an odd question. When I was being raised, sexual sins were seen by my parents as the absolute worse kind of sin. They treated sexual sins as things to be avoided at all costs. For example, growing up I was allowed to watch TV programs and movies that contained violence and language, but nothing that had anything sexual in it. It’s hard to put it into words exactly, but it’s like they thought other types of sin were just things that people would eventually do, but sexual sins were something that we had to be extra careful to avoid. It just seems like more emphasis was put on sexual sins. And it’s not just me. I’ve talked with many friends who have been taught similarly–for some reason sexual sins were “worse” than lying or cheating or any number of other things.

I understand the difference between venial and mortal sins. But aren’t all mortal sins equally damaging to the soul, regardless of what the actual sin was?
 
Its been my observation that sexual sins are seen as worse then most others because of the nature of them, and their ability to lead to other graver sins. Say a man starts masturbating, he looks at porn, he ends up seeing women as physical objects for HIS desire, he marries, still masturbates, still uses porn, finds his wife no longer satisfying due to his mind being corrupted by porn, so he goes to prostitutes or has an affair, whcih could result in a pregnancy which could end in an abortion, or he could bring home HIV or any number of diseeases to his wife whom ends up gravely ill.

I’d put sexual sins ahead of things like lying and cheating, but anythign that results in the destruction of marriage, harm of children, abortion, rape and murder are probably worse then “sexual sins” - but then with that said, sexual sins leads to lying and cheating and other negative behaviour. So they’re quite often linked with the negative aspects out there.

the other thing I’ve noted is that sex is legal, anyone can have sex, depending of course of age consents in whereever you happen to be, but taking a sub-machine gun into the jungle and shooting off a few rounds at people is probably going to get you a one way ticket to prision. So, when people watch violence on tv the vaste majority know its illegal and wrong to do so, however, watching sex on tv, they can just get up and go to the pub and get a quickie with some one night stand, and that’s all perfectly legal.

There’s no real social taboo against most sexual practices these days. There’s still a social stigma attached, as there shoudl be, with homicidal behaviours.

However, both can be just as damaging to the soul.
 
Any action, or thought that causes you to move away from God is a sin. Sex outside of marriage is just one of many acts.

But always remember that God’s power fo forgiveness is beyond anything we humans can understand.

May God Bless You Always.
 
Sexual sins changed me mentally, physically, emotionally, psychologically for a long time (how I related to my self, to the opposite sex and to my own sex).

It’s reversable, but in many ways, it’s a permanent change.

Besides all of that, it became a spiritual disconnection with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
 
Think of it this way. Sexual relations consummates a Sacrament and the marital union is the renewal of a covenant every time we engage in it. The marital union is a holy, sacred act. To abuse sex truly profanes it (from the Latin, profanum, to drag out of the temple). To abuse sexuality is to truly make unholy that which is holy. The reason sexual sins are viewed as so serious is because the corruption of the best is the worst. The reason sexual sin is so vile is simply because properly ordered sexuality is holy.
 
Sexual sins are one of the easiest to overlook and become entangled. For instance, violence is sometimes justified. Sex before marriage never is.

My old university, frustratingly enough, encouraged students to have sex instead of drink - :banghead:. One a sin in only in excess. The other always a sin!
 
The worst type of sin toward your neighbor is malice which can include the sexual sin of rape. The worst type of sin toward God is pride.
 
No, but people think they are.

Pride and Self-righteous behavior are the worst.
 
I think that in one of her apparitions [Fatima?] Mary said that Lust is the least of the Capital Sins, but it is the one that takes the most sinners to perdition.
 
Joe_Kelley said:
I think that in one of her apparitions [Fatima?] Mary said that Lust is the least of the Capital Sins, but it is the one that takes the most sinners to perdition.
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Yes, probably sexual sins are the most popular,
 
SummerSmiles said:
This might be kind of an odd question. When I was being raised, sexual sins were seen by my parents as the absolute worse kind of sin. They treated sexual sins as things to be avoided at all costs. For example, growing up I was allowed to watch TV programs and movies that contained violence and language, but nothing that had anything sexual in it.
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Unless you’re young, you didn’t grow up hearing much bad language on TV.

Saint Paul points out every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. So, yes, sexual sins are worse than other sins. They’re also worse because they’re attractive and far more damaging that most people suspect.

The reason your parents may not have been so concerned with violence as with sex on TV is because they’re probably not worried that you’re going to become violent. But, they are worried that you’ll commit sexual sins.
 
yes because they strike at the heart of the identify of the sinner, warping and perverting that identity as intended by the Creator, and because the often if not usually also involve other sins, lying, cheating etc. Even solitary sexual self abuse involves infidelity to another person, either the partner God intends for this person, or to the existing partner and so it always carries the dimension of harming others, harming the ability to form healthy relationships on all levels because it diminishes the individual.
 
I was raised very similarily. My parents had no qualms about us watching violence so long as it didn’t give us nightmares, but sexual content was something we were never permitted to watch. I always find it interesting how my husband’s grandmother’s prayerbook has section on sin and the vice of lust is given about a paragraph and simply isn’t addressed much at all. I think the fact that our culture is obsessed with exposing sex and teaches sexuality in such a distorted manner that it definitely does get over-emphasized.

In my perspection, grave sins include vices taken to grave extreemes that violent the dignity and sacredness of humanity or of God. Since sex is that act in which we participate in God’s creative powers to create new life, to engage in sexual sins degrades the value of human life and shows a lack of respect and awe for God’s creative power. The gravity of the sin involves how much the value of another person or of human life is not given the respect it deserves or to what degree we do not give the due respect, reverence and honor toward God. As such, all sexual sins are grave offenses.

That said, it is not the worst type of sin. Pride is ultimately the top sin because that is the sin that is going to keep you from repenting of your sins and accepting of God’s mercy. That said, a lot of people who dismiss the gravity of sexual sins or of the importance of going to Sunday Mass and turn around and start pointing out other people’s pride and judgmentalism do need to take their most quoted scripture quote and remove the plank from their eye before they start condemning those who are pointing out that such and such is a sin. They’re basically seeing other people’s pride and may even be rightly identifying it, but they fail to see to what severe extent their own pride goes to. To dismiss the severity of a sin is not mercy or humility. It IS pride. To see no need for repentence is pride. To think that “Well overall me or so and so is an overall good person so if I or that person isn’t going to Heaven, I don’t know who is?” is pride. We don’t get to Heaven through our own merit. We get to Heaven because of God’s mercy. Moreover, its severely hypocritical to say that pointing out and correcting someone in their sin is absolutely always wrong when they themselves are doing just that. Its not that correction is wrong. Its how we approach the correction.
 
In answering this question, I am wondering why noone referred to 1 Corinthians chapter 6?
 
One of our priests, in addressing an RCIA class, stated that all temptations are to be resisted except for temptations against Chastity and Faith. They are to be fled, at full speed. Fighting them only enmeshes one more tightly in their coils.
 
All mortal sins are grevious sns and should be avoided. Our Blessed Mother did tell the children of Fatima that there were more Souls in Hell because of sins of the flesh than all other sins combined so that tells us a lot.

Antrim
 
SummerSmiles said:
This might be kind of an odd question. When I was being raised, sexual sins were seen by my parents as the absolute worse kind of sin. They treated sexual sins as things to be avoided at all costs. For example, growing up I was allowed to watch TV programs and movies that contained violence and language, but nothing that had anything sexual in it. It’s hard to put it into words exactly, but it’s like they thought other types of sin were just things that people would eventually do, but sexual sins were something that we had to be extra careful to avoid. It just seems like more emphasis was put on sexual sins. And it’s not just me. I’ve talked with many friends who have been taught similarly–for some reason sexual sins were “worse” than lying or cheating or any number of other things.

I understand the difference between venial and mortal sins. But aren’t all mortal sins equally damaging to the soul, regardless of what the actual sin was?
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I’ve read in multiple Catholic books that PRIDE is the worst of the 7 deadly sins. That includes judging others and looking our noses down on other people who we think have “sinned.”

…Just something to keep in mind.
 
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