Can a non-sin be sinful if you thought it was?

[surritter]

If something is not sinful, but an individual thought it was at the time, does it count as sinful for that person?

We all know the three conditions for something to be a mortal sin:

• it is objectively wrong and seriously so
• you must know it is wrong
• you fully consent (or adequately consent) to doing it

So I would say if you thought something was sinful but it turns out that it isn’t, you are off the hook as far as mortal sin goes. But what about venial sin?

I thought I heard Karl Keating say once on Catholic Answers Live that if you thought something was sinful and it really wasn’t, the fact that you chose to do it anyway makes it a sin because you went against your conscience and intended on doing something against God’s law.

So back to the original question, it sounds like there are times when something that is perfectly innocent (objectively) can become sinful based on the knowledge or conscience of the individual? Help me understand this…

 

[bpbasilphx]

You can think 2 + 2 = 5, but it never will be, will it?

Likewise, a non-sin is ALWAYS a non-sin, even if you think it is a sin.

 

[Cristiano]

You can think 2 + 2 = 5, but it never will be, will it?

Likewise, a non-sin is ALWAYS a non-sin, even if you think it is a sin.

Are you saying that the intention of offending God through any kind of action is not a sin when the action itself is not grave matter?

 

[surritter]

Both good comments – Maybe you’re both right:
It sounds like the action itself is never a sin (since it is objectively innocent) but there is an underlying sin, which is in intending to be disobedient to God, which is sinful no matter how you slice it.

 

[Timbothefiveth]

I can’t remember the exact verse, but I think St Paul said that Christians who still believed in eating Kosher should eat Kosher. Someone should consult the catechism

 

[baltobetsy]

From the Catholicity website, from the 1941 edition of the Baltimore Catechism:
“The thought, desire, word, action or omission must be seriously wrong or considered seriously wrong.”

My copy and paste won’t work, so it’s at www.catholicity.com/baltimore-catechism/lesson06.html . It’s question number 69, the three things necessary to make a sin mortal.

Here’s my favorite illustration of this point. Suppose you wanted to murder me. You have been told that I have a severe allergy to peanuts. One Sunday, you cook up your famous chili that has peanut butter as the secret ingredient and invite me over to watch football and eat chili with you. I accept, I eat chili, my team wins, I don’t die or even get sick. Your chili does not harm me because you were misinformed about my allergy. It’s shrimp, not peanuts.

You thought I would be seriously harmed by the peanut butter in your chili, but in the end, no harm was done. You thought your action was sinful, but it turned out not to be.

If I discover your plot, should I be offended? Seriously offended? Enough that I don’t want to be friends with you any more?

Betsy

 

[EvelynEVF]

I think it was a sin! The cook just got lucky, but really that little story is about attempted murder. Like your initial quote, the thought or intention can be bad without the action itself winding up bad.

Anybody who pulls a stunt like that is definitely separating themselves from God and His grace.

 

[Ron_Conte]

If you believe that an act is gravely immoral, and you choose that act with full deliberation and a full belief that it is gravely immoral, then you have committed an actual mortal sin. And this is true even if you were mistaken, and the act is only objectively venial, or objectively not a sin. All actual mortal sin is rooted in the will. If you knowingly choose an immoral act, or what you sincerely believe is an immoral act, then you are sinning. And if you believe that it is a mortal sin, then for you it is a mortal sin.

Yes, an objectively moral act is a sin, even a mortal sin, if you believed it was sinful.