Cheating a mortal sin?

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The question is not whether cheating is wrong. The question is if cheating is considered a mortal or venial sin. Similarly, someone can have the same question about swearing. Swearing is normally a venial sin. However if one were to cuss out someone, he would be commiting a mortal sin.
 
on_the_hill said:
Is this cheating on an online school quiz, or a Buzzfeed quiz?
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How can one “cheat” on a buzzfeed quiz? They are all about opinions and which puppy is cuter. I suppose you could “skew” your votes one way or another to get the results you wanted…but that’s not even lying, nevermind cheating.
 
Xanthippe_Voorhees said:
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on_the_hill:
Is this cheating on an online school quiz, or a Buzzfeed quiz?
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How can one “cheat” on a buzzfeed quiz? They are all about opinions and which puppy is cuter. I suppose you could “skew” your votes one way or another to get the results you wanted…but that’s not even lying, nevermind cheating.
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Well. . . . people get their thoughts wrapped up in all sorts of problems that don’t really exist, so . . . :roll_eyes:
 
Thing is, it is not really a black and white thing. Sin is sin. Sin becomes mortal when it meets specific requirements, however, continuing venial sin over and over causes a weakness in our relationship with God.

Best to avoid all sin, and when we sin, seek forgiveness and resolve to sin no more.
 
Thank you! I have been thinking the same thing every time I see as new thread asking if this or that is a mortal or venial sin. Just don’t do it and you won’t need to worry about which it is.
 
V / M sin legalism is rather off putting, if I were a non-Catholic, I would find it even more so.
 
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Sort of like “how many times can I do a small insult to my spouse before they have had it?” sort of question. Just be kind and good and you don’t have to worry about it!
 
I think it depends if it specifies you can’t look things up.

in high school I thought nothing of, say, doing homework “together” or helping each other which usually just resulted in copying.
I remember I did this foreign language thing and double checked pretty much all the answers, even though I was one of the best students in the class. But it was on a website and I don’t think the teacher was against it as there was no time limit that time.

I remember not even worrying about the morality, in fact I thought it was fine.
But, now I know cheating is bad if I ever can get to a university
 
And in the end, you harm yourself by cheating. The things you did not learn is knowledge you will not have.
 
Kei said:
I think it depends if it specifies you can’t look things up.

in high school I thought nothing of, say, doing homework “together” or helping each other which usually just resulted in copying.
I remember I did this foreign language thing and double checked pretty much all the answers, even though I was one of the best students in the class. But it was on a website and I don’t think the teacher was against it as there was no time limit that time.

I remember not even worrying about the morality, in fact I thought it was fine.
But, now I know cheating is bad if I ever can get to a university
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To be fair, teachers today encourage “collaborative learning” in which students work together to find answers. It is vastly different than turning to an online or non-peer resource because collaborative learning actually reinforces the knowledge acquisition process whereas simply “looking it up” does not. It’s very likely that your teacher would have encouraged some “doing homework together”
 
nbhart said:
Right is right, even if nobody does it.
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What is common practice is absolutely relevant to whether or not a given act is dishonest. Do you give an accurate explanation of your emotional state when someone asks how you’re doing?
 
Firstly, your propose example is not exactly relevant considering it is not inherently a moral question. You could lie in response to someone’s inquiry. If someone ask how you are and you say, “Great!” though within you want to say, “Horribly!” then you are lying. If you are experiencing difficulty but are accepting it joyfully with self-resignation then saying “Great!” is in fact true since you are content to be exactly where God wants you even if that means bearing a cross.
Secondly, common practice cannot change whether an act is dishonest. Dishonesty breaks 8th commandment and the ten commandments apply to all people at all time (i.e. they are universal moral laws only codified by God).
Lastly, whenever someone asks, “How are you?” I respond “By the grace of God.” Which is a lighthearted but very true metaphysical statement that I am purely sustained in existence by the grace of God. “How are you?” is not literally a question of emotion but of existence. Of course I know what people are asking, but if they care to know more then they will ask a more detailed question. “Let your word be Yes for Yes, and No for No; whatever goes beyond this, comes of evil. (Mt 5:37)”
 
I’m not understanding why you say we’ve reached a reductio ad absurdum. Your previous comment seemed to imply that we could intentionally inaccurately reply to the question of “how are you?” while not being dishonest. What I said was meant to convey that willfully and falsely conveying oneself is exactly that, false. Therefore it is lying. If you could specifically point out where the argument reduces to absurdity. Thank you.
 
Everyone understands that when you say “fine” in response to “how are you doing”, it’s not an expression that you’re actually feeling okay. Ergo there’s no dishonesty.
 
Remember that you have to be faithful in the little things so you can be faithful in the big ones. Honesty is honesty no matter how big or small the test for it is
 
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