Commited sin while believing it would lead to Hell = Damned?

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FortressGiant

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So here is a question that has occurred to me before that I’m not able to figure out the theological answer to…Suppose Bob is an unbaptized member of Religion X and in Religion X it is taught that there is a certain sin that, if committed, will automatically lead to Hell. Bob one day, with full consent and full knowledge, commits this sin and after that believes he is damned.

He eventually goes on to become baptized in the Catholic Church. However, he goes on to wonder:
  1. Did this count as the sin against the Holy Spirit?
  2. Is he damned with no hope of salvation since he freely at one point, even though a member or another religion at the time, chose something that he believed would lead to Hell?
  3. Would the answers to the above two questions differ if there was a lack of consent and/or understanding of what he was doing when he did it?
It’s a spiritual thought experiment but there are people who have been caught in these exact situations. What do you think?
  • FG
 
If you believe a sin to be mortal and commit it, even if it technically isn’t, your rejection of God is of the same level and so it would be damnable.

However, if he is baptized, that sin is automatically forgiven, so he’s good.

The sin against the Holy Spirit is unrepentant unto death. AKA, the only sin God will not forgiveness is the unwillingness to be forgiven. (He won’t forgive us without our consent.)

If he continues to believe that that sin cannot be forgiven, then he needs further catechesis, because obviously he was not taught solid Catholic theology, or he didn’t internalize it. However, as point of strict fact, believing that God cannot forgive a given sin is itself a sin…
 
Baptism wipes away all previously committed sins.

But if he’s still upset about it, he could consult with a priest.
 
Consider the words of the Prophet Ezekiel:
But if a wicked man turns away from all his sins which he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness which he has done he shall live. Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? (Ezekiel 18:21-23)
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Thank you for your post! Is there anything about the fact that the person who committed the sin believed it would lead to certain Hell (as opposed to possible Hell when committing a mortal sin with a Catholic understanding and knowing that one might be able to confess before death) that makes this a special category of sin, equal to final impenitence? By committing a sin completely freely and willingly that the person believes will definitely lead to Hell, is the person committing something on the same level as rejecting God’s forgiveness at the point of death?

FG
 
FortressGiant said:
Is there anything about the fact that the person who committed the sin believed it would lead to certain Hell (as opposed to possible Hell when committing a mortal sin with a Catholic understanding and knowing that one might be able to confess before death) that makes this a special category of sin, equal to final impenitence?

FG
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Happy to help! To answer your followup question:

No. There is no sin that God can’t forgive, as long as the person seeks out reconciliation. It doesn’t matter how bad they thought the sin was when they committed it, as long as they are sorry now, they can be forgiven.

Period.

End of story.
 
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FortressGiant said:
Is there anything about the fact that the person who committed the sin believed it would lead to certain Hell
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Whether or not a person believes a sin will certainly lead to hell has no bearing on the matter. We do not determine what is sinful or how sinful something is, God does. Nor is God’s mercy bound by an individual’s own views on such matters.

If Bartolo Longo, an ex-satanist, can be beatified then there is hope for us all.
 
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That’s the conclusion I’m coming to as well but I thought I might be missing something. Thanks again! 🙂
 
Haha that’s true, although I have recently been wondering if he had to go through some sort of process to renounce all of the devilish things he was involved in. Do you know if anything like that was part of his conversion process? For example, did an exorcist or bishop or pope have to release him from some “bond” to Hell or the devil or from some type of canonical censure? When a person offers themselves to Hell/the devil, is the only step needed to be able to enter Heaven again going to confession?

FG
 
First of all It’s not the sin against the HS. All sin is more grievous to the extent that we commit it while knowing it’s wrong. Secondly, he could always repent. Third, related to the second, a sin that leads to hell (a mortal sin), requires persistence in that act or state.
 
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FortressGiant said:
For example, did an exorcist or bishop or pope have to release him from some “bond” to Hell or the devil or from some type of canonical censure?
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I don’t know, but I would think that repentence and absolution would be sufficient. We belong to God, our souls belong to God, how can someone sell what he does not own and is not his to sell?
 
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Easy one. Let’s shift the scene to civil society. Say there’s a guy who firmly believes that whistling “The Sound of Music” in public is a crime, and not just a crime, but a felony! After several years of whistling, he decides to change his ways and turns himself in to the local police. “I confess! I’ve been whistling “the Sound of Music” in public for years! Lock me up!” What would the police do?
 
Probably turn him over to a mental institution to be locked up…?
 
There is no sin, however terrible, that renders a person irreversibly damned regardless of later repentance. That’s just not how God works.
 
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