Decided to sin but didn't - confession?

[zmyr88]

in my case i was not talking about this incident; and if he felt he needed to confess something, he already has the sin. i.e… talking about a committed sinful action.

the question is: what efficious desires are binding. and what determines when the decision is bound to the conscious.

i think for that example; i would depend on things not discussed. for example he may have thought he would kill the man. but in reality, given the chance he would NOT have done it anyway.

what is thought or said, only would be binding if you would actually carry it out given the chance, in other words, if you really don’t mean it, it does not count.

for is case specifically, he may be debating as to kill the man. IMO he has not made any binding decision until he is "sure " he will do it, and has stopped debating it in his mind.

thoughts?

 

[The_Otaku]

I’m enjoying this conversation Verbum Caro and zmyr88 are having. It’s like watching two great minds debating and I can sense the real effort both of you are making to your points. It’s like you two are thinking what I’m thinking. As a spectator, I want to see how this conversation ends up.

 

[Christine_Lee]

CCC1857: For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met: “Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent.”

I never knew sins were ranked as grave and minor sins. I thought all sins were equal in the eyes of God.

 

[Shoreguy1105]

Similar to the original poster, my wife (who is not Catholic) bought condoms (with my eventual consent), but we have not used them and I have decided against using them. As I understand it, the sin would be like an impure thought in that the will to sin was there but there was no overt “act” in the sense that I refrained from using them. My question is that in confession I stated I committed impure thoughts and actions (as there were other impure thoughts and actions that I had to confess) would my confession still be valid?? I know the priest and the priest did not ask me to elaborate further.

 

[SongBird59]

When in doubt, it’s best to put the matter before your confessor and let him judge the sinfulness (or not) of the situation.

 

[LilyM]

When in doubt, it’s best to put the matter before your confessor and let him judge the sinfulness (or not) of the situation.

I agree.

As a general principle, though, an actual firm resolve to commit a particular sin, that is thwarted only by circumstances outside ourselves (ie you resolve to shoot someone but the gun fails to fire) is a sin.

This would seem to be the gist of Our Lord’s words that someone who LOOKS at a woman with lust is as guilty as one who ACTS on it by physically committing adultery with her.

 

[LilyM]

I never knew sins were ranked as grave and minor sins. I thought all sins were equal in the eyes of God.

Not at all. One of John’s epistles speaks of ‘sins unto death’ (mortal sins) and ‘sins that are not deadly’ (venial or minor sins). And specifies different things to be done in regard to each type of sin.

 

[JRKH]

A similar conversation developed on another thread HERE.

Interestingly enough it came out of another “sex” question, specifically " Lusting in the heart.
It’s interesting to me that no one on this thread ever brought up Jesus teaching in Matthew 5. It seems to me to have bearing on the whole concept of thougth as sin.

If we wish to boil down this issue to it’s most basic, sin is about one thing. Are we turned toward God or not. If a thing is not in line with Holiness, it is a sin.
In the examples given as well as in the OP, the sinful thoughts were “committed” and thus a sin was committed. Jesus ranks such “thought sins” just as evil as the actions themselves. Just look at what he says about lusting.
“You have already committed adultery in your heart.”
This is pretty powerful stuff.

In each of the cases presented whether it is the OP or the examples the key word “Decided”. This is the act of will which tells us that the sin was committed. The fact that one changes their mind is certainly a mitigating factor but the sin remains for the simple reason that it did occur.

All of this deals, not with trying to determine if and when we broke some "rule or “Law”, but rather when did we offend God. that is what the road to holiness is about and that is the road we are to travel.

Peace
James