Do you have to know a sin is mortal to commit a mortal sin?

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Hawkeye916

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Must you be aware that something is a mortal sin in order to commit a mortal sin? I think that we as people venially sin all the time, given our weaknesses and nature. Knowingly yelling a bad word at our sibling, knowingly telling a small lie, knowingly harboring a grudge and being unforgiving, etc. To sin, one must know it is wrong, or else it would not be a sin, because to sin is to know God’s will, but choose to not abide by it. But where does that line cross for moral sin? Must one KNOW the action itself would be a MORTAL sin and commit it anyway? What would happen if the person knows that something is wrong, but maybe not knowing that it is as grave as mortal? Would that person inadvertently commit mortal sin, thinking it was only a venial sin or not that big of a deal? Knowing that it was wrong, but not deadly wrong? Therefore accidentally mortally sinning? Or must they know beyond a shadow of a doubt, “this action is not only wrong, (self abuse, stealing something valuable, getting abortion, etc) but it is a mortal sin!..Eh, I’ll do it anyway because my wants are more important than my friendship with God.”

Does that make sense? What do y’all think? I think a lot of people on here are quick to label sins as mortal sins IMO…hopefully not all are though! 😬
 
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  1. The sin must be “grave matter.”
  2. You must know it is grave matter.
  3. You must freely and willingly (“full consent of your will”) commit that sin.
Take any one factor away and the sin is not mortal. However, we are responsible to know what sin is, and the seriousness of sin. A good examination of conscience will greatly help. This one is excellent.
https://www.leafletonline.com/examination-of-conscience
 
Catechism of the Catholic Church-
1857 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.” (Bold emphasis is mine).
Hawkeye916 said:
Knowingly yelling a bad word at our sibling,
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venial
Hawkeye916 said:
knowingly telling a small lie
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venial
Hawkeye916 said:
knowingly harboring a grudge and being unforgiving,
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refusing to forgive - grave matter so if committed with full knowledge and full consent it would be mortal.
Hawkeye916 said:
Must one KNOW the action itself would be a MORTAL sin and commit it anyway?
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Yes. See the catechism above.
Hawkeye916 said:
What would happen if the person knows that something is wrong, but maybe not knowing that it is as grave as mortal?
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Then they lack full knowledge, don’t they?
Hawkeye916 said:
Would that person inadvertently commit mortal sin, thinking it was only a venial sin or not that big of a deal?
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Because full knowledge is required one cannot commit a mortal sin inadvertently. If they thought it was venial, and it wasn’t, then they lacked full knowledge (assuming they take due care to learn their faith and study it, and when they have doubts about the gravity of a matter they seek advice concerning this with their priest. We are obliged to form our consciences according to Church teachings).
Hawkeye916 said:
Therefore accidentally mortally sinning?
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One cannot sin by accident. Sin is a deliberate choice. So if one lacks full knowledge or full consent, but the matter is grave, then the person has sinned venially. So if one cannot sin by accident, then one certainly cannot sin mortally by accident.See catechsim above.*
 
1858 Grave matter is specified by the Ten Commandments, corresponding to the answer of Jesus to the rich young man: "Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and your mother."132 The gravity of sins is more or less great: murder is graver than theft. One must also take into account who is wronged: violence against parents is in itself graver than violence against a stranger.

1859 Mortal sin requires full knowledge and complete consent . It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its opposition to God’s law. It also implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice. Feigned ignorance and hardness of heart133 do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin.

1860 Unintentional ignorance can diminish or even remove the imputability of a grave offense. But no one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are written in the conscience of every man. The promptings of feelings and passions can also diminish the voluntary and free character of the offense, as can external pressures or pathological disorders. Sin committed through malice, by deliberate choice of evil, is the gravest.

1861 Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as is love itself. It results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God’s forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christ’s kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the power to make choices for ever, with no turning back. However, although we can judge that an act is in itself a grave offense, we must entrust judgment of persons to the justice and mercy of God.

1862 One commits venial sin when, in a less serious matter, he does not observe the standard prescribed by the moral law, or when he disobeys the moral law in a grave matter, but without full knowledge or without complete consent.

The morality of human acts

The catechism is online. I recommend you study it.
 
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Im not sure if I entirely agree with that. If simply not knowing that something isn’t grievous would prevent you from sinning mortally, then why does the church strive to tell people what is and isn’t grievous? Wouldn’t it be better for people to remain in ignorance? Then it would be impossible to commit a mortal sin.
 
SPBlitz said:
Wouldn’t it be better for people to remain in ignorance? Then it would be impossible to commit a mortal sin.
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Let’s say that for whatever reason I don’t know it’s grave matter to kill people for the heck of it. Every weekend I go to a different place with a gun and pick people off at whim. Technically, this isn’t mortal sin because I didn’t know it’s wrong. Nevertheless, people are dead because of my actions. If the Church doesn’t tell me what I’m doing is grave matter, I see no reason to stop.

Grave matter remains grave even if we don’t know it is. Lack of knowledge might mean that we don’t need to confess our actions, but there are still consequences to them, consequences that harm us and those around us. We thus need to know what sin is, and it is a charitable act for the Church to tell us.
 
Perhaps, but this still means that Catholics are at a disadvantage. Protestants and atheists might not even know That the church says that something is a grievous act. Do they then get a free pass that Catholics don’t? While agree that at least some level of knowledge is necessary to commit a mortal sin, I don’t really agree that only strict knowledge of a the grievous nature of an act constitutes mortal sin.
 
Do you disagree with the Church? Because She declares that FULL knowledge must be had to commit a mortal sin. You presume that only partial knowledge must be had.
 
Can’t you have full knowledge of the evil nature of an act without strictly knowing that it is considered grievous, or that the church considers it as such?
 
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SPBlitz said:
Wouldn’t it be better for people to remain in ignorance? Then it would be impossible to commit a mortal sin.
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Catholic Encyclopedia - ignorance including moral diligence and its’ obligation.

Catholic Encyclopedia - Obligation
" God is our Creator and Lord, and as such and because He is good, He has every right to our obedience and service. We need not go beyond the preceptive will of God in our analysis; it is obligatory upon us from the very nature of God and our relation to Him. The rules of morality are then moral laws imposing on us an obligation derived from the will of God, our Creator. That obligation is the moral necessity that we are under of conforming our actions to the demands of our rational nature and to the end for which we exist."

Begin at “The Formation of Conscience”
 
Well think a moment. You’re married to a woman and you go out and cheat on her because hey, this other woman is really something. As long as your wife doesn’t find out, what’s the problem? You’re happy, the other woman is happy, and your wife is happy. No sin. . .

You mean to tell me that there is no way that you don’t know that cheating is wrong? That you’re saying the vows you took when you got married you didn’t ‘really mean’? Or ‘not for keeps”? You’re saying that you just really can’t know this was a wrong thing to do if it wasn’t laid out by a religious organization in ‘thou shalt not’ format?

I kind of doubt it.

And I also doubt that if you were caught you’d be able to tell her or her family or your kids or the lawyers, “But I didn’t know this was WRONG”. . .
 
Perhaps, but what of those who don’t know of that obligation. For example, what of a native tribe deep in the Amazon, who have never heard of Christianity, the church, or even God. Does this mean they can rape, murder, lie and steal, but since they don’t know that those acts are grievous, then it’s not a mortal sin? You could argue that humans have an innate knowledge of right and wrong that would inform them of that, but that supports my point that a strict knowledge of what the church does and doesn’t consider a grievous acts is not strictly necessary for a sin to be considered mortal.
 
This sort of supports my point, in that you don’t have to think ‘this is a grievous act’ in order for you to have full knowledge.
 
Right. You don’t have to know the word grievous or grave or mortal in order to have full knowledge that some acts are just wrong. You don’t have to have memorized the catechism or have a degree in theology. Some people think it is almost impossible to commit mortal sin because they don’t really KNOW, or they didn’t say “I know this is mortal sin and I am doing it deliberately and will full knowledge” or that nobody could really fully go against GOD etc. etc.

I think it is very easy for us at any given time to commit mortal or venial sin but the good news is that it is also as easy for us to repent and be forgiven.
 
stpurl said:
Right. You don’t have to know the word grievous or grave or mortal in order to have full knowledge that some acts are just wrong. You don’t have to have memorized the catechism or have a degree in theology. Some people think it is almost impossible to commit mortal sin because they don’t really KNOW, or they didn’t say “I know this is mortal sin and I am doing it deliberately and will full knowledge” or that nobody could really fully go against GOD etc. etc.
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Exactly. This I agree with.
 
I get that, I really do…and I agree! But how do you reconcile your opinion with the Catechism that states that Full knowledge must be had? I think that the are some sins so grievously wrong that it’s imprinted on our souls that it’s evil! But what of the myriad of things that people on this site want to quickly label as mortal sin? I was just reading on here the other day that people think that glancing at your phone while driving is a mortal sin…like huh? Distracted driving isn’t great, but holding your phone to switch the song is apparently damnable? I don’t know man…I just agree with the first few posters…you have to undoubtedly know what you’re doing is very wrong to have committed mortal sin.
 
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SPBlitz said:
a native tribe deep in the Amazon, who have never heard of Christianity, the church, or even God
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Invincible ignorance.
#1793 If - on the contrary - the ignorance is invincible, or the moral subject is not responsible for his erroneous judgment, the evil committed by the person cannot be imputed to him. It remains no less an evil, a privation, a disorder. One must therefore work to correct the errors of moral conscience.

My Comment:- they will be judged according to the lights of conscience God has given them, if they strive to do what they know and believe to be right and do no serious wrong etc.

#1956 The natural law, present in the heart of each man …
Put there by God.
 
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Exactly, I agree with you. That does support the point that it is possible to have full knowledge without necessarily knowing what the church teaches is or isn’t grievous.
 
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