Girl sitting on lap = mortal sin?

[TheQuestioner]

We are not here to discuss whether or not it was safe for the OP to do what he did, but whether it was sinful. Again, the speed doesn’t really matter.

If the OP’s intention was to have the girl in an awkward position so that if the car crashed the girl would be ejected or hurt (thus the act was done out of malice) then it would be a mortally sinful act.

That doesn’t seem to be the case. Alot of people were loaded into a car (in Canada, at least Ontario, if you have your full G license you can have as many people as you want in a car as long as they are in seatbelts, whether it be 2, 3, or 9 people to a seatbelt) and yes, sure this situation would be stupid, but certainly not mortally (and in my opinion, not even venialy) sinful.

 

[DexUK]

In the UK, from time to time we see public safety films broadcast on TV. In one of them a driver of a car crashes into another car coming out from a side road. He and the front seat passenger are wearing safety belts. The rear seat passenger isn’t. At a normal residential road speed (<30mph in England), the force of the impact of the rear passenger onto the back of the front seat is equivalent to the weight of a fully grown elephant. An unrestrained teenager or adult impacting the back of the front seats is more than enough to break those seats and crush the front occupant against the dash of the car and kill them. The evidence of such tragedies is all over the news, but people being people, they filter it out and think it will never happen to them because they’re a better driver than everyone else (surveys prove that the vast majority of people think they’re a better driver on than the average of other people, which cannot possibly be true for all).

When I’m driving on my own, it’s my own lookout if I’m silly (and illegal) enough to drive unsecured. If I have rear seat passengers though, the parking brake isn’t released until all my safety belt lights are green. I refuse to move the car unless the rear occupants are secured, since unrestrained objects in a vehicle can be lethal in the event of a crash at even relatively low speeds. Even if that object is a pet dog (and mine are always secured when I drive them even half a mile).

I just think it’s incredibly important that the point is made and I won’t bang on about it any more.

 

[Newbie2]

Reminds me of a prank a friend pulled long ago…

We were at a party in high school (no parents home, of course) and my friend spied a bowl of plastic fruit on the table in the kitchen. So…he placed the plastic yellow curved fruit in his…pants…and went into the other room where he playfully invited one of the girls there to sit on his lap. She did…and shot straight up off his lap. We nearly soiled ourselves laughing in the other room. Juvenile? Yes. Funny? Absolutely. Sinful…well, yeah, probably a bit.

But back to the OP:

No sin, but not wise for other reasons that have been addressed. One always has to be aware that while the driver may be careful, in the case of another driver not paying attention, anyone not buckled in becomes a projectile.

 

[thomasf]

I do not like wearing a seat belt.

Just sayin’.

 

[revert_jen]

Coming to a dead halt at 10mph (say, for example, a sudden arboreal stop)

I’m sorry, I just find the reference to “a sudden arboreal stop” really funny. Obviously the subject is not funny, but the wording made me laugh. Perhaps I didn’t get enough sleep.

in 2005 there were 6.4million auto accidents in the US. In 2004 there were 1.3million assaults (murder, rape, violent assault, robberies, etc, source DOJ, roughly equal to the preceding year). It strikes me that the objective risk of crime against the person is less than the risk of accident involving an automobile.

I think the statistics are misleading, because the vast majority of auto accidents are reported, while the vast majority of rapes are not reported.

However, to the oiginal question, I think there was a sin in participating in the unsafe siuation, but I don’t see how it could be a mortal sin. However, it is always good to confess venial sins too, because then you have to resolve not to do those unsafe things again.

–Jen

 

[DexUK]

I’m sorry, I just find the reference to “a sudden arboreal stop” really funny. Obviously the subject is not funny, but the wording made me laugh. Perhaps I didn’t get enough sleep.

I wish I could take credit for the line, but sadly (for me!) it’s straight off the TV program “The West Wing” (when the President while out cycling collided with a tree).

 

[Thyme]

In the UK, it is illegal for a passenger in any seat to not wear a seatbelt when there is one available. It is also illegal for there to be more passengers than the car was designed for.

The sin would be in breaking the law, but it would not be grave matter.

Regardless of the law, having a girl on your lap isn’t sinful. Even if you felt attracted to her, temptation isn’t a sin unless you act upon it or bring yourself to it.

 

[ab75]

In the UK, it is illegal for a passenger in any seat to not wear a seatbelt when there is one available. It is also illegal for there to be more passengers than the car was designed for.

The sin would be in breaking the law, but it would not be grave matter.

Regardless of the law, having a girl on your lap isn’t sinful. Even if you felt attracted to her, temptation isn’t a sin unless you act upon it or bring yourself to it.

I will say I find driving in Europe very different from driving in the US, particularly outside of a few very urban areas.

 

[StevenFrancis]

i was at a college party last week and me and my friend were giving some girls a ride and there wasnt enough room in the back for them and i let one sit on my lap

Okay…

i wasnt aroused and i wasnt even attracted to the girl-

So…no contemplation of grave matter

the car ride was 5 min.

Not much time to fully cooperate with evil, presuming that the first couple statements are true.

the next day i received communion.

Excellent. We’re supposed to receive communion at mass. We draw our spiritual strength and life from the sacraments.

i know what i did was at least a venial sin

What, or who told you that you committed sin, mortal or venial? Did you sin against your conscience?

i plan on confessing it in my next confession

It’s only an item of confession if you think it should be. It is your own conscience upon examination in the light of doctrine and faith which informs your heart to confess and reconcile.

but my question is was it a mortal sin? and did i committ a sacreligious communion?

You didn’t say anything in your original few lines which would indicate that you committed a sin of any kind at all, let alone mortal, and therefore your communion was simply participation in the Heavenly Liturgy.

The only thing I can think of is that perhaps you are not telling the truth here, and that you DID think of things you should not have thought about, but you did not act on them in any way. If you feel you put yourself in danger of sin by simply allowing the situation to take place at all, then you are guilty by your own (rather tough) standards of failing to avoid the situations which bring to YOU the NEAR occasion of sin. Only your own God given conscience can discern this.

In short. If you’re uncomfortable with girls sitting on your lap, and the very act of that happening normally causes you to think scandalous thoughts, then, well, that’s a situation you should avoid as a near occasion of sin. This is obviously the case, or you wouldn’t have brought it up to begin with. If you repented of the near occasion during the Kyrie, then had the healing graces of the liturgy of the word and the Holy sacrafice of the Mass and participation in Eucharist, then I’d say we’re all good here, yeah? If you think there’ something more to this, then there is. You do think that, because you’re asking the question. Ask your priest if you’re perhaps being over “scrupulous”.

May God bless,

Steven