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BrianK
Guest
How does a person know if a sin is considered “grave” enough to be mortal? Thanks.
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Fergal
Guest
Grave in the dictionary is defined as:
*] Requiring serious thought; momentous:
*]Fraught with danger or harm:
TAKEN FROM: secondexodus.com/html/catholicdefinitions/mortalsin.htm
For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met. CCC 1857 “Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent.”
CCC 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.’ 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.”
CCC 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 heart do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin.”
CCC 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.”
The words mortal or deadly address the effect in the sinner, loss of God’s friendship. The words grave or serious address the importance of the matter in which the sinner offends God. But these are simply nuances in describing the same kind of sin: grave matter committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent.
Sin which does not fulfill these criteria is called venial sin.
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Tietjen
Guest
Those sins that are judged to be in themselves some serious disorder in regard to God, our neighbour, ourselves, or society. What is serious (grave)? That is a tough question and I don’t know that I can answer it for everyone, but like pornography, I know it when I see it.
God bless.
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stbruno
Guest
Recently our new pope mentioned “moral relativism” as the greatest sin against the church. In my opinion, that is why so many are having such a difficult time deciding what is truly grave or serious because they are rationalizing all their sins. The culture embraces all these sins and calls it politically incorrect or even a hate crime when someone speaks out about sin. I think if we all stick with the absolute truth that Jesus taught us then we will know that following a conscience, in actuality means following what Jesus taught not culture.
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Michael_T
Guest
The sin has to be objectively serious matter.
St. Paul gives lists of sins that he says will ban people from the kingdom of heaven. Violations of the ten commandments are also examples.
However, stealing isn’t always grave matter. Stealing little things like candy bars, etc. isn’t grave matter. It is a sin, but it’s venial. When we steal stuff though, we are supposed to give it back, i.e. make restitution (even if it’s a little theft). If we take a little bit at a time over a long period with the intention of accumulating a lot, this would also be grave matter, or if we steal $5.00 from 10,000 people in order to get a big pile of money, that’s the same as one big theft. Hopefully that makes sense.
Sexual sins always constitute serious matter (grave matter). It says that in the document from the CDF entitled Persona humana (Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics) published in 1975. This is because sexuality is intimately bound up with our humanity and our person.
Hope this stuff helps.
St. Paul gives lists of sins that he says will ban people from the kingdom of heaven. Violations of the ten commandments are also examples.
However, stealing isn’t always grave matter. Stealing little things like candy bars, etc. isn’t grave matter. It is a sin, but it’s venial. When we steal stuff though, we are supposed to give it back, i.e. make restitution (even if it’s a little theft). If we take a little bit at a time over a long period with the intention of accumulating a lot, this would also be grave matter, or if we steal $5.00 from 10,000 people in order to get a big pile of money, that’s the same as one big theft. Hopefully that makes sense.
Sexual sins always constitute serious matter (grave matter). It says that in the document from the CDF entitled Persona humana (Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics) published in 1975. This is because sexuality is intimately bound up with our humanity and our person.
Hope this stuff helps.
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