Gravity of Theft

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You want to be the judge of what is trivial and what isn’t. I think theft is not trivial and apparently God agrees with me because He put it in the Ten Commandments.

You want to be the judge of Catholics who have different theological opinions than you and call them self righteous, hypocrites, sociopaths, sadists, not real Catholics, etc… While whining about pharasaism and hard hearts. It’s pretty typical of this forum amd usually from one side of the political aisle to engage I’m that kind of mentality.

You also claim to speak with the Church’s authority… Another delusion that seems common from one side of these kinds of arguments.
 
I think it has to do with intention too. I think it is grave to steal for the thrill of it.
 
I disagree. Thrill doesn’t change the intrinsic gravity of what was stolen.
Unless you mean malice. If someone steals a trivial object with raging hatred / malice against the rightful owner, then the malice (but not necessarily the theft itself) could be grave matter.
 
The Camandment is, “Thou shall not steal”. Doesn’t mention anything about the gravity of the theft.
 
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You steal something; it effects someone in some way. It’s called cause & effect.
 
Of course. The question is about the gravity of the sin in a particular instance, not whether it is a sin at all.
 
I think the attitude that you steal because you can is a grave matter. or testing what you can get away with
 
Stealing is still stealing; regardless of petty larceny or grand theft. I do hope this is what is being taught to our children. God help us if it is not. I’ll give you an example of an incident that happen in our neighborhood. Last Halloween a Mother; with her child in hand; out trick or treating, stole 2 plastic pumpkin decorations with candy in them from a front porch. Only petty larceny, not so much in gravity of cost of the pumpkins & candy. But what about the gravity of the action as seen in the eyes of the child. Oh, it’s only plastic pumpkins & some candy, didn’t cost much, Mommy thought it was OK to take them.
 
No one is justifying or dismissing sin. That doesn’t mean that we terrify our children and drive away potential converts by loudly proclaiming on an internet forum that every act of petty theft is deserving of eternal torment… That’s the issue here. Of course all theft is sinful. The whole point of this thread was to address the claim that I’ve encountered on CAF (and only on CAF not in real life) that EVERY act of petty theft is ALWAYS grave matter.
 
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I repeat, stealing is still stealing. Some non-Catholics have more respect for the property of others than some Catholics. Out of this thread. Tired of the trolls that are back in full swing on this site.
 
That’s not what the Church teaches. Gravity is important and must be discerned when going to the confessional. Understanding the distinction between venial and mortal sin is absolutely fundamental to Catholic life…and something that every Catholic parent absolutely must teach their children. “Sin is sin” is a very Protestant point of view. What I resent, and the reason I started this thread, is the attitude that every sin is a mortal sin…which leads to scruples…which inflicts great unnecessary hardships for many of the “weaker brethren”, to use the words of St. Paul.
I have been on this forum since 2004, before I even became Catholic, and had about 6000 posts on the old forum…I am not a troll and deeply resent the implication.
 
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All stealing is objectively sinful.
Not all stealing is gravely objectively sinful.

Intentionally stealing petty inconsequential things by itself doesn’t send people to hell.
Its only a venial sin.
 
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I have never said that they are going to hell. Read the posts. If you steal from someone, the gravity of sin by the person who steals is unknown to the one who stole. It may be very grave to the one from whom the item is stolen. I’ve been a therapist to persons suffering the trauma of theft. It appears some people are only thinking about the one committing the stealing & the gravity of their actions & not the gravity of the crime to the victim.
I am out of this thread.
 
It doesn’t directly matter what an oversensitive or undersensitive victim feels re the objective gravity of the sinful matter.
The “matter” font of a sinful act is described as “objective” afterall.

Need it be said that it becomes more grave if the thief keeps doing it knowing of the victims over sensitivity.
But that is due to unusual circumstances not the objective matter of the theft itself.
 
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I don’t know how someone can be more/less sensitive to theft. It is a violation of trust, privacy, boundaries, etc.
 
Yes, but think about. Let’s say your 10 year old nephew steals a pencil from your home. Will you be disappointed that he’s developed such a habit? Yes. Will you be devastated? I hope not. Now compare the theft of that pencil to your brother stealing $1000 from your home safe. Same thing? Sin is sin after all according to some here.
 
The intrinsic objective gravity of another’s sin is not really dependent on the subjective over-sensitive reactions of other people independently of the actual damage caused to life, limb, property or livelihood.

As I say your considerations, if applicable, are technically considered aggravating circumstances.
They do not worsen the objective gravity of the theft matter itself

If you believe your view well reflects Church’s teaching I am willing to be corrected but please provide an authoritative Moral Theology source that clearly agrees with you.
 
It depends is that my absolute favorite pencil. Lol I’m kidding. I understand your argument clearly.
 
Violation of trust etc is not part of the Church’s definition of theft.

However these circumstances may aggravate the malice of the individual if they did the theft purposely knowing this. But that is not a sin of theft but an additional one of hatred where the theft of a pencil may be but a means.

It is impossible for the theft of inconsequential items alone to be personal mortal sins.
Grave matter is required for a personal mortal sin.

If the owner/parent is traumatised by the theft of an inconsequential item then I suggest the owner’s own sins are also coming into play - like over possessiveness of the object or over control of the son/daughter.
 
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