Halfway Mortal Sin?

[NotSureofMuch]

Hi- I was wondering about a certain thing- is it possible to begin to sin mortally, but then stop before the act is completed- that is stop before it becomes a mortal sin?

The scenario is this: a person who is struggling with internet pornography enters in the name of an infamous porn site into a search engine (though there is nothing sinful in the words themselves he types, they do stand for a sinful site he knew of)… For whatever reason the search yields zero results- zero porn is viewed. After this he feels guilty and sorry for even indulging evil curiosity this far, and he ceases and repents of this (though the temptation is still there to go further, he doesn’t do anything more).

Is what he’s done mortally sinful?

 

[paramedicgirl]

Hi- I was wondering about a certain thing- is it possible to begin to sin mortally, but then stop before the act is completed- that is stop before it becomes a mortal sin?

The scenario is this: a person who is struggling with internet pornography enters in the name of an infamous porn site into a search engine (though there is nothing sinful in the words themselves he types, they do stand for a sinful site he knew of)… For whatever reason the search yields zero results- zero porn is viewed. After this he feels guilty and sorry for even indulging evil curiosity this far, and he ceases and repents of this (though the temptation is still there to go further, he doesn’t do anything more).

Is what he’s done mortally sinful?

Three things are necessary for a sin to be mortal:

1. Serious matter
2. Knowledge or firm belief that the act is seriously wrong prior to committing the act;
3. Full consent of the will.

All three of these conditions must be present simultaneously for a sin to be mortal. This means that if you did not know the act was seriously wrong, then you are not guilty of having committed a mortal sin. If you did not will the act, e.g., if you were forced or if it was in a dream, if you were impaired or emotionally distraught or terrified, etc., you are not guilty of the act committed.

It sounds like there wasn’t full consent of the will, since he stopped the action before entering the site. I’d still go to confession, though, and before receiving communion.

 

[NotSureofMuch]

So he is in danger of going to Hell now should he die (ie mortal sin)?

 

[blackrobe]

So he is in danger of going to Hell now should he die (ie mortal sin)?

1. Dying in mortal sin means going to hell.

2.** No one can know whether another is in mortal sin.**

1. Repent, ask forgiveness of God and go to confession.
2. Peace.

JSA

 

[paramedicgirl]

So he is in danger of going to Hell now should he die (ie mortal sin)?

He should repent of the action, with a full intent of going to confession as soon as possible. The Church teaches that if one makes a perfect act of contrition after having committed a mortal sin, and then dies before going to confession, that he is saved from hell by the act he made.

Heowever, he can still not receive Holy Communion until having gone to confession, if it was a mortal sin he committed.

So, the perfect act of contrition, (where we are sorry for our sins because we love and have offended God), will save us from hell if we die before we get to go to confession, but without confession, it will not give us a right to receive the sacraments.

 

[Alterum]

Supposing the 3 conditions are met, I do believe this is mortal because deliberately entering an occasion of mortal sin is itself a mortal sin (it is objectively grave). So, again, if you deliberately enter an occasion of mortal sin – e.g., if you try to commit a mortal sin but are prevented from doing so – you’re still guilty of mortal sin.

 

[LilyM]

Supposing the 3 conditions are met, I do believe this is mortal because deliberately entering an occasion of mortal sin is itself a mortal sin (it is objectively grave). So, again, if you deliberately enter an occasion of mortal sin – e.g., if you try to commit a mortal sin but are prevented from doing so – you’re still guilty of mortal sin.

That would be the case in this scenario. It is not as though the person themselves repented of what they were planning to do and clicked the ‘stop’ button halfway through the search or anything. It was only an outside event that prevented them going through with their intent to sin.

I don’t know that deliberately entering an occasion of sin is always in itself a sin. After all, for a person who has problems with overeating (gluttony), every supermarket shopping trip, every catered party and every visit to a restaurant is in fact exposing themselves to an occasion of sin, but most people cannot entirely avoid such activities.

 

[jjb5985]

So he is in danger of going to Hell now should he die (ie mortal sin)?

Someone please correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought you go to hell if you die of unrepentent mortal sin. That means as soon as you repent and intend to go to confession, you aren’t automatically going to hell if you die. That is assuming you really intend to go to confession.

 

[paramedicgirl]

Someone please correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought you go to hell if you die of unrepentent mortal sin. That means as soon as you repent and intend to go to confession, you aren’t automatically going to hell if you die. That is assuming you really intend to go to confession.

Yes. That is what I said in post #5, just in different words.

 

[Mijoy2]

Someone please correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought you go to hell if you die of unrepentent mortal sin. That means as soon as you repent and intend to go to confession, you aren’t automatically going to hell if you die. That is assuming you really intend to go to confession.

Generally I find what constitutes mortal sin, as well as the outcome for dying is a state or mortal sin to be loosely defined.

Full knowledge and full consent are both somewhat difficult to adequetly define.

example: full knowledge - the vast majority of Catholics do not go to Mass regularily (as became obvious with my parish at about 400% of capacity for Christmas Mass).

Are these people in mortal sin? I propose the answer is ambiguous at best EVEN IF they are told it is mortal sin.

My reasoning? I believe if they are told that missing mass is mortal sin and even shown it in the Catechism, they still do not believe it is mortal sin. There may be a number of reasons for this. Most prevelant I would assume, is that they do not believe the Catholic Church has full authority to make such a claim. I have mentioned to others that missing Mass is mortal sin. The response I get is one of disbelief in my claim. People simply do not accept this (and many other sins) as fact. Logically, if they did, it wouldn’t make a great deal of sense to go to Mass on Christmas while knowingly in a state of unrepented mortal sin.

Am I the only person in these forums who reads threads such as this one and ponder the fact that a relative tiny percentage of Catholics (some of those in these forums) painstakingly analyze there sins for nature (venial vs. mortal) while the vast majority of self proclaimed Catholics hardly give it a passing thought? Doesn’t this process seem perplexing and disturbing? What are we to think?

What are we to make of the Church relative silence on this? I just discovered recently that my family, cradle Catholics, didn’t know there was such thing as a Catechism until I mentioned it a while back. Some of these family members are Eucharistic Ministers and Lectors.

There is something terribly wrong with this picture.