How Do You Know If a Sin is "Grave" or "Serious"?

[thistle]

Sorry, I wasn’t disagreeing with you; I meant to address that to Klibera.

No problem. I should have realised that anyway.

 

[elts1956]

I have had trouble with this also. I know the 3 criteria for a mortal sin, but what makes something a grave matter? I know that stealing a potato chip from my friend’s lunch bag isn’t a serious sin, and I know that going into someone’s house and robbing everything they own is seriously sinful. Where do you draw the line on the sins that fall in between those? It’s not always black and white, especially when you get into sins that don’t directly fall under the 10 commandments.

All sins fall under the 10 commandments. They are the basis of moral life. For instance, “Thou Shalt Not Kill”. Ok, murder is definitely out of the picture. What about War?? Just, unjust? On and on. “Thou shalt not have strange Gods before me.” Idols? Love of money before God? Love of another person before God? Can you name one sin that does not have its base as the Ten Commandments?

Even stealing that potato chip from your friend could be a serious sin if your friend gets only one meal a day.

Also a Grave (Mortal Sin) wrong is never, never, never right no matter the circumstances.

Hope that helps.

 

[lobster]

Thanks, great list!

And to jmjconder, while I think that going to Confession to be safe is a good thing (unless you’re overly scrupulous), don’t you need full knowledge of the gravity of the sin for it to be mortal? I mean if you have to ask if it’s mortal, doesn’t that show lack of knowledge at the time the sin was committed?

Having to ask if it’s mortal presents the obligation to reconcile ones conscience so as not to be guilty of vincible ignorance. One cannot go on commiting acts which are gravely immoral and continue to claim that they weren’t sure if it was a mortal sin or not.

 

[CTA1967]

Having to ask if it’s mortal presents the obligation to reconcile ones conscience so as not to be guilty of vincible ignorance. One cannot go on commiting acts which are gravely immoral and continue to claim that they weren’t sure if it was a mortal sin or not.

This topic was from a quite a while ago, but thanks for replying!
And no, of course I’m saying you should just go around commiting mortal sins just because you don’t know. Just saying that it’s not necessarily technically a mortal sin until you properly inform your conscience (which you should do).