How serious a sin is plagiarism?

[Guyonthestreet]

I can be guilty of murder if I hate someone and want to kill them…

Oh man, that’s me cooked then

 

[Thorwald]

I daresay it’s reasonable to suppose that most Christians probably believe in a hierarchy of sins and I was wondering if those that do consider plagiarism to be amongst the more serious sins?

Feel free to offer your (own) opinion and state your (own) reasons.

Cordially,
Mick

Copying someone else’s work and taking credit for it, is deceit. I suppose, that this could fall into the types of sins listed at the end of Romans chpt 1 (Romans 1:29). Even one of the apostles refused to visit and preach in a place where another had already preached, as he did not want to take credit for another’s work. In terms of its ‘hierarchy’, I believe that Romans pretty well spells it out.

 

[dianaiad]

Oh man, that’s me cooked then

Do your truly want to kill someone, or are you just very, very angry?

I mean…if the opportunity were there, and the weapon were there, and you knew that you would never be caught—would you do it?

I think that the answer to this one determines whether you are ‘cooked’ or not, don’t you?

…or, am I wrong?

 

[OneTrueCathApos]

Oh man, that’s me cooked then

Oh then, that explains things…

 

[grandfather]

Copying someone else’s work and taking credit for it, is deceit. I suppose, that this could fall into the types of sins listed at the end of Romans chpt 1 (Romans 1:29). Even one of the apostles refused to visit and preach in a place where another had already preached, as he did not want to take credit for another’s work. In terms of its ‘hierarchy’, I believe that Romans pretty well spells it out.

That is a bit of a stretch, but I guess you then agree with Catohlics that there is mortal and venial sin, right?

 

[kalt]

Do your truly want to kill someone, or are you just very, very angry?

I mean…if the opportunity were there, and the weapon were there, and you knew that you would never be caught—would you do it?

I think that the answer to this one determines whether you are ‘cooked’ or not, don’t you?

…or, am I wrong?

What do you think of thoughts leading to sin? If someone dwells on something, or even has recurring evil thoughts, do you think it could lead to sin?

Many people think that what you think doesn’t matter. Others think that what you think is who you are.

What do you think?

(That’s a lotta thinks.)

 

[grandfather]

Do your truly want to kill someone, or are you just very, very angry?

I mean…if the opportunity were there, and the weapon were there, and you knew that you would never be caught—would you do it?

I think that the answer to this one determines whether you are ‘cooked’ or not, don’t you?

…or, am I wrong?

If you are a Protestant it does not matter to you. There is no distinction between grave and deadly sins, and little white lies. Luther said you could sin all you want as long as you believed in Jesus. Calvin said once you are saved you can not lose your salvation. You can be a mass murderer.

If you are Catholic then it matters to you. It kind of makes you think, how deep of a trouble am I in, when you fall into some sin. Protestants may do that instinctively, but their theology, accept for Methodists, says it does not matter.

In the end what matters to Protestants or Catholics, or what they think or say is irrelevant. All that matters is what God says.

But the topic of discussion is venial and deadly sin, a Catholic doctrine. What is interesting is that Protestants are discussing it at all, since they believe there is no distinction. So what might be the motive?

All of us should always examine our motives in all that we do. If we understand why we do what we do we can tell how spiritually healthy we are. Sometimes we do things blindly. Another thing to be mindful of is that as fallen creatures, we can fall into sin, evil, in any aspect of live, in anything we do, even debating matters of religion.

What would we accomplish then? Can good come from evil? Can a bad tree give good fruit? It is only when we are motivated by charity that we can help ourselves or others. Saint Augustine’s famous comment, “Love and do what you will.” is true. If your actions are motivated by love they will always be right.

To love someone means to will their good. It is very easy to know if we are doing that. It is easy to look into ourselves and see. Do I want to strangle someone or hug them? Is there kindness there or malice? If there is malice and we think we are going to correct someone else we are seriously confused, the blind leading the blind, with logs in their eyes. It makes us impure. So Jesus says before you bring your gift to the altar, go take care of your problem first. Your gift is not acceptable. You are not acceptable. I am no good to you. You can call me Lord, but unless you do what I say, I am not good to you. I tell you to love your enemies. If you do not obey me you have no part in me.

The first work of spiritual mercy is to reprove the sinner. He can not repent unless he knows he needs to repent. If we want that person’s salvation the way we go about confronting him will determine his response. Reproving the sinner is always a delicate business, because we are all in the same boat. The guy who received mercy for his debts and then had his servant cast into prison for not paying up, is not the way to go about it. He called him on his sin and showed no mercy and then lost the mercy he received. Think about that for a second. He received pardon and it was taken away. He was saved and then lost.

If we are sure there are no planks in our eyes and we are motivated by love and pity for a fellow sinner and can approach the person in love we have a chance of being helpful.

Whenever you see people accusing others of evil and rubbing it in you can know the accusers are full of their own sins, but they might be hidden. If a person had God’s grace in his soul he would never do that.

 

[SSTeacher]

Thank you, ladies and gentleman, for the posts so far and for keeping the exchanges focused upon the sin rather than any particular sinner. As Christians, we accept and acknowledge that we are all sinners and we understand that there is a huge difference between making a judgment about an action and passing judgment upon a person since we’ve been sternly warned that the latter is a sin and commanded not to do it.

But the topic of discussion is venial and deadly sin, a Catholic doctrine. What is interesting is that Protestants are discussing it at all, since they believe there is no distinction. So what might be the motive?

The question up for discussion by both Catholics and Non–Catholics is how serious a sin is the sin of plagiarism. A discussion about the exclusively Catholic belief that some sins are “mortal” based upon the Catholic interpretation of a verse in 1 John and whether or not that interpretation is valid would likely derail the thread. I’m hoping that Christians who believe in a hierarchy of sins will contribute but I’d like to point out that such Christians do not necessarily have to conclude, as the Catholic Church does, that there is a hierarchy of consequences that can be proclaimed as fact and that must be believed. As far as I’m concerned all one has to believe in order to be able to contribute something helpful to this thread is that some sins are greater than others.

Encouragingly,
Mick

 

[JonNC]

=grandfather;5468832]If you are a Protestant it does not matter to you. There is no distinction between grave and deadly sins, and little white lies. Luther said you could sin all you want as long as you believed in Jesus. Calvin said once you are saved you can not lose your salvation. You can be a mass murderer.

Just so there is no misunderstanding regarding Luther’s letter to Melanchton, Luther’s hypebole was not intended to give license to sin, rather to express the greatness of Christ’s power to forgive, and His desire to do so. Luterans also believe one can lose their salvation.

If you are Catholic then it matters to you. It kind of makes you think, how deep of a trouble am I in, when you fall into some sin. Protestants may do that instinctively, but their theology, accept for Methodists, says it does not matter.

Actually, Lutherans will tell you that repeated and/or unrepented sin does lead to the loss of salvation, mortal sin, if you will. It is also true that all sin by the unregenerate is mortal sin.

In the end what matters to Protestants or Catholics, or what they think or say is irrelevant. All that matters is what God says.

This is most certainly true.

But the topic of discussion is venial and deadly sin, a Catholic doctrine. What is interesting is that Protestants are discussing it at all, since they believe there is no distinction. So what might be the motive?

All of us should always examine our motives in all that we do. If we understand why we do what we do we can tell how spiritually healthy we are. Sometimes we do things blindly. Another thing to be mindful of is that as fallen creatures, we can fall into sin, evil, in any aspect of live, in anything we do, even debating matters of religion.

What would we accomplish then? Can good come from evil? Can a bad tree give good fruit? It is only when we are motivated by charity that we can help ourselves or others. Saint Augustine’s famous comment, “Love and do what you will.” is true. If your actions are motivated by love they will always be right.

To love someone means to will their good. It is very easy to know if we are doing that. It is easy to look into ourselves and see. Do I want to strangle someone or hug them? Is there kindness there or malice? If there is malice and we think we are going to correct someone else we are seriously confused, the blind leading the blind, with logs in their eyes. It makes us impure. So Jesus says before you bring your gift to the altar, go take care of your problem first. Your gift is not acceptable. You are not acceptable. I am no good to you. You can call me Lord, but unless you do what I say, I am not good to you. I tell you to love your enemies. If you do not obey me you have no part in me.

The first work of spiritual mercy is to reprove the sinner. He can not repent unless he knows he needs to repent. If we want that person’s salvation the way we go about confronting him will determine his response. Reproving the sinner is always a delicate business, because we are all in the same boat. The guy who received mercy for his debts and then had his servant cast into prison for not paying up, is not the way to go about it. He called him on his sin and showed no mercy and then lost the mercy he received. Think about that for a second. He received pardon and it was taken away. He was saved and then lost.

If we are sure there are no planks in our eyes and we are motivated by love and pity for a fellow sinner and can approach the person in love we have a chance of being helpful.

Whenever you see people accusing others of evil and rubbing it in you can know the accusers are full of their own sins, but they might be hidden. If a person had God’s grace in his soul he would never do that.

Agreed.
Jon