I have a question

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Brisbanelions

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A question:
Two people - one born into a Catholic family and instructed in the Catholic faith; the other, born into a good family with no religious background or affiliations.

The Catholic person grows up with full knowledge of mortal sin and the conditions for same (Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent); the other, obviously no knowledge of these conditions.

Therefore, if both engage in masturbation, only the Catholic is guilty of mortal sin ?
 
Thanks for your reply however I don’t understand how the the non-Catholic be guilty of a mortal sin when they do no possess one of the three i.e. full knowledge ?
 
They do possess the knowledge that what they are doing is wrong. See Romans 2:14-16.
 
Are you saying the non-Catholic should be aware of Romans 2:14-16 ?
 
I know what Paul said, and the non-Catholic is definitely guilty of sin but it may or may not be mortal sin since he may not have done the act with full knowledge that it is wrong. In today’s society the sense of sin is greatly dulled, especially the sense of sexual sin.

No, it is not necessary for the non-Catholic to have read the Biblical passage referred to by the previous poster - which should have been fairly obvious when you looked it up before posting:

Romans 2:14-15: When Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or perhaps excuse them.
 
I get back to the core of my original question - how can the non-Catholic be guilty of mortal sin when they know nothing (through no fault of their own) of the Catholic Church’s requirements for grave sin to occur ?

I was always told that if unsure, or truly believed the sin not to be grave, then there could be no mortal sin.
 
To the extent that full knowledge of the gravity of the sin exists in a person along with the deliberate intent to commit the sin in the face of such knowledge, the participation in grave sin is always mortal.

The fact that even a Catholic can engage in grave sin without sufficient knowledge and/or full consent present making the sin but venial, is evidence enough that the likelihood of mortal sin being attributable to someone without knowledge of the gravity involved is highly without merit.

The reference to Romans 2 is not applicable. Verses 14-15 speak about a Gentile’s being able to excuse himself or judge himself innocent before Christ on Judgment Day on the basis of how he acted during life either in harmony with or against his conscience (read the context, Romans 2:14-16). Paul is not here suggesting that Gentiles will be judged therefore on matters only possible had direct revelation of the Mosaic Law been given to them as it was Israel. He is only stating that all humans have a tendency to instinctively act justly in accordance with Torah principles.

That persons without knowledge of God’s revelation in the Law are not held accountable for that which has not been made a requisite upon them is a major theme of Romans.–See Romans 2:12, 3:19. Compare with Romans 7:7.

Mortal sin is only and always the engaging in serious sin with full knowledge of the gravity of one’s participation in it as well as full consent in such rebellion against God. Ignorance can exist that may make such facets absent in an act that would otherwise be judged grave were ignorance not present.
 
One point I forgot.

The CCC at 1954 and 2070 states that the “law” which is being mentioned in Romans 2:14 that Gentiles are being judged against is “natural law” and not the Mosaic Law. (Romans 1:20) It can be seen as typical of the Law of Christ being written on the hearts of Christians in a similar manner via baptism with the Holy Spirit, but again only typifying this.

The same is brought out in the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, New Testament (RSVCE 2nd Edition) under Romans 2:14.
 
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