If a sin can't be avoided, is it still a sin?

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Sir_Knight

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Being a life long Catholic, this is something that I should know the answer to but I shamefully admit that I don’t.

I was always taught that one of the elements to make something a sin is that you must WANT to do it and actually do it.

Well, what happens if you do NOT want to do it but have no choice and HAVE TO do it; is it still a sin?

This happened to me over the week-end. We stopped in a place to get some food and when we placed our order, I was really hungry and ordered the large portion. As we waited for the food, I was also really thirsty and downed one glass of water and one glass of soda before the meal arrived. As we started eating, I started to get full before completing the meal. The regular portion would have been enough.

Given the fact that the place did not offer a “doggie bag” and I couldn’t take the left over home with me to eat at a later time, I was faced with two choices: (1) either stuff myself and commit the sin of gluttony; or (2) discard the food and commit the sin of being wasteful of food. I didn’t want to commit either sin but I didn’t see any options.

Given the fact that I didn’t want to commit the sin but HAD TO commit the sin, were my actions still sinful even though I didN’T want to do it?

PS: I ended up doing a little of both – eating a little bit to excess in order to reduce the amount that was to be disacrded.
 
Two points:

One: Does a bank teller sinfully provide assistance to the bankrobber by handing over the cash at gun point? Nope.

Two: I have yet to see any official teaching of the Church that it’s a sin to waste food. Just cause Mom used to say it doesn’t make it so. (Of course, that doesn’t automatically make it false, either.)
 
I don’t discern any sin in the situation you describe, but for the sake of argument, let us say either of the two “choices” faced by the hypothetical person in your example were sinful. The situation could have been avoided, because it arose in the first instance from a “near occassion of sin” which could have been avoided. The person in the example you gave entered the restaurant very hungry, and made his decision on what food to order and how much based on his sensual appetite, not on reason. Had this person been in the spiritual habit of disciplining his appetites, he would have been in the habit of always ordering or preparing a moderate amount of food, and would not have been faced with the choice of dealing with too much food.
 
It wasn’t “hypothetical” – it actually happened to me this week-end and with all due respect, I didn’t understand a single thing that you just said :confused: sorry :o
 
Sir Knight:
It wasn’t “hypothetical” – it actually happened to me this week-end and with all due respect, I didn’t understand a single thing that you just said :confused: sorry :o
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To clarify Puzzleannie’s response, don’t put yourself in that situation (which could have been avoided if you ordered with your mind instead of your appetite) again and you won’t have to wonder next time if you commited a sin.

As for this time, IF it was a sin it was venial. But, if it is bothering you, maybe you should bring it up during confession and get some advice on how to not put yourself in that situation again.

Malia
 
I know how to avoid it in the future – either don’t order the larger meal or don’t drink two entire glasses before hand 🙂

So gluttony [sp] / wasting food under these circumstances would be venial? :confused:
 
I really don’t think it was a sin, but a poor judgement call, when you go to Confession tell your Priest, it will help you. Meanwhile if you can, can also put the amount of meal (besides your regular offering) in the Collection plate or Poor Box. Just a thought, my husband did this when he quit smoking, (far worse, then what you did, no way am I comparing you to a smoker) every week what he spent on Cigarettes went into the collection plate. Just an idea.
 
Sir Knight:
It wasn’t “hypothetical” – it actually happened to me this week-end and with all due respect, I didn’t understand a single thing that you just said :confused: sorry :o
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My dear…putting it plainly, You worry too much! Goodness, common sense would tell you NOT to eat or drink too much BEFORE a meal. Keep worrying about silly things and you’ll get an ulcer!
~ Kathy ~
 
Sir Knight,

I found your post very refreshing. I’m glad that you did not dismiss your quandary as unimportant. It is precisely in the getting of the apparently small things right that we get the big ones right. The life of every Christian is a walk of holiness. The whole point is to learn to be in Christ and live with Him in us. I should think that your best avenue is to take this to confession and have a conversation with your priest. I believe we are all called to martyrdom. Whether that martyrdom comes in the form of physical death as the Sudanese and others face all the time or whether it comes as subduing the flesh as we are all called to do and the monks show us how it doesn’t matter.

Seriously and with much respect for your question if you are single you may wish to go into a period of vocational discernment for the monestary. Next to those who physically die for the faith monks are our heroes. We suffer in America because we have a great shortage of them. I think far too many are trying to give you an excuse for not seeing your quandary in terms of the Holy Spirit calling you to higher things.

Please, find the holiest priest you know and talk with him. We aren’t worthy to fully answer your question.

Dan L
 
Well, though I know gluttony is a sin, I have never heard that throwing out the leftovers on a plate that someone else served you is a sin. There is a difference between purposely wasting food others could have enjoyed and not finishing everything on the plate that someone else served you. Perhaps, like others suggested, the problem was in purposely ordering too much food or not willing to wait for your food and drinking a whole glass of soda, which got you into this situation. So, the sin was not unavoidable.

Also, are you sure you weren’t just using the excuse of not being able to take the rest home with you to overeat? Not an accusation, just and idea you can think about. Maybe without noticing it you used it as an excuse to calm your conscience to be able to eat more than you had to? Maybe you complicated things in your head to make sense out of overeating? I dunno.

Next time, just order a normal portion, wait until your food gets there (unless you need something for medical/health reasons) and just don’t overeat. Its like eating a whole cake because it will probably go bad tomorrow. Avoiding having to throw it out does not justify eating a whole cake. Just next time don’t buy a big cake that has to be eaten in a day for you alone.
 
Sir Knight:
So gluttony / wasting food under these circumstances would be venial? :confused:
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Here is a link about gluttony.

whitestonejournal.com/seven/gluttony.html

I agree that it is good of you to be considering the situation and wondering if you sinned and how not to again.

Between all of us here at CAF and doing your own research you should be able to grow spiritually from this and become an even better Christian.

Byt the way, let me remind you (because I know you already know this) but in order for a sin to be mortal you must meet 3 condtions:
  1. full knowledge
  2. full consent of the will
  3. grave matter
Now, I am not sure if this is grave matter, but from your original post it doesn’t sound like you meet the other 2 conditions.

Full knowledge, to me, would mean that you thought about it first and decided that drinking the soda and water and ordering the bigger portion was what you wanted even though you knew it would mean you’d waste food and/or overeat.

Full consent of the will, to me, means knowing the above and choosing to do it anyway even though you were fully aware of it being bad.

It sounds like you used poor judgement and made a mistake. Hey, it happens.

Malia
 
Sir Knight,

Despite the fact that virtually everyone wishes to dismiss your concern as mere scrupulosity I hope that you will go to the holiest priest you know and consult with him. I know that you are retired but there is certainly a need and a place for someone who seeks holiness no matter his age. I wish that more of us cared about holiness as you seem to.

Dan L
 
It is not a sin to discard left over food. But, what place did you eat that has nothing that you can carry food in? It doesn’t have to be “official” doggy bag. It can be any sort of container or wrapping. Over eating is a problem with me, and it took me a long time to get over “cleaning my plate”. There are all sorts of creative ways to get leftover food home. If nothing else, take it home in a piece of foil or paper and feed it to the dog.

As to “wasting food”…did someone suffer because you had leftover food on your plate? Your eating or not eating that food does not save any starving children in china…doesn’t affect them at all. I’m not saying it very well…
If there was someone there hungry and in need, and you refused them food, but instead threw it away…that would be wrong not because the food was wasted, but because you denied someone charity. The lack of charity would be the sin, not the food in the trash. Am I making any sense?
 
Dan, thank you for your kind words. I will give your suggestions serious consideration.

… and thank you to everyone else for your thoughtful replies ad may God bless.
 
Sir Knight:
It wasn’t “hypothetical” – it actually happened to me this week-end and with all due respect, I didn’t understand a single thing that you just said :confused: sorry :o
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I will try again.
If you made a mistake in judgement, that is not a sin.
Your question was about a sin that cannot be avoided. All sin can be avoided if you refrain from putting yourself in situations where temptation is present and sin is easy or likely.
 
Sir Knight,

I would highly reccomend you study the life of Saint Therese. The book I just finished was , " Saint Therese of Lisuex:Her Family, Her God, Her Message" by Fr. Bernard Bro. Really really amazing. Her way is called the “little way.” She did things that were so small, yet with the utmost charity and love. She refused to tell anyone when she was cold or hungry. When sitting at her place at the dining table the sister next to her, at every meal, would drink her glass of water. Did she complain? No, she offered it up to God.

I do think we must be cautious of being so fearful of sin that we become as Luther did! We must fear sin, but we must also rest in the mercy of our God. Saint Therese offered herself to God’s Divine Mercy, as should we all.

God bless.
 
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