Sir Knight:
I was always taught that in order for something to be a sin, a person must know that it is a sin and must want to do it. Suppose you know that something is a sin and really don’t want to do it but have no way out and consciously do it. Is it still a sin?
Well if you are consciously doing it then there is a way out, i.e. not doing it. But you could ask whether something which is ordinarily a sin would still be a sin when not doing it would have some negative consequences like in your example. For some things that are intrinsically evil (like denying Christ), it wouldn’t matter; it would still be a sin. For other things which are not intrinsically evil (like eating meat on Ash Wednesday) it can matter.
For example … Let’s say it’s Ash Wednesday or Good Friday and that fact totally slips your mind. You go to supper with friends and order a thick steak. As you are about to take the first bite, it suddenly hits you that it is Ash Wednesday (or Good Friday). Assuming the place does not provide doggie bags for you to take the food home to eat on a later day, what do you do?
I think you could just assume there that the Church when making that legislation didn’t want you to follow it so strictly that you would end up wasting food. I think you should think of Church laws as rules laid down by a mother that cares for your well being. I mean obviously for instance if you were homeless and the only food you had was meat, the Church would not ask you to have that food go to waste on Fridays of Lent. Likewise, I think if you were poor or even if you are rich but you have a charity for the poor or homeless that makes you not want to waste any food, then the Church would not ask you to deliberately waste food in that circumstance.
Another situation might be if you were a guest in some foreign country and some hosts served you meat on a day of abstinence and they would be greatly offended if you didn’t have any and because of an inability to communicate (i.e. they do not speak English and you do not speak their language) you could not explain the reason for refusing their dish – well the Church would not ask you to hold fast to the law so strictly here that you would cause great emotional offense and distress to your hosts. The purpose of all the Church’s laws is to help us increase our charity, our love of God and love of our neighbor in God’s love – we do not fast or abstain for its own sake, but for the sake of God who loves the poor, the hungry, and does not want to see hosts suffer emotional harm. In the case of fasting and abstinence it is in particular meant to foster a life of prayer.
Though this is not required, you could if you wanted to in any of the above circumstances where you end up eating meat, do some other little thing to make yourself one with the Church’s prayer and fasting and abstinence – maybe pass on desert or something like that.
Back to the orignal question – if you know that something is a sin and really don’t want to do it but have no way out and consciously do it anyway, is it still a sin?
It is but your example is not like that. In your example, what would ordinarily be a sin is not a sin. That’s because the Church’s laws are not supposed to be interpreted so strictly and rigidly that they would interfere with normal, healthy human living – including the right desire to not waste food, especially when so many today are hungry.
Another example would be going to Mass. The Church does not expect or require you to go to Mass on Sunday if the only for you to go would be say a 2 hour drive or say a 1 hour walk … those would be clear cases … or even if it was only a 10 minute walk but it was raining cats and dogs. Just think to yourself would our
Mother the Church want me to do this? When the Church enacted this law did she really mean for me to follow it so strictly and exactly so as to do even this?
This principle of interpreting law is called in Catholicism “epikeia” As I mentioned, it doesn’t apply to things that are intrinsically wrong such as hating God.
Incidentally what you wondered about does apply to cases of placing one’s self unintentionally in an occasion of sin. If there’s as you say “no way out” – then it’s not a sin for you to place yourself in an occasion of sin as long as you are not trying to tempt yourself. So for instance, if a member of the opposite sex wants to shake your hand and shaking this person’s hand has in the past been an occasion of sin (thoughts of lust) – you can still go ahead and shake his hand, since not doing so could offend him greatly … and you can rely on God through prayer so that you don’t commit any mortal sin there.
It is not anything like what I have read before on this topic. This is how the very same action can be seen as evil or devout, depending on the motivation. Perhaps to justify my earlier comments, if the motivational part is unclear we can start from the known behavior we should exhibit (“eat what is put before you”) and then deconstruct “why” that is right as a separate exercise. We are often taught that our devotions are so sacred they should be held up for all to see, but this is exactly contrary to the Good News who said to do our prayer in private.