Is it a mortal sin to doubt God's existence?

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CurtisHouse

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Hello,

Sometimes I do have doubts as I’m sure most people do. I doubt God’s existence at times and it is just for a brief spell. Minutes later, I will be as zealous as ever once again. When you do doubt the existence of the Eternal God who gave us all life, would that be a mortal sin? Or is it more as to what you do when that doubt creeps into your mind? I definitely need to get back to confession regardless because of other issues but just wondering about the Church’s position on this. I will be bringing this up in my next confession as well regardless of what it said on here. Thank you all in advance and God bless you.
 
A mortal sin requires grave matter, sufficient reflection and full consent of the will.

To seriously doubt the existence of God is a mortal sin against the Divine virtue of Faith. A mortal sin against the Divine virtue of Faith kills that virtue plus Charity in one’s soul.
 
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If you Pm them, ask if you could post their answer here because it is an interesting question.
 
I would suggest that if you’re motivated to go to confession and confess struggling with faith, you haven’t sinned mortally against faith. Also, absolution restores all 7 infused virtues, including that of faith.
 
This may not be exactly a Catholic response per se, but I think it needs to be understood that our human perspective in some sense has priority over all others…as in we have to reason out or actually accept the truth of God’s existence. When we speak of doubt, I don’t think we’re talking about a conscious choice that could really be a sin in most cases, but a conflict in tying the religious position we’ve adopted to our reasoning.

I don’t always like the idea of understanding sin in terms of minute, specific acts, and things like “doubt” are probably the most difficult to break down that way. So in my opinion, this (the doubt thing) is something you maybe should work on, but not worry about.
 
Brian_K said:
I would suggest that if you’re motivated to go to confession and confess struggling with faith, you haven’t sinned mortally against faith.
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Exactly, have you asked yourself why you are doubting the existence of God, yet feel the need to confess to someone about it?

Your doubt may not just be about God exsisting, but maybe its about do you think He hears you.

Besides if you doubt Him and yet are seeking Him that’s not a sin, that’s you asking God for help with your doubts. Keep looking you will find Him

If you truly had doubt you wouldn’t be here. Thank God you are.
 
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There are doubts and then there is not believing in God’s existence.
 
A doubt appearing in your mind is normal. We all have such doubts even if they are fleeting and momentary. Whether it’s a sin or not depends on how you respond when you feel doubt.

If you willfully choose to doubt God and just give into the doubt and not struggle with the doubt, and ultimately reject God, or reject some significant part of the Church teachings, then it may be sinful.

If, on the other hand, you want very much to believe in God or some part of Church teaching, but there is this doubt and you struggle with it but just can’t make it go away, that’s more akin to a spiritual crisis, not a sin.
St. Mother Teresa had such doubts for many, many years and still tried every day to overcome the doubt and most importantly continued living a Christlike life.
Many, many saints have gone through a period where they felt serious doubts about God. They persevered through their doubts and are saints today.
One might pray in such a situation, “I believe, God; help my unbelief”.

I agree that the mere fact that you’re concerned about these doubts, struggle with them, drive them away, and then ask the question here whether they are sinful, indicates that you are not willfully choosing to doubt God and thus it seems unlikely you are committing any sin here.
 
This is untrue. The second requirement isn’t “sufficient reflection” it’s “full knowledge”. By definition, having doubt means incomplete knowledge.
 
Margaret_Ann said:
To seriously doubt the existence of God is a mortal sin against the Divine virtue of Faith. A mortal sin against the Divine virtue of Faith kills that virtue plus Charity in one’s soul.
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That does not sound like what is described in the OP at all.
 
Mark 9: 23 Jesus said to him, “‘If you can!’ Everything is possible to one who has faith.” 24 Then the boy’s father cried out, “I do believe, help my unbelief!” 25 Jesus, on seeing a crowd rapidly gathering, rebuked the unclean spirit and said to it, “Mute and deaf spirit, I command you: come out of him and never enter him again!” 26 Shouting and throwing the boy into convulsions, it came out. He became like a corpse, which caused many to say, “He is dead!” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand, raised him, and he stood up. 28 When he entered the house, his disciples asked him in private, “Why could we not drive it out?” 29 He said to them, “This kind can only come out through prayer.”
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If the doubt turns into an accepted lifestyle (such as identifying as an atheist or a non-Christian) then it is a sin.

Otherwise, probably not. It’s even a means of increasing in virtue. Never having doubts isn’t necessarily a good sign, because it could mean your spirituality isn’t progressing deeper.
 
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No it is not.

You have to have voluntary doubt of faith to be a mortal sin. That means that you simply decide what you want to believe and reject the truth willingly. Like if you were to start simply deciding to believe that God does not exist.

But everyone doubts God. That is a normal part of growing in your faith. I mean the only things that you should have real faith in are the things that you have examined deeply. Not blind faith in God, but faith in God because you have a personally relationship with him that you have developed from deep prayer intersection, experience, love, relationship with Christ.

Doubting God along the way is a natural part of the faith journey. You are not willfully simply deciding to abandon believing in God.

See the difference?
 
Jesus Himself doubted in Matthew 27:46 when He said “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Jesus never sinned so clearly doubting is not a sin. Thoughts aren’t sins, but acting on them is. We all have doubts in one way or another sometimes. But to stop attending Church or praying for instance because of your doubts, that would be sinful
 
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CurtisHouse said:
Hello,

Sometimes I do have doubts as I’m sure most people do. …
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Catechism of the Catholic Church
Faith
2088 The first commandment requires us to nourish and protect our faith with prudence and vigilance, and to reject everything that is opposed to it. There are various ways of sinning against faith:
  • Voluntary doubt about the faith disregards or refuses to hold as true what God has revealed and the Church proposes for belief.
  • Involuntary doubt refers to hesitation in believing, difficulty in overcoming objections connected with the faith, or also anxiety aroused by its obscurity. If deliberately cultivated doubt can lead to spiritual blindness.
  • 2089 Incredulity is the neglect of revealed truth or the willful refusal to assent to it. "
  • Heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which must be believed with divine and catholic faith, or it is likewise an obstinate doubt concerning the same;
  • apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith;
  • schism is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him."11
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A moment of doubt does not a sin make. Simply do not dwell on it, move on and seek God by prayer and meditation.
 
Dolphin said:
Jesus Himself doubted in Matthew 27:46 when He said “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Jesus never sinned so clearly doubting is not a sin.
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Jesus never doubted. What He said was from Psalm 21 (DRV), the great Messianic psalm.

Obviously, Jesus never sinned. However, we can sin if we willfully doubt the existence of God (or violate any of the other Commandments too).
 
Douay-Rheims, Mark 9: 28 (v. 29 in your version): And he said to them: This kind can go out by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
 
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There is nothing wrong with questioning the existence of God. I honestly would hope any logical person would question their beliefs at some point. You need to know why you believe something and you need to ask questions and doubt to really come to the conclusion that your religion or faith is probably the truth. If you are told it’s a sin to question your religion and not be sure it’s true… Well than they don’t want you to think and reason to it on your own because you probably can’t
 
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