Is it easier to post what isn't a sin?

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Oh, so if that briefcase happened to contain, say, a million dollars, the owner would just chuckle, and say “Oh, thats ok, It was just an accident.”

Come on Vince, be logical here.
I am being logical. And more relevantly, I think, trying to understand what the Catholic Church teaches.

Sin (or any crime) is not defined by the victim’s response to it. Is it?

Sin is defined, as the Church teaches, by object, intent, and circumstances.

So, again, your example is simply an innocent mistake. Not a sin. As you note “if” the briefcase contained a million dollars. The person mistakenly taking the wrong briefcase did not know such. There was no intent to steal a million dollars (or to steal anything).

It’s not logical to think that someone taking a wrong briefcase, by mistake, does so imagining there is a million dollars in it.
 
If you assume that the two are equivalent and apply the criteria above re: the morality of actions, then it is absolutely possible to sin without intent.
What is the source for the citations you provided? A dictionary, or Catholic teaching?

I disagree it is possible to sin without intent.

It is certainly possible to do wrong, or intrinsically evil acts, without intent. As the Catechism notes, sin involves “disobedience.” That involves intent, necessarily (though you may think otherwise?).

If you think people can sin without intent, please show where in the Catechism or other Catholic teaching this is clarified. Thanks.
 
I am being logical. And more relevantly, I think, trying to understand what the Catholic Church teaches.
Then provide references to something that shows your point.
Sin (or any crime) is not defined by the victim’s response to it. Is it?

Some are, but I get your drift. Lets use a different example then. You are happily motoring down the highway, cruising at 65. When the speed limit drops to 55, you arent looking and dont see it. Have you broken the law? Yes. Is that disobedience to the law of the state? Yes. Intentional or not you disobeyed a lawful command to limit your speed to 55.
Sin is defined, as the Church teaches, by object, intent, and circumstances.

Citation? I read that in 1750 regarding Morality of Actions which you told me below was not equal to sin… you are confusing me (and that is easy today)

And ANY of those three being sinful makes the entire action sinful. If the object is evil, the whole thing is sinful even if your intention is perfectly good. If the circumstances are evil, the whole thing is sinful even if your intentions are perfectly good.
So, again, your example is simply an innocent mistake. Not a sin. As you note “if” the briefcase contained a million dollars. The person mistakenly taking the wrong briefcase did not know such. There was no intent to steal a million dollars (or to steal anything).
The question was not “Sin”, but crime. Was it a crime?
It’s not logical to think that someone taking a wrong briefcase, by mistake, does so imagining there is a million dollars in it.
The point was that intent was irrelevant. I can only hope that you would be so magnanimous should you be the one to lose something in these situations.
Of course not.

The CCC 1750 cites Catholic teaching on the sources for morality.

Acts that go against those criteria are, likely, occasions of sin (whether mortal or venial).
And we know that venial sin does not require full knowledge or intent.
What is the source for the citations you provided? A dictionary, or Catholic teaching?
I have already addressed this.
I disagree it is possible to sin without intent.
Fair enough. Disagree away 👍
It is certainly possible to do wrong, or intrinsically evil acts, without intent. As the Catechism notes, sin involves “disobedience.” That involves intent, necessarily (though you may think otherwise?).
So it is possible to do evil without sin? Very interesting.
If you think people can sin without intent, please show where in the Catechism or other Catholic teaching this is clarified. Thanks.
Already done. I have asked you three or four times to provide source material for your views and you have failed to do so. I will not reply any longer without at least a modicum of proof on your part that your views have some basis in Catholic theology. I will allow you the one 1750 MAY apply, if you squint a bit at the text ;), but you have provided nothing else.

FTR, I am quoting what the Jews viewed as sins since they are our forefathers and out of them came salvation to the world.
“'Al Ḥeṭ.”
In the post-exilic period the inclination toward idolatry was eradicated, and the disposition toward fornication was weakened (Yoma 69b). The list of sins in the confession of Yom Kippur gives an idea of the rabbinical conception of sin. The “'Al Ḥeṭ” was extended from the simple formula in the Talmud (Yoma 87b) to that of the Geonim, which includes the Ashamnu, 'Al Ḥeṭ, and “'Al Ḥaṭa’im” (“Seder R.'Amram,” p. 48a; see also Aḥai Gaon, “She’eltot,” § 167). The “Ashamnu” is in alphabetical order and enumerates the following sins: “trespass, treachery, slander, presumptuousness, violence, lying, scoffing, rebellion, blasphemy, oppression, extreme wickedness, corruption.” The “'Al Ḥeṭ” qualifies man’s sins and makes him ask forgiveness for the sins which have been committed against God “either (1) by compulsion or (2) voluntarily, (3) unwittingly or (4) with knowledge, (5) in private or (6) in public, (7) presumptuously or (8) without intent.” The “'Al Ḥaṭa’im” classifies sins as those “for which we were obliged to bring a trespass-offering, . . . a burnt offering, . . . a sin-offering; for the sins for which we were obliged to suffer the penalty of receiving stripes, becoming childless, being extirpated or killed by death from heaven, four modes of death by bet din” (“Seder R. 'Amram,” l.c.). The single alphabetical list of the “'Al Ḥeṭ” was formulated later; it is mentioned by Maimonides, and is found almost entire in the present “Minhag Sefarad.” The double alphabetical list of the “'Al Ḥeṭ,” as found in the “Minhag Ashkenaz,” dates probably from the thirteenth century (comp. the Vitry Maḥzor, pp. 390-391, and the prayer-book and Maḥzor for the Day of Atonement).
SOURCE
 
The question was not “Sin”, but crime. Was it a crime?
As a lawyer I can tell you absolutely not. The definition of theft in the law of my jurisdiction is, if memory serves, ‘taking something with the intent of depriving the rightful owner of possession.’ I’d imagine most jurisdictions define it similarly.

In the mixed-up briefcase example there was no intent of depriving the rightful owner - the perpetrator thought he WAS the rightful owner. So no crime, at least not unless he decides to keep the case AFTER discovering it isn’t his.

And, just like sin, most crimes require at least some mental element - if not actual intent, then either a level of recklessness or negligence. As in the case of the person who doesn’t check the speed limit signs and so exceeds the speed limit, even though they know that they are required to be aware of, and drive below, the speed limit at all times and in all places.

Even WITH that all being said, the perpetrator will not be punished if they can prove that there was no way that they could BE aware of the change in speed limit. If, for example, the sign was concealed from view of the road by overgrown bushes or had been vandalised so as to be unreadable or something.

Point being, neither sin nor crime is usually an issue merely of what you are doing objectively being against the moral or criminal law, there has to be some element of ‘you OUGHT to have known better than to do this’ before one will be punished by God or the state for a breach.

Bear in mind God’s law is different, and in some ways less stringent, than human criminal law. For mortal sin, FULL knowledge and FULL intent are required. One can’t, as far as I understand, be guilty of a mortal sin accidentally or in ignorance. For that matter I don’t think one can commit ANY sin purely accidentally. And if one is negligent or reckless, or perhaps ignorant, as far as I understand, at the most one might be liable as if for a venial rather than mortal sin.

As for the question of ‘can one commit evil without sin’, depends on your definition of evil. Merriam Webster gives two definitions


  1. *]morally wrong
    *]causing discomfort or repulsion, disagreeable

    .

    A one-year-old child can, without intent of any kind, accidentally pick up a kitchen knife and stab it into its mother’s leg. Such an act is not evil in the first sense of the word, as the child has done nothing morally wrong.

    It IS evil in the second sense, as the mother certainly suffers ‘discomfort’ and finds the act ‘disagreeable’ to say the least.
 
Some are, but I get your drift.
Great. But you didn’t provide any example or refutation? Where is sin (or crime) defined exclusively dependent on the victim’s perception/experience?
Lets use a different example then. You are happily motoring down the highway, cruising at 65. When the speed limit drops to 55, you arent looking and dont see it. Have you broken the law? Yes. Is that disobedience to the law of the state? Yes. Intentional or not you disobeyed a lawful command to limit your speed to 55.
Ok, let’s play along with this. It’s either intentional or not (most likely intentional…unless you suggest that the typical driver is completely unaware and unobservant of speed limits?). Even if it is, truly, unintentional, then it’s a matter of ignorance (i.e. the unlikely imho situation that someone exceeding the speed limit is in fact completely unaware that there is a speed limit). Surely a rare case, right? To claim no intent is involved means one must be not only unaware of what a given speed limit is at a certain point, but also to claim one is unaware of speed limits.

Again, your example is not someone “accidentally” exceeding the speed limit the way the prior example is one of someone “accidentally” picking up the wrong briefcase. Any licensed driver is aware of the fact that there are speed limits, and it’s the responsibility of said driver to know and obey posted speed limits. If they are not posted, that’s a different instance. If the driver chooses to ignore or not pay attention to posted limits, that’s intent.
 
Citation? I read that in 1750 regarding Morality of Actions which you told me below was not equal to sin… you are confusing me (and that is easy today)
No, I never said CCC 1750 was not equal to sin. In fact, I think I cited this paragraph previously to support my understanding of what constitutes sin, i.e., all three elements cited by this paragraph. All three. Not just one or two.

Maybe I’m confused? Thanks for any clarification.
 
And ANY of those three being sinful makes the entire action sinful. If the object is evil, the whole thing is sinful even if your intention is perfectly good. If the circumstances are evil, the whole thing is sinful even if your intentions are perfectly good.
No, this is not what CCC 1750 says. All three are constitutive in determining the morality of human acts. Not just any one of the three.

One can be wrong by violating any one or more of these three elements. Being wrong is not the same as sinning.
 
T

The question was not “Sin”, but crime. Was it a crime?
I don’t know if it was a crime. That would depend on local civil law, and more information. I doubt many civil authorities would consider picking up the wrong briefcase by mistake is a crime, but maybe there are some you know of.

Either way, a hypothetical situation. Given the forum we are on, I’m more interested in discussing “sin” than only “crime”.
 
The point was that intent was irrelevant. I can only hope that you would be so magnanimous should you be the one to lose something in these situations.
Intent may be irrelevant to the situation you posed.

Regardless, regarding sin, according to Catholic teaching, intent is not irrelevant. See CCC 1750.
 
T

Already done. I have asked you three or four times to provide source material for your views and you have failed to do so. I will not reply any longer without at least a modicum of proof on your part that your views have some basis in Catholic theology. I will allow you the one 1750 MAY apply, if you squint a bit at the text ;), but you have provided nothing else.
No need to squint. Just read what’s there.

FTR, I’m quoting what the Catholic Church teaches regarding sin. I don’t know if that is coherent with what Jews today teach regarding sin.
 
So I apologize for zombifying this thread, but I was going through it again and it made me think back then too.

I think the issue where I had disagreement with the other psoters was more a matter of communication than anything else.

The intent to do the action must be present in order for it to be sinful, an unintended action is not sinful.

HOWEVER, we can still sin without intent TO SIN and it is therefore venial sin. Take, for instance, an atheist woman who has an abortion. The three criteria for mortal sin are Grave matter, full knowledge of the sinful nature of the act, and full consent. For this woman, hopefully, she would not know or understand that the child growing inside her womb is a child and would therefore not have met all three criteria. But she would still be guilty of having killed her child and therefore sinning.

The same situation applies to a man who has little to no knowledge of the moral and theological implications of sex who engages in promiscuous sex. His lack of knowledge relegates this action to the level of venial sin, but still sin.

Does that clear up my understanding at all or am I still clear as mud? I wish I could better explain my standpoint sometimes…
 
I’m reading though many of these threads, am I’m simply gob-smacked at what the Catholic Church regards as a sin. I would never even have considered that most of the stuff were sins.

I’m probably constantly sinning and don’t even realise it.

Would it not be easier to post a list of what isn’t sinning?
Based on what I have seen, heard, and read of Catholicism…yes.
 
Based on what I have seen, heard, and read of Catholicism…yes.
lol, not at all.

Its simple, if a thing is done out of a pure love of God then it is good, assuming you are not ignoring his commandments and the new testament command. Whatever is done without the love of God as its cause is sinful. The rest is just details.

The problem that protestants have with the Catholic understanding of sin is that they cannot understand (or accept) the biblical teaching of two levels of sins, those that are “run of the mill” and do not break communion with God and those which “cry out to heaven” and DO break our communion with God.
 
lol, not at all.

Its simple, if a thing is done out of a pure love of God then it is good, assuming you are not ignoring his commandments and the new testament command. Whatever is done without the love of God as its cause is sinful. The rest is just details.

The problem that protestants have with the Catholic understanding of sin is that they cannot understand (or accept) the biblical teaching of two levels of sins, those that are “run of the mill” and do not break communion with God and those which “cry out to heaven” and DO break our communion with God.
As I understand it there are three types of sins in Catholicism.

Sinful actions, sinful words, and of course sinful thoughts/feelings.

An action (like murder) can in of itself be sinful, but even if the action is morally neutral (or even good) it becomes sinful if motivated by sinful thoughts or feelings. Moreover if you have sinful thoughts or feelings while doing something, that action automatically becomes sinful.

So virtually everything we ever do is sinful in some way.
 
As I understand it there are three types of sins in Catholicism.

Sinful actions, sinful words, and of course sinful thoughts/feelings.

An action (like murder) can in of itself be sinful, but even if the action is morally neutral (or even good) it becomes sinful if motivated by sinful thoughts or feelings. Moreover if you have sinful thoughts or feelings while doing something, that action automatically becomes sinful.

So virtually everything we ever do is sinful in some way.
What you have outline are some of the modes in which sin can be perpetuated and not types of sins. There are, however, only two* types* of sin; mortal and venial. Furthermore, to purport ‘virtually everything’ we do is sinful because we all act, speak and think is incongrous with fair reasoning. It’s fairer to say that’s there a *potential *for sin in almost everything we can do.
 
I’m reading though many of these threads, am I’m simply gob-smacked at what the Catholic Church regards as a sin. I would never even have considered that most of the stuff were sins.

I’m probably constantly sinning and don’t even realise it.

Would it not be easier to post a list of what isn’t sinning?
Probably. What would be really difficult would be to follow Jesus. That would show us how far off the mark we really are. God Bless Ya.
 
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