Is Mortal Sin Over-Estimated?

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whatistrue said:
Same objection to using that source applies as before. Refute the CCC with the CCC or a source at least as authoritative.
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Do you remember saying to me, Reading comprehension is your friend?

Look at the quote Jimmy used that answers this and see who it is from. It’s JPII the one who ALSO gave us the CCC
 
And? Was it made part of the CCC? It is clear to me that you are simply arguing rather than debating. No time for that. Peace; I am done.
 
whatistrue said:
And? Was it made part of the CCC? It is clear to me that you are simply arguing rather than debating. No time for that. Peace; I am done.
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The understanding of it is.

John Paul II wrote:
During the synod assembly some fathers proposed a threefold distinction of sins, classifying them as venial, grave and mortal. This threefold distinction might illustrate the fact that there is a scale of seriousness among grave sins. But it still remains true that the essential and decisive distinction is between sin which destroys charity and sin which does not kill the supernatural life: There is no middle way between life and death.
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And so (here comes the money quote) . . .
Considering sin from the point of view of its matter, the ideas of death, of radical rupture with God, the supreme good, of deviation from the path that leads to God or interruption of the journey toward him (which are all ways of defining mortal sin) are linked with the idea of the gravity of sin’s objective content. Hence, in the church’s doctrine and pastoral action,grave sin is in practice identified with mortal sin.
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So that’s from the pope JPII to the bishops
 
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What the church says is a mortal sin isn’t always mortal in one’s conscience. And the church will even declare that as a truth.

The problem lies with people’s conscience not being formed via confession. If you don’t confess your sins and become more knowledgeable about sin, how does one expect to form conscience?

It’s about the or the only proper way to repent.
 
Sorry if I misunderstood someone, however just as Jesus warned His Disciples mortal sin is truly catastrophic.

I agree with you that we will always try to justify it, so I would argue it might be easier done than many assume. If we are only relying on our own judgement, many things which the Catholic Church hold as mortal sin would likely end up being justified by ourselves.
 
I wish that was true, however I do not believe so.

Mortal sin has been fully embraced by many, Jesus said the path to perdition is wide and many go happily through it. It does not take much to see all the great evil done in our world everyday, and most of the people doing it have absolutely no problem with it, they will even defend it.
 
Of course it is, I do not think Jesus is asking anyone to mutilate themselves, however it does clearly stress the extreme measures we need to take to stay away from sin.
 
RealisticCatholic said:
NOTES: (1) I am not talking about sin in general. I think the culture underestimates sin and evil, and I think the Church can even do so as well. (2) I am NOT denying Mortal Sin is possible.

Rather, I’m talking about Mortal Sin specifically: Sin which leaves us graceless and damnable.

My issue is this: I almost hear about Mortal Sin too casually from many Catholic quarters, as if it’s just a given. Like, there’s almost this impression that people – even active Catholics – just go in and out of mortal sin often enough. Even monthly or what have you. You’ll hear people (on radio, or on CAF, etc.) advise that one just “refrains from communion because of mortal sin. But just be sure to go to confession!” etc.

While I think we need to remember the seriousness of sin, I think we sometimes over-do the whole “Mortal Sin” thing.

Do you sense this, too?
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No formal sin occurs without a free will choice, so venial sin could be with partial consent only but mortal sin requires full consent. Some may be confused on that issue, but I think some people need to avoid the near and voluntary occasions.
 
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LawyersGunsAndMoney said:
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John10:
On the contrary, I believe we underestimate the great damage mortal sin does to us and those around us.
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Anyway, my intuition leads me to the same thought, but I’m hesitant to trust that because it could just be me trying to rationalize doing something I shouldn’t.
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This.One of our biggest pitfalls regarding mortal sin , I feel …rationalizating doing something I shouldn’t .
 
So two thirds of the angels made it to heaven. What percentage of humans do you think?
 
Who knows, but by looking at what is happening in the world right now, I do not think the odd are good.
 
It a funny question really ,is mortal sin ever over estimated 🤔
Over estimated by whom?
Self justification ,is just that,these times are very selfish …people blind themselves to what’s real,making up excuses to self ,me included when I fall to mortal sin.Accountability is something we all have to really work on .
 
Well I don’t know either. But wouldn’t you think that with the Son of God becoming man in order to redeem us, we would at least do as well as the angels? I think because Jesus was human he said, forgive them father for they know not what they do.
You are certainly not in the minority looking at all the sinful behavior and concluding many will go to hell, but I don’t think that is so. Certainly for us who have been given all the advantages of Catholic education the bar may be higher! “Judge not less you be judged!” The mercy of God is boundless.
 
John10 said:
And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. (Matthew 18:9)
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Jesus, Who Loves You, Warned Frequently About Hell by Msgr Charles Pope - " Matt 5:29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. We make light of sin, but the Lord does not. He is not saying that we should mutilate ourselves, but rather that it is more serious to sin than to lose our eye, foot, or hand. We do not think this way, but God does. He warns us that our most serious problem is not our physical health or finances or any other passing problem; our most serious problem is our sin." The whole article is good.

Salted with fire - by Msgr Charles Scicluna - ““And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off” (Mark 9:43).
“And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off” (Mark 9:45).
“And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out” (Mark 9:47).” also covers this.

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW Lesson 19, Chapter 18 Discourse #4: The Sermon on the Life of the Community - Matthew 18:6-9 ~ Temptations to Sin
 
PatK63 said:
Certainly for us who have been given all the advantages of Catholic education the bar may be higher! “Judge not less you be judged!” The mercy of God is boundless.
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That is true, the more you know, the more is expected from you, however it follows God would have to also provide therefore the needed Grace to help us remain in His friendship. So this is not necessarily something to be afraid of, ignorance is not a virtue. The more you know the better you’ll be prepared to deal with evil and live according to what God is expecting of us.
PatK63 said:
“Judge not less you be judged!”
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I must say that this is something often misunderstood. What I’ve learn is that this means we cannot judge a person’s soul, we will never have all the facts to fully understand the motivation behind people’s behaviour, only God is in position to justly and reliably bring judgement on someone.

Having said that, this does not mean to be indifferent toward evil. That is indeed not good, but rather very bad to do. Allowing evil to go unchecked is never a good thing, remaining silent when we should have spoken or done something about is not good. So we have to really understand the meaning of the Bible passages because they are not as straight forward as people think.
 
I agree with all that but I thought the debate was how many will go to heaven?
 
Ok, in that regard nobody knows. However Jesus mentioned that is not something important to know for our salvation. There are many unknowns in the Catholic faith (like Jesus childhood, which is almost entirely unknown).

Having said that, by looking at the world I would guess there are not too many. But then again, who besides God knows that?
 
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