Is not doing God's will a sin?

[SuperDarkMan12]

Ok, I met some people somewhere and I felt I was called to evangelize them. Well, I didn’t really evangelize them (just recommended them a catholic book). I felt that God wanted me to though, yet I simply gave them a book recommendation because it felt to weird. Am I just being scrupulous or is this a sin? uch:

 

[thistle]

ok, i met some people somewhere and i felt i was called to evangelize them. Well, i didn’t really evangelize them (just recommended them a catholic book). I felt that god wanted me to though, yet i simply gave them a book recommendation because it felt to weird. Am i just being scrupulous or is this a sin? uch:

scrupulous!

 

[Regina7]

Recommending a book IS evangelization. Perhaps this will start a conversation or lead them to the Church.

 

[JRKH]

scrupulous!

Recommending a book IS evangelization. Perhaps this will start a conversation or lead them to the Church.

I agree.

We should not confuse weakness with sin. You did the best you could at that time and in that situation. Could you have done more or better? Maybe - but we on the internet cannot tell for we do not know you well enough.
If you feel that you did not do enough - if you feel that you want to be able to do better - then take this to God in prayer. Ask him to strengthen and lead you.
But don’t beat yourself up over this.

Peace
James

 

[DavidFilmer]

You don’t know if your “feeling” was truly God’s will. If it was, you don’t know how God wanted you to act. You don’t whether or not you did what God wanted (if he wanted anything).

That’s a lot of “don’t knows.”

You asked if it was a sin. We cannot sin (not even venially) unless we KNOW we are sinning (at the time of the sin). Even venial sin requires knowledge of the sinful nature of the act at the time it was committed (or, in this case, omitted).

We might look back on something and think we should have handled it differently. We might conclude we handled it very poorly. But, unless you KNEW at the time that your actions were sinfully negligent (which you had no way to know, either then or now) then you committed no sin.

 

[JRKH]

You don’t know if your “feeling” was truly God’s will. If it was, you don’t know how God wanted you to act. You don’t whether or not you did what God wanted (if he wanted anything).

That’s a lot of “don’t knows.”

You asked if it was a sin. We cannot sin (not even venially) unless we KNOW we are sinning (at the time of the sin). Even venial sin requires knowledge of the sinful nature of the act at the time it was committed (or, in this case, omitted).

I have a hard time with this…On some levels I understand it, but on other levels I don’t see it holding true. It gets into the question of what constitutes “knowing”.
It also makes it seem like it is better to not inform others of what constitutes sin, since their ignorance protects them from sinning…

But I suppose this is really a topic for a separate thread…

Peace
James

 

[Mintaka]

Okay, so let’s say God is watching you walk along.

Walking is a good thing, nothing wrong or sinful about it, and God does will that we should be able to walk around, yay!

Now, let’s say God gives you a little nudge or whisper: “Evangelize those guys!” God is not telling you to stop sinning and start doing something good, because you weren’t sinning to start out with. He is calling you to stop doing something good and start doing another something good. (In this case, evangelization is a higher good than walking.)

When you are presented with a choice between two good things, you use prudence to choose between them. (And in this case, maybe you need courage too.) So you exercise a virtue (or two). Either way you choose, you are still going to do a good thing, although choosing the higher thing may strengthen your virtues.

In this case, you chose to evangelize, and then you ended up doing a less formal kind of evangelization than you had originally planned. You exercised prudence, even if you were not able to carry out your choice as you’d planned; and you exercised a little courage, even if not as much as you’d planned.

In general, you did a good job, and a good deed. Execution may have been a little sloppy, but practice makes perfect. Good for you!

 

[Frankenfurter]

Share the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words

 

[Rob_in_Oregon]

We have to be careful about sensing God’s will intuitively. I could be God telling us that we need to do something, or it could be just our own psychological thought processes. I’ve seen a lot of people do very weird things and say, “God told me to do this,” and they’re obviously wrong. I think you are being a bit hard on yourself. I’m certain that God is very pleased you recommended the book. Pax Christi… - Rob in Oregon

 

[Ignatius]

Am I just being scrupulous ? uch:

Yes. Giving someone Catholic literature IS evangelizing them.