Is there always a temporal consequence for sin?

[michael-kaw]

Is there, no matter what, a temporal consequence for sin. How bad are they? Would the consequence always be linked with the sin in question in a direct way? Would the consequence be worse for mortal sins? Would the consequence always happen after the confession?

 

[Reuben_J]

Jesus said no and because it is between the Father and us, we will receive the consequence of sin when we will meet Him.

However, that should not be confused with the effect of sin, which can be experienced on earth.

 

[LittleFlower378]

There is always “pain” involved with any sin, even repented sin. We can suffer the pain now or we can suffer after we die. I prefer to suffer now. Penance is a great tool.

 

[michael-kaw]

Thanks. But if you gossiped for example, would a temporal consequence be something like you fall out with a friend or would the consequence be linked directly with the sin?

 

[2towers]

Consequences are all over the place. You yourself could get gossiped about, you could be confronted and be made to feel shameful, lots of stuff. or… you could pull a few days in purgatory over it depending on how bad it was.

However,
You could confess this. You can make big efforts to not do this, you could negate time that would have been spent in purgatory over it [the stain of sin after confession] You could be kind and say niche things about the people you gossiped over. You could tell the people you gossiped WITH that you should not have done it.[ something I myself do when I fall into this] You could pray and do good works to mitigate this and other sins.

 

[StevenFrancis]

Sin is an intentional moving away from the Lord. “Those who love me keep my commandments”. The consequences of UNREPENTED sin is death. That is, the loss of eternal life with our Lord, and eternal death, (separation from God without hope), or “hell”. As a Catholic, I both believe and embrace the Churches teaching on purgation. So, personally, I wish to experience as much of my temporal punishments, (to the extent possible, and given as grace by God), during this life, so that I may be embraced by my Lord and Savior at the second of my death. No sin goes unpunished. Temporal punishment is a grace granted by God in order for us to remove the obstacles we carry in us as fallen creatures to full surrender to God in perfect love. But Jesus will even help us shoulder the burden of our temporal punishments if we only ask. “Come to me all who are weary, and I will give you rest. My burdens are easy and my yoke is light”. But yes. …there is always a temporal consequence for sin. Thanks be to God.

 

[Vico]

Is there, no matter what, a temporal consequence for sin.

Unhealthy Attachment

Catechism states:

1472 … every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory. This purification frees one from what is called the “temporal punishment” of sin. …

 

[Reuben_J]

Thanks. But if you gossiped for example, would a temporal consequence be something like you fall out with a friend or would the consequence be linked directly with the sin?

If you are talking in that sense, yes. Maybe I misunderstood. I was thinking more on consequence like punishment.

I would say that is the effect of sin, which of course, varies, according to the sin. Everything has a cause and effect, and it is no different for sins, though sometimes perhaps it may be less felt and understood or more indirect.

God bless.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Some sins have no earthly effects. You could conceivably miss Mass on Sunday for 20 years for example and nothing bad in an earthly sense would happen to you; if you do not have children, family or other close associates who are hurt by your bad example, then nothing bad in an earthly sense would happen to others either.

However, you would be hurting yourself in a spiritual, non-temporal way by distancing yourself from God.

Edited to add, thinking back on my past life especially when young, I think it’s important that people realize there may or may not be any temporal consequences for a sin. Growing up, pretty much every cautionary tale for children, young people, and even some for adults that involved a character committing a wrong act ended up with the character suffering bad earthly consequences as a results of his/ her act. People who stole got caught and punished; people who skipped Mass would have some terrible accident when they went off to have fun, or their parents would find out and be angry with them; people who had illicit sex ended up with an unwed pregnancy, or with an STD, or with their spouse finding out and divorcing them.

The problem is that if you grow up with this mindset, eventually you commit some sin and see that nothing happens in an earthly sense as a result of the sin, and that makes you question everything you learned about sin. Each time you sin and get away with it, it’s a further “proof” that nothing happens and sin is not the big deal it’s cooked up to be. This is how I slid into bigger and bigger sins. When I finally stopped it was because I realized the desire to please God, even though if I committed sin X, Y or Z nothing much was probably going to happen to me in the here and now.

 

[Jump4Joy]

It’s difficult to believe sometimes they are no earthly consequences for sin. Some people are “wise” enough to only sin in ways they wouldn’t hurt them. We can only feel the here and now. I think most people have some form of a conscience, but afterwhile that can be deadened. If you’re intelligent enough to get by in this life, why would you need God?

 

[Tis_Bearself]

It’s difficult to believe sometimes they are no earthly consequences for sin. Some people are “wise” enough to only sin in ways they wouldn’t hurt them. We can only feel the here and now. I think most people have some form of a conscience, but afterwhile that can be deadened.

That’s exactly the case. I used to not want to go to Mass on Sunday. But my conscience would say, “You better go.” My Protestant friend would say, “Oh it’s not a big deal. I’m sure God doesn’t mind that much.” So I’d miss it, and then expect to have a terrible Sunday or a car wreck or something. I actually half expected God to send a lightning bolt from the sky the first couple times I missed Mass because I had been raised that you just did not miss Sunday Mass. All through college, despite all the other college-age-type sins I was committing right and left, I continued to drag myself out to Mass almost every Sunday.

No lightning bolt came down from the sky. Instead I would go out with my friend and have a fun day. The only un-fun part would be if my mother somehow found out I missed Mass, which didn’t happen that often since she lived in another state so I just didn’t tell her. Sometimes I would lie to her and say I went.

Over time you can guess where this ended up. Within 10 years I was a Christmas and Easter Catholic. Sometimes not even that. My conscience had pretty much gone to sleep and would only wake up on Christmas and Easter when I would feel momentarily lousy for being a bad Catholic despite all my mom’s efforts to make me a good Catholic, and then go right back to missing Mass.

The turning point for me was realizing that you went to Mass in order to show God you loved him. Not because you were going to get zapped somehow if you didn’t. By the time I realized this fully, my mother had passed away so I didn’t even have to account to her any more. I feel bad now that I made her upset by missing Mass and lying way back when, in addition to feeling bad that I hurt God and couldn’t just get past feeling like the sermon was boring and that I didn’t fit in with the other Church people.

 

[guanophore]

But if you gossiped for example, would a temporal consequence be something like you fall out with a friend or would the consequence be linked directly with the sin?

There are always temporal consequences. Sometimes we don’t recognize them, or they don’t seem to be related. Sin causes wounds to ourselves, others, and the world in which we live. The greater the sins, the more serious the consequences.

You could pray and do good works to mitigate this and other sins.

Making reparation can mitigate the consequences of sins and heal the wounds.

Some people are “wise” enough to only sin in ways they wouldn’t hurt them.

They may be wise in their own eyes, but they just don’t see the consequences of their sins. They don’t understand how they wound their relationship with God, themselves, and others.

afterwhile that can be deadened.

This is a very astute observation. Scripture says that our conscience can become seared, as with a hot iron, so that it loses sensitivity.

If you’re intelligent enough to get by in this life, why would you need God?

God created us for Himself, and we are made for communion with Him. For that reason, we all “need” God. People have learned to live apart from God, as He has given all of us choice to do this. This does not mean His plan for our lives is nullified. It just means that people choose not to participate.

 

[BlackFriar]

MK I have just reviewed your posts since joining.
They focus a lot on sin, do you have issues with scrupulosity may I ask?

 

[BlackFriar]

If you’re intelligent enough to get by in this life, why would you need God?

Good question.
Why would Adam and Eve need God?
Perhaps because even without weakness or sin or imperfection we still lack something we are made for. A twinge easy to ignore and kill by the perfect.

Do androids dream of electric sheep?
Is my standalone laptop less because it is not wired in to the Net or even my home network?

These questions keep me awake at night … sometimes .

 

[woolycaterpillar]

If you gossip about someone in your daily conversations the tide could turn. Someone may gossip about you. It happens.