Lie..mortal or venial

[scc11]

How do you know when a lie is mortal or venial?
The other day at work I lied to the big boss. I never met the man before but my boss told me to tell him that so and so comes and helps me at 530 PM every day. So and so does not do this but my boss told me to tell him this. I feel really bad for telling the big boss this because its a lie but I was afraid what would happen if I didnt. I know as Catholics we should stand up for what is right but I felt my boss put me in a very awkward position. No one was hurt as a result of this.

 

[JRKH]

Take this to your confessor…He will guide you better than we can

Peace
James

 

[vjnycguy]

The only way to tell if a sin was mortal…

If you did this sin with FULL consent - you KNEW it was wrong but you did it anyway.

 

[Ron_Conte]

"The gravity of a lie is measured against the nature of the truth it deforms, the circumstances, the intentions of the one who lies, and the harm suffered by its victims. If a lie in itself only constitutes a venial sin, it becomes mortal when it does grave injury to the virtues of justice and charity.

"By its very nature, lying is to be condemned. (CCC n. 2484, 2485)

A lie, or any other knowingly chosen act, is a mortal sin if any of the three fonts of morality are gravely disordered: intention, moral object, circumstances. The above quote from the CCC indicates this principle clearly

1. If the lie is chosen with a gravely disordered intention, such as to cause grave harm to an innocent, then the lie is a mortal sin: “the intentions of the one who lies”
2. If the lie has a gravely disordered moral object, in other words, if the “the nature of the truth it deforms” is of grave moral weight, then the lie is a mortal sin. The moral object determines the nature of the act.
3. If the reasonably anticipated bad consequences of the lie (the harm done) gravely outweighs any good that is done, then the lie is a mortal sin.

In the example that you gave, the lie would seem to be venial, at least as you described the act.

 

[Ron_Conte]

The only way to tell if a sin was mortal…

If you did this sin with FULL consent - you KNEW it was wrong but you did it anyway.

Not true.

A venial sin might be committed with full consent, or even with full consent (full deliberation) and full knowledge. But if the matter is not grave, the act remains a venial sin.

A knowingly chosen act is a mortal sin if any of the three fonts of morality are gravely disordered (gravely contrary to love of God and neighbor). A mortal sin is an actual mortal sin only if the act also is chosen with full knowledge and full deliberation.

 

[englishredrose]

here we go again. A round of posts being posted unnecessarily since the first post clearly advises what to do and the following round of posts just makes it very hard for the opening poster to know what to do in the end through conflicting advice. In your eagerness to post helpful suggestions please especially when the first reply is very straight forward, please can we leave it at that? If you want to show you care, tell the opening poster you are praying for them rather than just stating your twopenneth worth which between you all contradicts each other when the first reply does indeed does the trick of giving clear information. Just leave it at that. No need to add anything else at all.

accept and perhaps the advice in the first reply is very good and advise you to follow that if you insist on wanting to stamp out your mark… what are you like

 

[Hezekiah1997]

What about Rahab in the Bible? She lied to protect someone… obviously she knew that she lied on purpose. Is it Venial then?

I guess I am curious about this too, because I was in the military and they would ‘lie’ about this and that. But it was to protect the people in the field from being killed.

 

[JRKH]

What about Rahab in the Bible? She lied to protect someone… obviously she knew that she lied on purpose. Is it Venial then?

God judged her…

I guess I am curious about this too, because I was in the military and they would ‘lie’ about this and that. But it was to protect the people in the field from being killed.

I suggest you read THIS section of the Catechism and then - if you have questions relating to this - come back and ask.

Peace
James

 

[Ron_Conte]

What about Rahab in the Bible? She lied to protect someone… obviously she knew that she lied on purpose. Is it Venial then?

I guess I am curious about this too, because I was in the military and they would ‘lie’ about this and that. But it was to protect the people in the field from being killed.

Her lie was venial because none of the three fonts of morality were gravely disordered:

1. she had only good intentions
2. the nature of the truth deformed by the lie was not gravely contrary to love of God or neighbor (saying whether innocent persons were in one place or another)
3. the bad consequences of lying did not gravely outweigh the good consequences

The type of lie that you cite from the military also would seem to be venial, for the same reasons.

CCC 2484 The gravity of a lie is measured against the nature of the truth it deforms, the circumstances, the intentions of the one who lies, and the harm suffered by its victims. If a lie in itself only constitutes a venial sin, it becomes mortal when it does grave injury to the virtues of justice and charity.

Even so, lying is inherently immoral:

CCC 2485 By its very nature, lying is to be condemned.