Making a non-sinful thing, sinful

[I_R]

if one truly believes that an action is sinful, eventhough its really not, will doing it be considered sinful. i dont mean glutony or over induging. for example, lets say someone grew up always thinking that eating candy is a sin. they lived by this, but one day they cave and seek some out. can such an action be considered a sin? on the flip side, ive heard that if you are doing something sinful but ignorant to the fact that its sinful, then sometimes you can be excused (correct me if im wrong).

personally, i think such a case can be considered sinful. as that person believed with all their heart that it was against God’s will, and by doing it they are turning away from God.

what are your thoughts

 

[Godfollower]

if one truly believes that an action is sinful, eventhough its really not, will doing it be considered sinful. i dont mean glutony or over induging. for example, lets say someone grew up always thinking that eating candy is a sin. they lived by this, but one day they cave and seek some out. can such an action be considered a sin? on the flip side, ive heard that if you are doing something sinful but ignorant to the fact that its sinful, then sometimes you can be excused (correct me if im wrong).

personally, i think such a case can be considered sinful. as that person believed with all their heart that it was against God’s will, and by doing it they are turning away from God.

what are your thoughts

That’s exactly correct. If you believe eating candy to be sinful and you then deliberately eat candy despite (what you believe to be) God’s command, then you are acting against what you believe to be God’s will – which is the definition of sinning.

Contrariwise, committing an act or omission in ignorance of its sinfulness mitigates your culpability for it – usually partially, but in some cases completely.

The “sometimes” you’re thinking about refers to the fact that God’s law is written on every human heart. We all inherently know, for example, that killing your parents in order to obtain their inheritance is immoral. There is no way to be excused on the basis of ignorance, because everyone knows it’s wrong because of the law written in their hearts.

The Ten Commandments are a good proxy for the natural law written on every human heart. But, as soon as you get away from the clear examples of violations of the Ten Commandments, you start to get into the excusable neglect for a person who was never educated in theology. Disobeying your parents? Obviously wrong. Disobeying your parents because they instructed you to steal? Not so much.

Don’t know whether this is clear. Hope it helps.

 

[InspiritCarol]

It is all about intent.

If you figure out that eating candy is not a sin, but you feel guilty due to conditioning; that is not the same as deliberately and willfully *trying *to oppose God’s will.

 

[SteveGC]

That’s exactly correct. If you believe eating candy to be sinful and you then deliberately eat candy despite (what you believe to be) God’s command, then you are acting against what you believe to be God’s will – which is the definition of sinning.

I think it needs to be clarified that eating candy in this example is only sinful if it is done for the purpose of rejecting God. Chances are, if done for this purpose, such a person has grievously sinned long before they take their first bite. The candy simply becomes the outward expression of a pre-existing inward rejection.

If the candy is eaten because of a weakened will in the face of temptation (that being the pleasure of eating delicious candy), but no premeditated intent to reject or disobey God, then I would argue no sin has been committed, because eating candy in and of itself is obviously not objectively sinful (assuming we’re not talking about gluttonous consumption here).

If such a person were unsure of the sinfulness of an act that, unbeknownst to them, is actually not objectively sinful, and commits that act, then the act itself is not sinful.

Sin is a rejection of God and/or a commission/omission of objectively sinful acts. Since eating candy is not objectively sinful, it becomes sinful only if accompanied by a rejecting heart.

 

[chevalier]

if one truly believes that an action is sinful, eventhough its really not, will doing it be considered sinful. i dont mean glutony or over induging. for example, lets say someone grew up always thinking that eating candy is a sin. they lived by this, but one day they cave and seek some out. can such an action be considered a sin? on the flip side, ive heard that if you are doing something sinful but ignorant to the fact that its sinful, then sometimes you can be excused (correct me if im wrong).

personally, i think such a case can be considered sinful. as that person believed with all their heart that it was against God’s will, and by doing it they are turning away from God.

what are your thoughts

A mortal sin requires full knowledge and full consent in a serious matter (the “grave matter”). Any sin requires knowledge and consent (but culpable ignorance is not an excuse).

If you believe something is sinful but objectively it is not, then I suspect if you intend to do that thing because it is sinful (according to you and wrongly), then you still sin but on a different account. On the other hand, if you believe its sinful but in reality it’s just being particularly ascetic, then I’d think it’s not sinful.

 

[Pfaffenhoffen]

if one truly believes that an action is sinful, eventhough its really not, will doing it be considered sinful. i dont mean glutony or over induging. for example, lets say someone grew up always thinking that eating candy is a sin. they lived by this, but one day they cave and seek some out. can such an action be considered a sin? on the flip side, ive heard that if you are doing something sinful but ignorant to the fact that its sinful, then sometimes you can be excused (correct me if im wrong).

personally, i think such a case can be considered sinful. as that person believed with all their heart that it was against God’s will, and by doing it they are turning away from God.

what are your thoughts

No, the first article is wrong. You must have a conscience which is correctly built. That is what catechism is for: to learn what God wants and what God does not want. See, scrupulous people may think that stepping in 2 straws with the shape of a cross is sin when it is just coincidence. It is not sin, it is scrupulosity.

The second is dubious. When we do something wrong, against God’s wishes, our conscience tells you so. God warns you. One cannot kill one’s own mother and do not feel a Bang in the conscience. The criminal return always to the site of the crime and police many times wait there for him. Why does he return? For he does not feel good. The atmosphere in abortion clinics, I read, is horrible. People who do abortions do not feel good.