Selling heretical books

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LostSheep7

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Long story short, I converted to the Catholic Faith very recently and I’m selling the heretical books I had as I’m no longer interested in anything related to Protestantism (mostly books from John Calvin, Martin Luther, the puritans and some Brazilian Presbyterian pastors).
Am I helping to spread heresy? Is it a sin to sell heretical books?
 
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I gave them to charitable book sales. I did not want money for them, but if a charity earns a few dollars, I am okay with that.
 
I had been through a similar situation. I decided to keep the bad books and create a section on my bookshelf called highway to hell.

I recommend you to strengthen your faith and knowledge in catholic teaching. Once you’re ready, you may use these bad books as source to quote and explain errors and so on.
 
LostSheep7 said:
Am I helping to spread heresy? Is it a sin to sell heretical books?
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Would you want other people to become Catholic? Or do you want them to follow heretical books they will possibly frustrate their desire to be Catholic? Or lead them away from every being fully in the Sacraments Christ bestowed us?
 
I think you have to trust that there are people who read books critically. A truth seeker needs to hear from all sides, and that includes the wrong side.
 
To be honest I think I’d be wary unless I knew who they were being sold to, and that those individuals wouldn’t be affected negatively. A book that might be dangerous to someone weaker in their faith or open to suggestion I’d probably want to avoid giving them. It also might depend on why the person is reading, which you probably wouldn’t know.

I dunno, if it were me I’d keep them.
 
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Aulef said:
I decided to keep the bad books and create a section on my bookshelf called highway to hell.
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🤣
BoyGenius said:
Would you want other people to become Catholic? Or do you want them to follow heretical books they will possibly frustrate their desire to be Catholic? Or lead them away from every being fully in the Sacraments Christ bestowed us?
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That’s my biggest concern.
 
Some alternative uses for the books should you keep them:

Confetti
Making a bird house out of the covers
A word wall
Practice in memorizing the names of heresies
Puppets (may take some creativity)
 
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If it were me, I’d just burn em’. Make a nice big toasty bonfire. Maybe even invite a few pals over for a bbq.
 
I talked to my priest and told him about the situation and that I already sold some of them.
He asked me to donate some (Calvin’s Institutes and some of Luther’s works) to the parish for research purposes and destroy the rest of them.
I’m right now checking some of them and despite not being a trained theologian I’ve found countless heresies very quickly. Iconoclam, double predestination, denial of the Real Presence in the Eucharist and even nestorianism (many presbyterians in my country deny the title Theotokos for the Blessed Virgin).
It’s pure poison.
misstherese said:
If it were me, I’d just burn em’. Make a nice big toasty bonfire. Maybe even invite a few pals over for a bbq.
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Sounds like a good idea lol
 
I think selling them to people you don’t know is wrong.

Either donate them to a charity or thrift store, or destroy them.

Destroying them by fire may be good for its symbolism of fire burning impurity.
 
Why would you sell anything that you think is junk. That’s the moral question. The object that you’re selling is all but immaterial to whether or not it’s a sin.

Selling something that you are convinced will lead people away from salvation is the issue. But perhaps you didn’t fully realize this until you had already sold some of the books.
 
I agree that they certainly should not be sold. But I also think even giving them away is not a good idea. I would throw them away.
I was going through all of my old books, and I came across a few novels I had read maybe 20 years ago or so, and realized I did not want any of my kids reading them. Not good enough for my kids, why give them to someone else. They went in a different box that did not end up at Half-Priced Books, it ended up in the trash.
 
1Lord1Faith said:
Selling something that you are convinced will lead people away from salvation is the issue. But perhaps you didn’t fully realize this until you had already sold some of the books.
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In fact I didn’t, now I see I can’t sell them in good conscience.
 
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