Sin

[Holland]

I will try this question again and see if I can get a response. Maybe I didn’t do a good job of explaining what I was after. I got into a discussion of types of sins. I had a priest tell me that sins involving denial of your Catholic faith offend God more than sins of the flesh. The group I was with also talked about sins of omission, denying knowledge of things that would in turn hurt others; failing to be charitable, etc. Some said those types of sin were worse than say stealing. I said all sin is equally bad and it can either be a venial sin or a mortal sin. Am I missing the boat somewhere? Can some types of sin be more serious than others?

 

[Sherlock]

Holland:

I will try this question again and see if I can get a response. Maybe I didn’t do a good job of explaining what I was after. I got into a discussion of types of sins. I had a priest tell me that sins involving denial of your Catholic faith offend God more than sins of the flesh. The group I was with also talked about sins of omission, denying knowledge of things that would in turn hurt others; failing to be charitable, etc. Some said those types of sin were worse than say stealing. I said all sin is equally bad and it can either be a venial sin or a mortal sin. Am I missing the boat somewhere? Can some types of sin be more serious than others?

You contradicted yourself: how do you reconcile saying “all sin is equally bad”, and then, in the same sentence, say “it can either be a venial sin or a mortal sin”? Which is it?

Do you really believe that stealing a pencil is equal to killing an innocent person? Do you think that cursing God is the same as calling your little sister names?

 

[hurst]

Holland:

I said all sin is equally bad and it can either be a venial sin or a mortal sin. Am I missing the boat somewhere? Can some types of sin be more serious than others?

What you seem to be thinking of is that when we break one point of the law, we are guilty of breaking all.

James 2:10 And whosoever shall keep the whole law, but offend in one point, is become guilty of all.

Thus, it wouldn’t matter which point was broken. This makes one think that all sins are equally bad.

It is true that whether we have one unrepented mortal sin, or millions of them, we still deserve hell.

But what is common is the rejection of God. In hell, all suffer from the pain of the loss of God, but on top of that they suffer just punishments according to the nature of their sins. So not everyone suffers the exact same torments there, though they all suffer from the loss of God’s favor.

Also, mortal sins are obviously more serious than venial sins, by very definition.

Mortal sins can differ between each other, too, if you think about how they can affect others.

Finally, there is a sin which will not be forgiven.

In conclusion, some types are definitely more serious than others.

hurst

 

[Holland]

Sherlock:

You contradicted yourself: how do you reconcile saying “all sin is equally bad”, and then, in the same sentence, say “it can either be a venial sin or a mortal sin”? Which is it?

Do you really believe that stealing a pencil is equal to killing an innocent person? Do you think that cursing God is the same as calling your little sister names?

What I thought was the entire essense of sin was equally bad but that it could be mortal or venial by virtue of intent. I understand that stealing a pencil doesn’t hold a candle to killing an innocent person. Lets say you accidently kill someone. Is that worse than turning a blind eye to the knowledge you may have regarding, lets say, the molestation of a small child? Those were the types of things we were discussing.