Sinful vs. Evil

[LaMusicaSenior]

I need some help trying to understand the concept of sinful and evil.

I thought “sinful” and “evil” could be used interchangeably. My reasoning for this is that every sin pulls you away from God and is saying “No” to His will. In the case of an addiction, the thing you are putting ahead of God in your life, and in fact idolizing, would be something evil.’

DISCLAIMER: NOT that the addict is evil, but his addiction. The sin, not the sinner

Anyway, I was talking to my Dad about this last night and let’s just say my thoughts were not well thought of. He said calling all sin evil makes it sound like I line up with Luther’s thoughts of man being but a pile of dung. He argued that I should be more careful with calling all sin evil. Sin is sin and its a separation from God. For his example, he used a child born out of an adultery. He agrees fornication is a mortal sin, but doesn’t think it is “evil” act

Yet if something isn’t “good” and it’s a sin, doesn’t that make it “evil”?

Just having tough time trying to understand this concept.

Thanks in advance,

Chloe

 

[fhansen]

I need some help trying to understand the concept of sinful and evil.

I thought “sinful” and “evil” could be used interchangeably. My reasoning for this is that every sin pulls you away from God and is saying “No” to His will. In the case of an addiction, the thing you are putting ahead of God in your life, and in fact idolizing, would be something evil.’

DISCLAIMER: NOT that the addict is evil, but his addiction. The sin, not the sinner

Anyway, I was talking to my Dad about this last night and let’s just say my thoughts were not well thought of. He said calling all sin evil makes it sound like I line up with Luther’s thoughts of man being but a pile of dung. He argued that I should be more careful with calling all sin evil. Sin is sin and its a separation from God. For his example, he used a child born out of an adultery. He agrees fornication is a mortal sin, but doesn’t think it is “evil” act

Yet if something isn’t “good” and it’s a sin, doesn’t that make it “evil”?

Just having tough time trying to understand this concept.

Thanks in advance,

Chloe

Yes, sin is also known as “moral evil”. Of course sin is evil; by definition sin is opposition to the will of God, after all, meaning, also, that it’s opposed to our very own natures and the laws that He’s written in our consciences. To say that calling sin evil is the same as calling man a pile of dung is to equate man with sinfulness, which the Reformers basically did. To separate man from sinfulness, to deny that sin is part of man’s nature rather than accepting it as the norm for us, is to elevate man to the status he was meant to have, and to denounce sin as an evil we should have no part of.

 

[LaMusicaSenior]

Here is another question. Say a man’s vice is gluttony. He overeats and puts his body at an unhealthy disadvantage. Is his gluttony an “evil”? Or are there varying degrees of evil, like there are varying degrees of venial and mortal sin?

 

[fhansen]

Here is another question. Say a man’s vice is gluttony. He overeats and puts his body at an unhealthy disadvantage. Is his gluttony an “evil”? Or are there varying degrees of evil, like there are varying degrees of venial and mortal sin?

Yes there are varying degrees of evil. Evil is the privation of some good or another; since God created only good, evil “exists” only in a negative relationship to good. With gluttony, for example, the appetite for food is good, the abuse of that appetite in the pursuit of a perceived good-that of increased pleasure-is inordinate-and therefore tends away from the order God created things to have, with the negative effects that obesity results in. Because of free will it’s very easy for humans to abuse or override the “natural law” God has created for us. Many things lessen our culpability for sin, however. Family background, sin that becomes habitual, duress, can all be factors that drive us to commit sins without the deliberateness required to make a sin mortal or deadly, for example.

 

[christus_vincit]

Here is another question. Say a man’s vice is gluttony. He overeats and puts his body at an unhealthy disadvantage. Is his gluttony an “evil”? Or are there varying degrees of evil, like there are varying degrees of venial and mortal sin?

If a man is committing gluttony by definition it is evil. Does every instance of overeating constitute gluttony? Probably not. Gluttony, like all sin, requires a disordered interior disposition. Also, yes there are varying degrees of evil. For example, murder is gravely disordered, whereas petty theft, while disordered, does not have the same gravity.

 

[JM3]

vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_06081993_veritatis-splendor_en.html

 

[DaveBj]

This is not a philosophically or theologically thought-out comparison, but I think of sin as what destroys our relationship with God (like, for instance, secret impurity), while to me evil is what materially harms another person (like theft or murder). By that thinking, all evil would be sin, but all sin would not necessarily be evil.

 

[silver2soul]

Sinful is a more of an action; while evil is more of a state. The two are a little different. If you look at the word corruption vs corruptive and understand the context behind the definition of them then you might understand.

While both are similar in regards to being wrong. One is more appointed to an utter state of wrong and being completely attached to something or someone more so by definition than the other.

Being sinful expresses movement or inclination towards action. Where being evil is just that state and doesn’t necessarily equate to proceeding further.

Praise be to GOD the heavenly father and his son lord JESUS CHRIST forever>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

[ynotzap]

FWIW

Only people who are endowed with intelligence can sin. Nothing in itself is evil. Everything God creates is good. Intellectual creatures have a conscience ( the mind) and free will.to know and to make a choice. Evil is referred to as the absence of the good. There is a general principle to determine a moral good it goes: What ever that is objectively conducive to the well being of man is good, what ever is not objectively conducive to the well being of man is bad and wrong. When we sin,we go against what is objectively conducive to the well being of man, therefore it is bad, and wrong. that is the absence of the good. therefore evil.