Hi
By mistake today I ate the food offered to other gods. Later i realized that it was offered to other gods. What shall i do. I cannot confess to Father as they said a non-christain cannot go for Confession. I am feeling guilty.
Thank you
Anweshi
As far as I know, it’s not a sin to do something by mistake. If you didn’t mean to do it, or rather, didn’t know what it was, it couldn’t have been a sin. Sin is knowingly and deliberately going against God’s will.
Besides, St. Paul seems to say that there isn’t necessarily a sin in eating it-- what matters is whether or not we become a stumbling block to our brother.
St. Paul says:
1 Now in regard to meat sacrificed to idols:
4 So about the eating of meat sacrificed to idols: we know that “there is no idol in the world,” and that “there is no God but one.”
5 Indeed, even though there are so-called gods in heaven and on earth (there are, to be sure, many “gods” and many “lords”),
6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things are and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are and through whom we exist.
7 But not all have this knowledge. There are some who have been so used to idolatry up until now that, when they eat meat sacrificed to idols, their conscience, which is weak, is defiled.
8 Now food will not bring us closer to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, nor are we better off if we do.
9 But make sure that this liberty of yours in no way becomes a stumbling block to the weak. (1 Cor 8:1, 4-9)
Puzzleannie: I agree that non-Christians are not bound by Christian laws, but wouldn’t idolatry be something condemned by natural law? (Not of course that there’s any reason to think that the original poster actually committed idolatry.)
