Sins of Cowardice

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Eilrahc

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I’ve heard that cowardice is a mortal sin. Like what type of cowardice?
 
Think someone may have misinterpreted a passage.

It would help if you could reference the exact passage so we can review it together.
 
Eilrahc said:
Doesn’t Revelations say that Cowards are the first to be thrown into the pit of fire?
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It depends what you mean by cowards.

I assume you are referring to Rev 21:8.

NAB Commentary:

Cowards: their conviction is so weak that they deny Christ in time of trial and become traitors.
 
This is actually an interesting question.

It is hard to know how to evaluate your “moral courage”. How do you do that?

Few people are going to end up in a theater that is under attack, and none of us can really say for sure what we would do.

From my experience, people who regularly face dangerous situations can do it because of training. So I don’t think that moral courage necessarily deals with facing danger but with standing up for what is right.

So where do you draw the line?
 
dedo said:
This is actually an interesting question.

It is hard to know how to evaluate your “moral courage”. How do you do that?

Few people are going to end up in a theater that is under attack, and none of us can really say for sure what we would do.

From my experience, people who regularly face dangerous situations can do it because of training. So I don’t think that moral courage necessarily deals with facing danger but with standing up for what is right.

So where do you draw the line?
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Indeed.

Even if you think you are physically brave, you never know until your own head’s in the noose, so to speak.

I’m reminded of an Ambrose Bierce short story about an army camp where a spy was going to be shot at dawn and took the prospect almost in stride. The unit commander said that he was afraid to die and wondered why the enemy spy wasn’t.

Then a skirmish occurs as the enemy try to rescue their man, but are beaten back. The spy is ordered to be shot at once. He dies begging and crying for life. Meanwhile, the unit commander, mortally wounded in the firefight, folds his hands, exclaims “So this must be death,” and calmly passes away.

Shalom, ICXC NIKA
 
dedo said:
This is actually an interesting question.

It is hard to know how to evaluate your “moral courage”. How do you do that?

Few people are going to end up in a theater that is under attack, and none of us can really say for sure what we would do.

From my experience, people who regularly face dangerous situations can do it because of training. So I don’t think that moral courage necessarily deals with facing danger but with standing up for what is right.

So where do you draw the line?
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I might be wrong but I think the OP is implying that, for example, anyone in a theater under attack from a gunman is a coward if they hide to avoid being shot and also that such an act is a mortal sin.
Hiding to avoid being shot is not cowardly and certainly not a sin.
 
thistle said:
I might be wrong but I think the OP is implying that, for example, anyone in a theater under attack from a gunman is a coward if they hide to avoid being shot and also that such an act is a mortal sin.
Hiding to avoid being shot is not cowardly and certainly not a sin.
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I agree. Hiding from a gunman is no sin.

However, what I am wondering is when does cowardice become a sin? We all have different strengths and weaknesses. You could not expect someone who is frail with some sort of nervous disorder to handle the same situation as someone who has been trained and tried repeatedly in dangerous situations.

So how do you know if you are straying into this sin?
 
dedo said:
I agree. Hiding from a gunman is no sin.

However, what I am wondering is when does cowardice become a sin? We all have different strengths and weaknesses. You could not expect someone who is frail with some sort of nervous disorder to handle the same situation as someone who has been trained and tried repeatedly in dangerous situations.

So how do you know if you are straying into this sin?
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The NAB commentary states that it has to do with denying Christ under trial which has nothing to do with being afraid of a gunman or whatever.

I would say Peter was a coward when he denied Christ.
 
o.k.

So if Christ is the source of our wisdom and strength, then we risk being a coward when we deny Christ because we separate ourselves from the source of all strength.

We can deny Christ by not spending time with God or by not letting God change our behavior.

It is very difficult to be successful under trial with something that you do not do on a regular basis. So the key to knowing when to exercise moral courage, and when not to take an imprudent risk, is do develop daily habits of being with and being a better example of Christian behavior.
 
Eilrahc said:
I’ve heard that cowardice is a mortal sin. Like what type of cowardice?
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What isn’t a Sin?🤷

I wouldn’t worry about it too much if I were you.
It seems like everything is considered a sin, so (based on that premise) you can either go mad worrying about sinning every waking moment or simply accept that you’re probably in a state of sin most of the time.

Of course as an atheist, I do not have to stress about that.
 
AngryAtheist8 said:
What isn’t a Sin?🤷

I wouldn’t worry about it too much if I were you.
It seems like everything is considered a sin, so (based on that premise) you can either go mad worrying about sinning every waking moment or simply accept that you’re probably in a state of sin most of the time.

Of course as an atheist, I do not have to stress about that.
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Really? That’s how you see the notion of sin in Christianity?
 
Well…with over 4000 posts I’d think by now you’d have at least a better notion of how Catholic Christians view sin. 😃
 
AngryAtheist8 said:
What isn’t a Sin?🤷

I wouldn’t worry about it too much if I were you.
It seems like everything is considered a sin, so (based on that premise) you can either go mad worrying about sinning every waking moment or simply accept that you’re probably in a state of sin most of the time.

Of course as an atheist, I do not have to stress about that.
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You seem to be confused about many things, even what you are. You state you are an atheist but your profile states agnostic. They are different.
 
If cowardice is a mortal sin, I would say we are all guilty of it. We have all been cowards in that on occasion, all of us are guilty of taking the easy way out . For example; not admitting to something or not taking responsibility for our actions to save face.

Not protecting your family is something I find difficult to get my head around. I would like to think the vast majority of parents would protect their child irrespective of the consequences for them. However, it is easy to say what we would or would not do in a given situation, and self-preservation can sometimes take over. The will to live, or survive can be a very strong one. I’m not saying I think it is right. but rather a way to explain why people may behave a certain way in certain situations.

However, I did read the story of a girl on sinking ship. She survived, and said she felt incredibly guilty because of how she behaved after the event. She concentrated solely on how she was going to get off the ship, climbed over people, and ignored pleas for help and others struggling around her. I also recall an account of a simulated exercise of a plane that was going to crash. In the exercise, everyone left the plane in an orderly fashion. They repeated the exercise, but told the ‘passengers’ the first 20 people off the plane got £20.00 each. On that occasion, they did not behave in an orderly fashion!

I suppose one could question - is it a case of cowardice, being selfish, or simply an automatic ‘fight or flight,’ 'every man for himself - or herself as the case may be, in a given situation?

Human behavior fascinates me. Personally I think human nature and human behavior is all contained in the Genesis account. If you read it creatively as opposed to literally, it tells us a lot about human nature.
 
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