Sleeping with wife's twin unknowingly

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Here’s a moral situation: Your wife has a twin sister. This twin was always jealous that she wasn’t the wasn’t the one to get married to you. One evening when she was in town, she manages to find a way to trick you into thinking she is your wife. She climbs into bed, the lights are dim, and you are fooled. You make love to her.

The question is, Is this adultery? Most would say no, because he didn’t know what he was doing. Others, however, might say that it still is adultery, only in this case, you are not morally culpable. In other words, it is objectively adultery, but subjectively it was not.

Thoughts?

Now before you answer, let’s reverse some aspects of the story. Your wife knows that you’ve always had a thing for her twin sister and she suspects an affair. So when you go on a trip out of town that happens to be her twin’s hometown, your wife poses as her sister to see how you would react. Due to the different hairstyle and fine acting, you believe it is in fact your wife’s twin sister. You sleep with her. Now, in this case, you are sleeping with your wife, but you think it is not. Is this adultery? Or, again, do we say that it is objectively not adultery, but you would be just as morally culpable as if it were?
 
First case: Objectively Adultery. Subjectively -no knowledge of the exchange-so no culpability for the sin of adultery.

Second case: Objectively and subjectively it would seem…a mortal sin on the part of the wife. Objectively and objectively it would seem… a mortal sin on the part of the Husband --of intending and carrying out what he thought to be adultery. Objectively not the “physical act of adultery”…but adultery of the heart in the least.
 
I would say that to the first occasion I would consider it a venial sin and one that should be disclosed to the spouse in question but still mentioned in confession anyway.

The second situation is an example of what Jesus meant when he said “When you lust after a woman in your heart you commit adultery.” While there was no actual adultery taking place you wanted to commit the adultery and therefore the person in this situation is highly culpable of the sin of adultery.

Best answer: ask a trustworthy priest.
 
Keep in mind that when I am speaking about the culpability in these cases, I am focusing on the culpability of husband, not the wife’s or twin’s.
 
Sorry, I cannot objectively answer impossible hypothetical questions regarding twins. I am an identical twin. I have known many other sets of identical twins througout my life. Once you get to know them, it’s not that hard to tell them apart. Especially when they’re your spouse. My SIL and DW can tell us apart by our voices over the phone, which I think even I would have difficulty doing. 😛

TV makes it seem like it’s a piece of cake to switch places with your twin. :rolleyes: Of course it’s easy on TV when the same actor is playing both parts! 😉
 
Sin is in the intent, and without both intent and knowledge even grave matter is not sin.

Objective adultery means that extra-marital lust has occurred.
Subjective adultery means that the person thinks extra-marital lust has occurred.

Adultery has objectively occurred in the first scenario (twin tricks and seduces husband), but the sin is only on the twin, not the husband, who thought he was making love to his wife. It is subjective adultery only on the adulteress.

Adultery has subjectively occurred in the second scenario by the husband, who thought he was sleeping with his sister-in-law (ewww), and adultery has OBJECTIVELY occurred for the wife who made her husband believe she was her sister (ewww) even if the wife tells the husband “Hey, I’m not her. You’re a &#$*@0-face” because the husband lusted after his sister-in-law (ewww).
 
If the husband is completely fooled, id say he didn’t sin at all.
 
Joe_5859 said:
Sorry, I cannot objectively answer impossible hypothetical questions regarding twins. I am an identical twin. I have known many other sets of identical twins througout my life. Once you get to know them, it’s not that hard to tell them apart. Especially when they’re your spouse. My SIL and DW can tell us apart by our voices over the phone, which I think even I would have difficulty doing. 😛

TV makes it seem like it’s a piece of cake to switch places with your twin. :rolleyes: Of course it’s easy on TV when the same actor is playing both parts! 😉
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Good point…my answer was presuming that in some case such did in fact happen…
 
TheAdvocate said:
Here’s a moral situation: Your wife has a twin sister. This twin was always jealous that she wasn’t the wasn’t the one to get married to you. One evening when she was in town, she manages to find a way to trick you into thinking she is your wife. She climbs into bed, the lights are dim, and you are fooled. You make love to her.
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The sin is not in the mistake made; the sin is that obviously you don’t spend enough time with your wife, since especially in the privacy of the bedroom, there would be many things her twin would not have in common with her, regarding her likes and dislikes, and various habits.
 
The first case: It was an adultery, although the husband was not morally culpable, the twin sister was.
The second case: The husband was morally culpable of an attempt to commit adultery, although his attempt failed.
 
francisca said:
The first case: It was an adultery, although the husband was not morally culpable, the twin sister was.
The second case: The husband was morally culpable of an attempt to commit adultery, although his attempt failed.
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No, in my hypothetical situation, the husband in the second case consummates, and the wife who was posing as the twin was successful.
 
TheAdvocate said:
Here’s a moral situation: Your wife has a twin sister. This twin was always jealous that she wasn’t the wasn’t the one to get married to you. One evening when she was in town, she manages to find a way to trick you into thinking she is your wife. She climbs into bed, the lights are dim, and you are fooled. You make love to her.

The question is, Is this adultery? Most would say no, because he didn’t know what he was doing. Others, however, might say that it still is adultery, only in this case, you are not morally culpable. In other words, it is objectively adultery, but subjectively it was not.

Thoughts?

Now before you answer, let’s reverse some aspects of the story. Your wife knows that you’ve always had a thing for her twin sister and she suspects an affair. So when you go on a trip out of town that happens to be her twin’s hometown, your wife poses as her sister to see how you would react. Due to the different hairstyle and fine acting, you believe it is in fact your wife’s twin sister. You sleep with her. Now, in this case, you are sleeping with your wife, but you think it is not. Is this adultery? Or, again, do we say that it is objectively not adultery, but you would be just as morally culpable as if it were?
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Frankly, I do not believe a husband would not know his wife, even if she were an identical twin.
 
It’s very simple.

A married person having sex with someone who is not their spouse is objectively adultery and a mortal sin.

Intending to commit adultery and believing you are doing so (even if you aren’t) is a mortal sin.

Not intending to commit adultery and believing you are having sex with your spouse is not a sin and does not carry any guilt, even if one of the spouses is fooled (which, as has been said, is extremely unlikely).

Spying on your husband reflects a serious lack of trust and communication in the relationship. It is a problem if either spouse would do something behind the other’s back (have an affair, or ‘test’ the other spouse about it)
 
TheAdvocate said:
No, in my hypothetical situation, the husband in the second case consummates, and the wife who was posing as the twin was successful.
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Yes.

So despite the husband attempt to commit adultery has failed-- because he end up sleeping with his wife-- his intention to sleep with the wive’s twin was immoral, eventhough he has “failed” in commiting adultery.
 
All this discussion sounds like a repeat of the story of the Garden of Eden, which says that if something bad happens to a woman, or she commits evil, some man is at fault.
 
How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?

I thought masturbation is a sin. This thread is definitely mental masturbation concerning highly improbable subject matter… unless you’re a B-grade Hollywood producer. 😃
 
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