The moral choice

[bmullins]

Someone posted this link in another thread. (LINK)

Is it a sin to argue over ‘what is sin’ when something as blaring as this is occurring in our world? One on hand, sin is a gateway. Venial lends to mortal. Sinning in small things brings us to sin in larger things. But what does it say about our heart when something as horrible as the count on that meter is occurring and we are worried about someone in ‘daisy dukes’ or reading Harry Potter?

In fact, does this post asking to discuss it cross a moral line in that it provides another distraction instead of putting us into action?

 

[Lonely_guy]

The moral choice is to avoid all sin. That however is hard. We all do sin. The question is what we do after that. A catholic confess and get his/hers penance. But God have called all to His dinner table. The question is how to get there. Discussing what is sin and what isn’t is not sin but can lead to a life where we all the time “almost” sin. What I mean is that we collect all we know about sin and go as far as we can but do not cross the line. And in some way that is sin. Let us say I see a nice thing in a shop. Then I pick it up and have all intention to pay it on my way out. I just look to see if I can take it without being detected. Even though I pay it I do sin in my mind. Or let’s say I try to pick up a girl in a bar but I am married. I have no intention there either to go all the way,I just want to see if I am able to do it. That is a sin. So when we talk about what is sin in meaning to avoid sin it is OK but when we talk about sin with the point of how far we can go without making a sin is a sin. (And don’t ask me to explain what I just did answer because I am very confused.)

 

[Joe_5859]

I think that, in general, the argument that “we ought not focus on small problem X because large problem Y exists” is a weak argument. It is not reasonable to expect that 100% of the populace will devote 100% of their attention to one single problem. Indeed, that would be a recipe for disaster.

Of course the horror of abortion is a much graver atrocity than immodest dress or popular media consumption. And we probably would all be better served if more of us spent more energy on combatting that great evil. But I don’t think that means it is immoral for us to ever think of anything else ever. That would be extreme. If I spent all my time thinking about abortion, I would surely go mad. It’s not wrong to consider the sinfulness of other acts, even though they be less serious. Anything that takes people away from God warrants a bit of attention.

That said, if someone spends all their time on the internet squabbling back and forth over petty things, that person would probably need to spend some time in prayerful discernment over how they manage their time. But we can never assume that another poster falls into this category simply because we see them posting about such things. Perhaps their time at CAF is their stress release in between sidewalk counselling sessions in front of the local Planned Parenthood.

 

[bmullins]

I think in my case I see both as a necessity. While abortion is rightly a worse evil than dressing improperly or drinking to excess, all of those ‘lesser’ evils can indeed lead to the situation of pregnancy by poor choices. That can then lead to the decision to have an abortion.

Not everyone who drinks gets an abortion. Yet, I’m sure it’s safe to stipulate that there are indeed people who have gotten drunk and ended up pregnant, and of those there are those who would indeed consider having an abortion in that situation.