I already know that apostacy, heresy, and murder are some, but what are the others?
Well, any mortal sin surely, just for starters. . . .
Cardinal Newman said that a Catholic would rather not only die but see the whole universe go to smash rather than commit a single venial sin (or allow one to be committed). But I suspect he was a bit of a rigorist!
Perhaps it could be said that it would be
better to die than to deliberately commit a venial sin, but it might be unreasonable to expect anyone other than a saint to follow through on this. We can’t avoid venial sins entirely even under normal circumstances–short of a special grace, it would be pointless to expect that we could keep free from venial sins under threat of death.
Or would a venial sin cease to be a sin if it was necessary to preserve life? What is an example of a venial sin one might be asked to commit?
Another question: is something “intrinsically evil” always grave matter? I know that in Catholic ethics one should die rather than do something intrinsically evil.
Perhaps the best way of putting it is that one should always be ready to die rather than commit any sin, but that
- Some things might not be sins if they were necessary to save life (a lie, for instance); and
- In the case that something could be intrinsically evil but not grave matter (i.e., deliberately doing it would still be a sin under any circumstances, but not a mortal one), it would be better to die than to do the act, but one would not be putting one’s soul in danger for failing to act in this heroic way.
However, the more I think about it the more unsure I am that this situation could ever arise.
Edwin
