What is a mortal sin?

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My husband and I were talking about this today, neither one of us are really sure about what constitutes a mortal sin. He said that there are only 4 mortal sins and those are murder, adultery, and I forgot the other two. But that doesn’t seem right to me. To me it doesn’t seem like it could be that concrete. Does anybody know what the Catholic churches teaching on this is?
Thanks!
 
Great question. A mortal sin consists of three criteria:

1.) Sin must be a grave matter. Murder and Adultery certainly constitutes grave matter.
Code: 
2.) Person must know that the sin is grave matter.

3.) Person willfully commits the sin.


       A mortal sin is different from a venial sin in that mortal sins mortally wounds the soul. Whatever grace that soul has is depleted because the person chooses to reject God in a grave way, such as taking another person's life. If only 2 or just 1 of the criteria is met, then the sin is venial, because the person may not know what they are doing is wrong. 

Another thing about mortal and venial sins is that venial sins can be forgiven via the Eucharist, whereas mortal sins can only be forgiven via Reconciliation. If one receives the Eucharist in a state of mortal sin is a grave matter, which can become a mortal sin as well, because you'd be profaning (killing) the Body of Christ because the purpose of the Eucharist is to heal the soul. But if the soul is dead, then the Eucharistic action is void, thus taking away its purpose.  Hope this helps!
 
angie2305 said:
My husband and I were talking about this today, neither one of us are really sure about what constitutes a mortal sin. He said that there are only 4 mortal sins and those are murder, adultery, and I forgot the other two. But that doesn’t seem right to me. To me it doesn’t seem like it could be that concrete. Does anybody know what the Catholic churches teaching on this is?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Try this…

saintaquinas.com/mortal_sin.html (scroll down a bit for a good list of mortal sins)

But just a warning…there’s a few more than four 😃
 
a mortal isn

is a diliberate act., you have thought about it, by planning it.
You know what you are about to do is seriously wrong!
The you decide, rather than love God, you go ahead and do the sin.

Thus full concent,
serious matter,
sugnificant reflection
 
The sin against the Holy Spirit should be on the top of the list.

Its basically a denial of God but it is not forgiven in this life or the next, so look out for that biggie.

You have the commandments and then of course you have all those other ones that rack em up to a Mortal Sin if you qualify.

Lets just say that the less you know can be better in some cases.

Like say, taking the Eucharist unworthily. Biggie. Look out for that one.
 
The 7 “deadly” sins are “GRAVE MATTER” and can be Mortal Sins; that’s why they are called the Deadly Sins

The 7 deadly sins are: Pride, Envy, Lust, Anger, Gluttony, Greed and Sloth.

As many have mention Mortal Sins need to have 3 conditions meet.

1.Grave matter: The act itself is intrinsically evil and immoral
2. Full Knowledge: Person must know that it’s grave matter
3. Deliberate Consent: person freely chooses to commit the act or plan to do it.

Venial Sins are any sins that only meet one or 2 of the conditions needed for a mortal sin but do not fulfill all 3 at the same time. Or Venial Sins are minor violations of the moral law.

Example of a venial sin: Giving an obscene gesture to another driver in traffic.
Example of Mortal sin: using the Lord’s name in vain to the same driver in traffic

mortal versus venial sin (click here)

Related is this examination of conscience: click here

Examination of conscience is good to do daily, but it’s especially good to do before confession. So this might help see the difference.

I have found another examination of conscience that lists possible mortal sins vs. possible venial sins. However I’m not posting that now, because I’m not sure of the source.

If it turns out to be a reliable source I will post it here.
 
angie2305 said:
My husband and I were talking about this today, neither one of us are really sure about what constitutes a mortal sin. He said that there are only 4 mortal sins and those are murder, adultery, and I forgot the other two. But that doesn’t seem right to me. To me it doesn’t seem like it could be that concrete. Does anybody know what the Catholic churches teaching on this is?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
It would be impossible to list every possible mortal sin one may commit.
 
levi86 said:
Try this…

saintaquinas.com/mortal_sin.html (scroll down a bit for a good list of mortal sins)

But just a warning…there’s a few more than four 😃
Click to expand...
That is a good resource, but it omits contraception, which is also a grave matter. It also omits sacrilege, which is a sin against a sacrament. If the Eucharist is received while in mortal sine, that itself is also mortal sin. Also intentionally omitting mortal sins in Confession is itself a mortal sin.

My understanding of capital sins (the "7 Deadly Sins) is that they may lead to mortal sins, but they are not necessarily mortal sins themselves (particularly if not committed in extreme degrees). Overeating at Thanksgiving can be regarded as gluttony, but it does not rise to the same level of severity as someone who is literally eating themselves to death.
 
petra said:
My understanding of capital sins (the "7 Deadly Sins) is that they may lead to mortal sins, but they are not necessarily mortal sins themselves (particularly if not committed in extreme degrees). Overeating at Thanksgiving can be regarded as gluttony, but it does not rise to the same level of severity as someone who is literally eating themselves to death.
Click to expand...
It’s my understanding that gluttony is over eating to the point that you are literally sick to your stomach. It is my understanding that gluttony is NOT eating out of necessity or social reasons but it is eating just to experience pleasure. Assuming you do not have an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia.

So over eating at Thanksgiving may happen out of social reasons?

It is also my understanding that gluttony is over drinking alcohol. Drinking to the point you are drunk assuming you are do not suffer from alcoholism. There’s nothing wrong with having a glass of champagne for a toast at a wedding reception, or a mix drink with dinner at a dinner party, or friday night pizza and A beer, again assuming you are not a recovering alcholic. We are talking about taking drink, after drink, after drink and getting drunk or drinking to get drunk. It’s over-consuming alcohol that is gluttony.

Gluttony is freely choosing to over-consume. Gluttony is voluntary and merely requires self-control and moderation.

The alcohol part reminds me: It is my understanding that driving while under the influence and/or intoxicated is a mortal sin. This is because it endangers your life and the life of those around you
 
Marcie, that is a good list, but it is definitely not exhaustive. I have been considering the possibility that any sin can be mortal, as sin is a harming of our relationship with God, and thus, anything that injures it could, with the appropriate deliberation, kill it.
 
Spirithound said:
Marcie, that is a good list, but it is definitely not exhaustive. I have been considering the possibility that any sin can be mortal, as sin is a harming of our relationship with God, and thus, anything that injures it could, with the appropriate deliberation, kill it.
Click to expand...
There is a distinct difference between mortal and venial.

CCC 1861 Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as is love itself. It results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God’s forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christ’s kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the power to make choices for ever, with no turning back. However, although we can judge that an act is in itself a grave offense, we must entrust judgment of persons to the justice and mercy of God.

CCC 1862 One commits venial sin when, in a less serious matter, he does not observe the standard prescribed by the moral law, or when he disobeys the moral law in a grave matter, but without full knowledge or without complete consent.

CCC 1863 Venial sin weakens charity; it manifests a disordered affection for created goods; it impedes the soul’s progress in the exercise of the virtues and the practice of the moral good; it merits temporal punishment. Deliberate and unrepented venial sin disposes us little by little to commit mortal sin. However venial sin does not break the covenant with God. With God’s grace it is humanly reparable. "Venial sin does not deprive the sinner of sanctifying grace, friendship with God, charity, and consequently eternal happiness.
 
Hi everyone. I noticed there are some relatively new members here. Welcome all to the forum. There are some great reference materials here on CA. Just go to the home page and browse. There are also some wonderful web sites for reference.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church.: scborromeo.org/ccc.htm
Douay/rheim Bible (online): drbo.org
Each have good search engines, for example if you go to WWW.scborromeo.org/ccc.htm and type sin in the “Search the Catechism of the Catholic Church” box, it will list every paragraph in the Catechism where sin is mentioned (259 times). Or use the index (a little easier) and look up “sin”. Read the whole section on sin, it’s great reading and 100% true Catholic teaching. Also try the references here: forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=108346
Again welcome to the forum.
Tom
 
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