What is worse?

[henrikhank]

What is worse: pornography or murder? Or is this question some kind of fallacy?
I am not asking for a simple answer. Please give me the exact answer the Catholic Church would give! Please also give me some references to the teachings of the Magisterium and great philosophers/theologians on this topic.

 

[phil19034]

Objectively, murder is worse. But both could send someone to hell.

Our Lady of Fatima reveled that more people are in hell because of sins of the flesh than any other.

Subjectively, I would argue that pornography does more damage to society. Murder does more damage on an individual or family level.

God Bless

 

[Allegra]

I would say that murder is worse because it is permenant. You can get rid of the porn and stop using it, but you can’t bring back someone you’ve killed. However, objectively speaking, hell is hell, and both sins seperate you from God. On the other hand, both sins can be repented of and forgiven. Porn may be more dangerous then murder. Nearly all of society agrees that murder is wrong in at least nearly every case, but society approves of and even encourages porn use, so a porn user might be less likely to repent than a murderer. I would venture to guess that most murderers and quickly sorry for what they have done.

 

[John_Lazarus]

What is worse: pornography or murder? Or is this question some kind of fallacy?
I am not asking for a simple answer. Please give me the exact answer the Catholic Church would give! Please also give me some references to the teachings of the Magisterium and great philosophers/theologians on this topic.

I don’t think that the Church has a “pecking order” of sins: a single mortal sin (from murder to missing mass on Sunday for no good reason) is enough to bar one from heaven. On the other hand, Jesus Himself mentioned the relative gravity of sins when He said to Pilate, "Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” (John 19:11)

Also, there are four sins which “cry out to Heaven for vengeance”: Sodomy, cheating the widow and orphan, cheating a worker of his wages, and wilful murder. I remember this being in my Missal, but that’s in storage, so I’ll see if I can find another reference.

I think one can infer from this that murder > porn.

 

[PolarGuy]

Well, in porn no one gets killed.

But seriously, folks, how many of these threads – “what’s worse, X or Y?” can be answered with, “they’re both bad?”

Folks, this is not really “moral theology,” and IMHO threads like this just lead non-Catholic lurkers who read them to think that Catholics – or those thinking about Catholicism, like OP – are abnormal, spending time worrying about them.

 

[SMGS127]

Also, there are four sins which “cry out to Heaven for vengeance”: Sodomy, cheating the widow and orphan, cheating a worker of his wages, and wilful murder. I remember this being in my Missal, but that’s in storage, so I’ll see if I can find another reference.

I think one can infer from this that murder > porn.

To be fair, that’s not doctrinal – it’s just heavily believed in the Church. It’s one of St. Thomas’s teachings.

 

[phil_at_dayboro]

Not sure what sins Gain more points, but common sense would say murder is worse,

 

[Joseph6279]

Both are grave, but murder is objectively the graver sin. Church teaching says this as well as common sense.

 

[thistle]

What is worse: pornography or murder? Or is this question some kind of fallacy?
I am not asking for a simple answer. Please give me the exact answer the Catholic Church would give! Please also give me some references to the teachings of the Magisterium and great philosophers/theologians on this topic.

The others have answered your question but the bottom line is that it does not matter which mortal sin you commit because if you die unrepentant you go immediately to Hell.

 

[prometheus1]

Well, in porn no one gets killed.

But seriously, folks, how many of these threads – “what’s worse, X or Y?” can be answered with, “they’re both bad?”

Folks, this is not really “moral theology,” and IMHO threads like this just lead non-Catholic lurkers who read them to think that Catholics – or those thinking about Catholicism, like OP – are abnormal, spending time worrying about them.

Hmmmm, how wrong can one person be?
I am one of the non catholic ‘lurkers’ of whom you speak…although I would like to think of myself as a non lurking atheist who is interested in faith…especially the Catholic faith, which I find heart felt and beautiful.
Although, many of your doctrines and beliefs are alien and strange to me, as I find out more about Catholicism, they seem to explain themselves, so please, do not refer to people who are genuinely interested in religion as Lurkers…it is such a denigrating term.

Oh, and as an atheist…murder is far, far worse than porn.

 

[Sean_St_Jude]

Prometheus, You are not a lurker, but a welcome fellow-member of this forum family. In some circles, “lurking” is taking on a more benign tone in American English and a parent might say to their teenager, “Don’t talk about that. Look who’s lurking.” And they’re actually referring to a couple of the younger children in the area.

I’m sure I speak for the vast majority of us when I say we like those who “hang out” with us.

 

[prometheus1]

Prometheus, You are not a lurker, but a welcome fellow-member of this forum family. In some circles, “lurking” is taking on a more benign tone in American English and a parent might say to their teenager, “Don’t talk about that. Look who’s lurking.” And they’re actually referring to a couple of the younger children in the area.

I’m sure I speak for the vast majority of us when I say we like those who “hang out” with us.

Thank you for your explanation…as you can see I am English…lurking has a much darker meaning here…the only people who lurk, are up to no good…and I can assure everyone, my intentions are honourable, I am interested in why people have faith…and I will be honest, you Catholics seem to have far more answers than any other Christians I have questioned.
The CAF seems to be a really friendly place, where people will not deride me for my views, but will instead take the time to answer my questions comprehensively…such as I had no idea why Mary was so important, when I was told, I thought, yes, that makes perfect sense now…educated discussion is the way forward…and on other sites it unfortunately descends into arguments consisting of ‘I hope you burn in hell’, from one side, to ‘you are a religitard’, coming from the other side…neither helps with understanding…thankfully, I have experienced neither on this wonderful site.

 

[phil_at_dayboro]

The others have answered your question but the bottom line is that it does not matter which mortal sin you commit because if you die unrepentant you go immediately to Hell.

And that about wraps it all up

 

[ready]

Pornography is very evil, but taking another person’s life is worse of an evil because you have not only sinned and done an injury to God and neighbor, but you have also taken the very life out of somebody. God bless you.

 

[theCrow]

Violence/Murder are a millions times worse than Pornography.

We in the west are truly uptight and yes prudish about ANYTHING sexual.

We have no problems showing BRUTAL GROTESQUE Violence and Murder on Nightly TV and Video games, but don’t you dare say the F word or
show a nipple or breast, Heaven forbid!!

That’s the hypocrisy of TV/Movie ratings.

 

[on_the_hill]

Prometheus, You are not a lurker, but a welcome fellow-member of this forum family. In some circles, “lurking” is taking on a more benign tone in American English and a parent might say to their teenager, “Don’t talk about that. Look who’s lurking.” And they’re actually referring to a couple of the younger children in the area.

I’m sure I speak for the vast majority of us when I say we like those who “hang out” with us.

I didn’t realize there was a language barrier when it came to “lurking.” Generally, on the Interwebz, a lurker is someone who reads forums without ever posting. Taken originally, no doubt, from someone who sneaks around, spying, peeking, waiting for an opportunity to pounce on an unsuspecting victim, nowadays a lurker is a harmless “window shopper,” as it were.

 

[Sean_St_Jude]

Crow, Where have you been living? I know of the unbelievable amount of violence in entertainment, but I also know of the amount of sex, language and perversion in the same field. Sex is so common that it has actually made you call people who object to pornography prudish when actually pornography is very harmful. You see? The entire culture has already indoctrinated you, rendering you unable to make a sound judgment.

 

[henrikhank]

Violence/Murder are a millions times worse than Pornography.

We in the west are truly uptight and yes prudish about ANYTHING sexual.

We have no problems showing BRUTAL GROTESQUE Violence and Murder on Nightly TV and Video games, but don’t you dare say the F word or
show a nipple or breast, Heaven forbid!!

That’s the hypocrisy of TV/Movie ratings.

And you base this on?
Has the Church been teaching this?
Any moral theologians who say this?

 

[thistle]

And you base this on?
Has the Church been teaching this?
Any moral theologians who say this?

I repeat what I said in an earlier post that it does NOT MATTER which mortal sin you commit because if you die unrepentant you go to Hell. Its not a case of thinking well my mortal sin is not as grave as some other mortal sins so I won’t go to Hell because that is irrelevant.