according to the catholic church can an individual know whether a sin he has committed has been done with full knowledge and complete consent without any doubt whatsoever?Mortal Sin has 3 requirements. Not one. Without the other two, no one act, no matter what it is, without the other two, meets the requirements.
ONLY God can know if 2 and 3 are met. No human can determine what is another’s mind.
- Grave matter
- Full knowledge
- Complete consent
But for the purpose of the conversation, we can hypothesize a sin that we know the qualities of 2 and 3 for. For instance:Mortal Sin has 3 requirements. Not one. Without the other two, no one act, no matter what it is, without the other two, meets the requirements.
ONLY God can know if 2 and 3 are met. No human can determine what is another’s mind.
- Grave matter
- Full knowledge
- Complete consent
The Catholic Church did not create the distinction between mortal and venial sin. God did and we can see this reflected in scripture.You haven’t addressed the thread authors question. He asks whether any sin can be considered inherently venial due to the catholic church creating a distinction between sins which are “grave matter” and those that aren’t. “diminished capacity” is not a sin but a state of a person whereby they are not accurately able to assess whether they are committing sins or not.
Yes. This is the Doctrine of the Catholic Church. Nobody can know for sure if he is in a state of Grace (ie, has not committed an unconfessed mortal sin). Thus, it stands to reason that we can never know for sure if any sin we commit is mortal in nature (if we could know that, we could know for sure that we are not in a state of Grace - which we cannot ever know).If we can never know for certain any of the three criterion for a mortal sin a person can never possibly know if they have committed a mortal sin because you state only God is capable of knowing this.
I think I see where you are trying to go. Part of the “knowledge” aspect requires an understanding of the grave nature of the act. And if we can never know for sure the gravity of the act, we can never have full and complete knowledge, and thus cannot ever commit mortal sin.If no human can know the gravity of an act, whether they have full knowledge or free will in the act the obvious conclusion is that every sin that a person commits is venial because as you state a human cannot observe whether he is doing the act wilfully or not therefore he cannot ever be said to have full knowledge as only God can judge(according to your own statement) whether an act has full consent.
Of course we can know the gravity of an act. In some instances - eg abortion - we know it because the church has said explicitly that it is grave matter in any circumstances.Yes. This is the Doctrine of the Catholic Church. Nobody can know for sure if he is in a state of Grace (ie, has not committed an unconfessed mortal sin). Thus, it stands to reason that we can never know for sure if any sin we commit is mortal in nature (if we could know that, we could know for sure that we are not in a state of Grace - which we cannot ever know).
I think I see where you are trying to go. Part of the “knowledge” aspect requires an understanding of the grave nature of the act. And if we can never know for sure the gravity of the act, we can never have full and complete knowledge, and thus cannot ever commit mortal sin.
And that’s a good point. I may need to reconsider my opinion that we cannot know the gravity of the act. As far as I am aware, I am the only Catholic to ever form such an opinion (I seriously doubt that I am, but it is not something I have never seen before).
Unfortunately, that is incorrect. We know EXACTLY when, why, and why that arose, and in what context. And we also know about the many hundreds of years it was fought over.The Catholic church created the word Trinity but few believe we created the concept.
I agree with you. We know in many instances if we have committed a sin of grave matter and knowing that and still committing the act (excluding mental incapacity or coercion) means we have mortally sinned.Of course we can know the gravity of an act. In some instances - eg abortion - we know it because the church has said explicitly that it is grave matter in any circumstances.
In other instances - such as lying - the church has said that the gravity of a lie depends on various factors, such as the nature of the truth we are deforming, the harm we do to others by our lie and so on.
In such circumstances we can still know the gravity of our sins. We can use the guidance the Church offers plus our informed conscience to make a determination that in the particular circumstances in which we lied, our lie was grave matter (eg perjuring oneself in court, on oath, would rarely if ever not be grave matter, and I think a person can use reason and informed conscience to decide which). Or that in the particular circumstances (eg telling your wife ‘no, those jeans do not make your bum look look big’ when they do) it was not grave matter.
Think of the relationship analogy. There are some misdeeds that would be a ‘deal breaker’ for pretty much any couple - infidelity, for example. It’s very easy to objectively say ‘no, you shouldn’t cheat on your spouse’.
There are others that are a ‘deal breaker’ only for some people. Every couple will have different standards as far as household chores, for example. So every couple will know that they should at least not have so much rubbish about the house that vermin is attracted or health and safety compromised, but beyond that there is no ‘one size fits all’ for each couple.
Within that couple, there will often be one partner to whom it matters more than to the other. Or times at which it matters more - eg they may be more tolerant of mess if they have a newborn baby or something.
Nonetheless, a spouse CAN oftentimes make a good guess as to what their partner’s expectations are in regard to household chores, without being explicitly told. Or decide to clean house regardless of what their partner thinks because they personally are uncomfortable with the level of mess and it is a big issue for them.
That’s how it works in our relationship with God as well. Sin is a rupture in the relationship, mortal sin is a serious one. A relationship can be ruptured equally from our side (ie by us doing things that we are not comfortable with, that we are fairly sure are grave matter) as from God’s (ie doing things that indisputably and whichever way you slice it are grave matter).
Yes that is what I am trying to say.I think I see where you are trying to go. Part of the “knowledge” aspect requires an understanding of the grave nature of the act. And if we can never know for sure the gravity of the act, we can never have full and complete knowledge, and thus cannot ever commit mortal sin.
And that’s a good point. I may need to reconsider my opinion that we cannot know the gravity of the act. As far as I am aware, I am the only Catholic to ever form such an opinion (I seriously doubt that I am, but it is not something I have never seen before).
If you can prove that according to the “infallible” Magisterium and provide a quote of its statement that an individual Catholic can know for certain the gravity of a sin solely by use of their conscience then I will cede that there is no difficulty (from a Catholic perspective) over the issue.And that’s a good point. I may need to reconsider my opinion that we cannot know the gravity of the act. As far as I am aware, I am the only Catholic to ever form such an opinion (I seriously doubt that I am, but it is not something I have never seen before).
Try reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church (a product of the Ordinary Magisterium and so one to which we must give the assent of faith) especially paragraph 1778. The link below is to that section.If you can prove that according to the “infallible” Magisterium and provide a quote of its statement that an individual Catholic can know for certain the gravity of a sin solely by use of their conscience then I will cede that there is no difficulty (from a Catholic perspective) over the issue.
But you must provide an infallible quote from the Church otherwise your assertion that a Catholic through the use of their conscience will the know the gravity of an act is just your opinion.
But this is the ordinary Magisterium and so not infallible. I asked for a quote which is infallible.Try reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church (a product of the Ordinary Magisterium and so one to which we must give the assent of faith) especially paragraph 1778. The link below is to that section.
It is abundantly clear from this that we CAN use our conscience to distinguish the
‘moral quality’ (including gravity) of a concrete act.
scborromeo.org/mobileccc/p3s1c1a6.htm#1776
I think you’re falling into a common error of thinking only infallible statements are binding.But this is the ordinary Magisterium and so not infallible. I asked for a quote which is infallible.