What to do during life/death "Good Samaritan" situations while being in a state of mortal sin

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WannabeSaint

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Here is a situation:

Bob is in a state of mortal sin and he is walking down a dark alley. He sees Debbie being held at gunpoint by two muggers and Debbie is begging for help.

Bob wants to intervene but he knows that the muggers will probably shoot him if he does so. Since he isnt in a state of grace, he would go to hell if he was killed.

So what should Bob do in this situation in order to save Debbie while also saving himself from dying in a state of sin?
 
Wow, Bob sure has a lot of time on his hands to think about whether he should risk death while in a state of mortal sin or save Debbie.

There is always the chance that Bob could get killed running away from the alley and getting hit by a car. In fact, there are many ways that Bob could potentially die before getting himself to confession. Since Bob isn’t sitting home waiting to go to confession, I would say he should risk death anyway to save Debbie.
 
Assuming Bob has the presence of mind in a situation like this to even think along these lines, he should make a Perfect Act of Contrition and then run to save Debbie. Charity covers a multitude of sins.
 
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Or Bob could be sleeping in his bed, all warm and toasty after a good dinner and have a massive brain bleed and die in mortal sin.

That is why if we commit a mortal sin, we make a sincere act of contrition, and we get to Confession as quickly as humanly possible. Unless one lives where a priest only comes around once a month, in remote Alaska or remote Congo, call your parish and set up confession when you commit a mortal sin.
 
To offer one’s life in service of God and your fellow man sounds like a pretty firm display of contrition.
 
I think it pretty clear, that trying to be selfless and offer ones life, even in this situation, is much more heroic and noble, than making an excuse.
 
WannabeSaint said:
Bob wants to intervene but he knows that the muggers will probably shoot him if he does so. Since he isnt in a state of grace, he would go to hell if he was killed.
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No normal Catholic has a thought process like this. Ever.

We might hesitate because we don’t want to get killed -normal human instinct to preserve life - but NOBODY in an emergency is going to be thinking “but I’m in mortal sin and will go to hell”.
The kind of person who worries about that would likely have already made an act of perfect contrition and planning to go to confession tomorrow so he’s not worrying, or else he has the illness of scruples.

Assuming Bob doesn’t have the illness of scruples, he’d make the decision about what to do without his purported mortal sin coming into the picture. He might jump in and help, or he might think “I don’t want to die” and call the police instead.
 
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WannabeSaint said:
he is about to go to Confession to.
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That is a new development - but the point is these hypothetical scenarios can never display the entire story for anyone to give a completely reasonable response. There will ALWAYS be unknowns that are pertinent to the situation concerning ones salvation.

Peace!!!
 
WannabeSaint said:
He could be walking to the church he is about to go to Confession to.
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If he’s reached that point then he should already have perfect contrition for his mortal sin that he will be confessing in a few minutes, and know that if somehow he were hit by a bus, killed by a mugger, etc before he made it to the confessional, then God would know his heart and take care of him.

We have variations on this theme of “what if you die before you make it to Confession?” all the time on here.
The answer is always the same: God knows your heart and doesn’t play “Gotcha” trying to send you to Hell.
 
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Go help this woman. If bob dies then surely, because he gave his life for another person, would most likely be pardoned by the Lord and be sent to purgatory. Just my two cents.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
Can I please ask where you are getting your understanding of what causes someone to be “damned” and whether you understand about the “perfect act of contrition”?
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The suggestion was to make an act of perfect contrition. I’m assuming the prayer, right? Reciting that prayer doesn’t mean you automatically achieve perfect contrition and one should never presume that their sins have been forgiven simply by doing that. Perfect contrition is very rare (at least from what I read).

So the average Bob probably wouldn’t feel very secure in his salvation in that situation.
 
Timeflies2me said:
Go help this woman. If bob dies then surely, because he gave his life for another person, would most likely be pardoned by the Lord and be sent to purgatory. Just my two cents.
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I was wondering if that were to be the case. Because Bob would basically be saying “I’m willing to die to save Debbie’s life.” I’ve read that giving ones life in order to save another will automatically save that person’s soul.
 
WannabeSaint said:
The suggestion was to make an act of perfect contrition. I’m assuming the prayer, right? Reciting that prayer doesn’t mean you automatically achieve perfect contrition and one should never presume that their sins have been forgiven simply by doing that. Perfect contrition is very rare (at least from what I read).

So the average Bob probably wouldn’t feel very secure in his salvation in that situation.
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You don’t just rattle off a prayer, whether it’s “perfect contrition” or a regular act of contrition or any other prayer.
You do the best you can to be really, truly repentant. The prayer expresses what you’re trying to achieve.
It’s not presumption to know whether or not you’ve repented from your sin. It’s basic common sense. I don’t just rattle off a prayer (any prayer) and go, “Okay, now I’ve repented”. I do know whether I feel truly sorry for the sin, and why I feel sorry - is it because I’ve failed to live up to what I should be doing as a child of God, or is it just because I fear Hell? - and whether I truly intend to avoid the sin, and the near occasion of it, in the future. It’s not presumption for me to have a sincere feeling of repentance and an intent to mend my ways.

Presumption would be if I just assumed that rattling off a prayer fixed everything and/or I was not truly sorry or not truly planning to avoid committing the sin again.

Also, you have been told multiple times on the thread that “the average Bob” when confronted with an emergency life-or-death situation is NOT repeat NOT going to worry about his salvation in that moment.

I don’t mean to pry, but do you suffer from scruples?
This whole scenario you’re proposing does not make any sort of logical or emotional sense to me unless it’s coming from someone who is scrupulous and worries about their salvation to an inordinate degree all the time.
 
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God is not sitting on a big cloud thone just waiting to GOTCHA kill you in mortal sin.

God desires that all men be saved (that is Scripture).

Also, unless your heart is hardened, committing mortal sin is not easy. You know it is a serious sin, you do it anyway, you intend to do it. That is a deliberate act against God.

God knows the very second a person in mortal sin has conviction of that sin, has contrition and repents. Let’s say they call and ask for confession the moment they are contrite, and the parish says “Sorry, we have no priests anywhere in a 200 mile radius available until day after tomorrow”, God also knows that.
 
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