When is lying considered mortal sin?

  • Thread starter Thread starter HNA444
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
H

HNA444

Guest
When would lying be considered a mortal sin? For example, I lied to one of my professors saying I was not feeling well, because I didn’t want to go to class, because I have lots of work to catch up on. I feel bad about it now. Would lying be mortal when it hurts someone only?
 
CCC #2484 The gravity of a lie is measured against the nature of the truth it deforms, the circumstances, the intentions of the one who lies, and the harm suffered by its victims. If a lie in itself only constitutes a venial sin, it becomes mortal when it does grave injury to the virtues of justice and charity.

If you didn’t really hurt anyone, I would say your case is venial. Unless you missing class really hurt someone else, like maybe a partner on a team project having to go it alone, or something like that.
 
It depends on which school of theology you subscribe to. St Augustine said all lies have the potential for being mortal in consequences, that is, all lies involve grave matter. St Thomas Aquinas says only some lies fall into that category.

I struggle with the question a number of times. In the end I found the best answer to be sacramental confession whenever in doubt. A good priest should be able to help with any questions regarding reparation, restitution, and the such.
 
It doesn’t sound like it passes the “grave matter” condition for it to be a mortal sin.
 
I was wondering this myself. So is it far fetched to say, that if the lie is harmful that it is a mortal sin and if it is not, than it is a venial sin.?
 
piejesu said:
It depends on which school of theology you subscribe to. St Augustine said all lies have the potential for being mortal in consequences, that is, all lies involve grave matter. St Thomas Aquinas says only some lies fall into that category.

I struggle with the question a number of times. In the end I found the best answer to be sacramental confession whenever in doubt. A good priest should be able to help with any questions regarding reparation, restitution, and the such.
Click to expand...
Both Saints would go now with the CCC 🙂 And would be interested finding themselves quoted so much in it 🙂

CCC #2484 The gravity of a lie is measured against the nature of the truth it deforms, the circumstances, the intentions of the one who lies, and the harm suffered by its victims. If a lie in itself only constitutes a venial sin, it becomes mortal when it does grave injury to the virtues of justice and charity.

Remember that last part well …it would have to be a grave injury. For instance lying in court…

Of course don’t lie!
 
Carjack1 said:
I was wondering this myself. So is it far fetched to say, that if the lie is harmful that it is a mortal sin and if it is not, than it is a venial sin.?
Click to expand...
It’s all subjective. All lies are harmful, but some more than others.

Something like telling your spouse they look great when maybe they just look, “ok”. Or calling in sick to class when you know nothing imporant is going to be going on. These didn’t really affect anyone directly, or spread a great amount of distrust or evil in the world. Venial.

Something like saying you had to stay late at work, when really you were having an affair. Things like this advance evil in the world. Mortal.

Natually there are grey areas. That’s when you use your conscience. You can usually tell by your level of guilt how wrong it was. If you can say to yourself, “I’ll call in, they wont miss me” it’s probably venial. But if you are laying in bed before you go to sleep and say to yourself, “I probably shouldn’t have done that”. It might be mortal. Go to confession.
 
Have a question regarding lying…

When I was in Year 8 (2005) 2nd year of high school, I was lying quite a bit, in regards to what I had, I stated I lived in a nice big house, parents had a bmw, I done go-karting and was amazing at it, and that I had alot of other possesions. Anyways in reality, lived and still live in a flat, no nice cars, I did not do go karting even though I wish I done it, it was simply unaffordable not that I ever asked or had the effort… and some of the other possesions were not there. Anyways my lying continued until the start of 2007 in its prime, until it slowly drained away, and it became quite hard for me to keep up these lies, so if someone asked me how long I had played soccer for I would sort of go ugggghhh why are they asking and state the lie of 7 years… As 2008 went on the lying I would say got quite minimal, primarily because I never talked about what I had lied about, and neither did my friends and when someone asked me where for example I lived today, I would simply state the suburb and make no mention of whether its a house or a unit. Have to say though I still hate conversations about any of these topics because I don’t want to be pressed into lying again, I just want them to never mention anything about this… on a side note, all of the people who I met outside high school since 2007, have had pretty much no lying, they have never heard my stories of a big house, a nice car, go karting etc.
I was thinking that I should simply state what were lies, but I have also been told by my mother that for example, if I were going to ever need to be picked up from the place where I live, tell them I live in a flat, but there is no need to write up a massive text message stating everything I lied about.

What is everyones opinion on this? was this lying a grave matter, I honestly regret for lying as it would have made things much more simpler.

If someone could please give any advice within the next few hours.

Thanks alot.
 
Hi dazzi.
Whatever you do, ask God’s help to help you
get OUT of the habit of lying, even if it is largely far fetched tales about
living in a big house and going go-karting. Those kind of lies weaken your
resistance to lying about other stuff. Then you will realize that you
lie about just about everything, even if you don’t “intend” to hurt anyone.
Believe me, I know. I picked up the habit of lying at around age 10,
and it was because I wanted to “fit in” in the conversations the other kids were
having, and felt that what I had to contribute was woefully inadequate. So I made
stuff up. It got to be a very, very, very bad habit. I wish I had never ever
told the first ones back when I was a kid.
You are right to be concerned.
If you catch yourself wanting to tell a lie, try to pray about it before you do.
God bless you.
 
Just remember that our Savior is sometimes referred to as the Prince of Truth, while Satan is referred to as the Prince of Lies.

Purposely lying to cause someone else great harm would definitely be a mortal sin. An example would be if some one were to tell another that eating a poisonous plant would be fine for them, when in fact it would be deadly or cause them to become gravely ill.

Folks who lie habitually have a serious problem. For one, people will cease to believe you and they will eventually find out that you can not be reliable and can not be trusted. Your good name and reputation is at stake. Would you rather be known as someone who is always truthful or would you like the reputation as a chronic liar ???

I know we all want to look good in front of our friends. We all want to appear to be wealthy or skilled at sports or have a lot of dates, BUT we are not all that luucky (and your friends know that).

Remember too, that Christ asks us to be meek and humble NOT proud and boastful. True friends do not follow you because you have a lot of money (or appear to have a lot of money). True friends will like you because of who you are NOT because of what you have.

IF you want to be trusted then be TRUTHFUL. IF you want to be respected then be humble. No one likes an arrogant jerk. The more you brag, the less folks will like you. Let folks remember you as being a nice guy. Someone who is confident enough to tell folks the truth about who and what they are.

You should want folks to like you for what you really are, not for what you want them to think you are. There is no shame in being poor and truthful. When people catch you in a lie, you will be embarassed by it. When you lie you have to remember everything you made up and be consistent with it. When you tell the truth, you will only have to recall what is true.

It is much much easier to stick to the truth. It is a very good habit to get into.
 
True friends will stick with you no matter what. They may even be better friends when you tell them the truth. It takes a big man to own up to the truth after you have tried to lead them astray.

You will definitely be a better person for it. People understand that folks want to look good when they are among their peers. They also understand that you should be honest with your friends, especailly IF you want them to be life long friends.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top