Wrongness

[Churchman25]

Is believing something that is wrong but you think its right sin?
I ask this question because awhile back I posted something that was wrong but I thought it was right and people thought that it was sin.

 

[zab]

It is not easy answering that question, not knowing specifically what you are talking about. But I will try. If something is wrong and you know that it is wrong- you know this because the Church teaches that it is wrong- and you do it anyway, then you have committed a sin. Now, if you know that the church teaches that something is wrong, but you do not understand why it is wrong, you still should not do it because you know that it is wrong. But it is not a sin to not understand. In time you may eventually understand why it is wrong.

 

[HelenRose]

Is believing something that is wrong but you think its right sin?
I ask this question because awhile back I posted something that was wrong but I thought it was right and people thought that it was sin.

A person can be mistaken in not recognizing that a certain behavior is objectively wrong.

However, that person may not be culpable of sinning if he or she is unaware that it behavior is wrong.

 

[HelenRose]

Or if a person is incapable of understanding that a certain behavior is wrong.

For instance is a person is mentally ill or has the mind of a small child and can not reason.

In other situations such as accidents. Killing an innocent person is objectively wrong but if there is a terrible unavoidable accident and someone causes the death of another person he or she will not be culpable of sin.

Sin is deliberating doing something one knows is wrong. However, deliberately not making an effort to learn what is wrong is not an excuse.

 

[HelenRose]

Here is my experience.

I became a Catholic in my forties after I had had a hysterectomy. Prior to that my husband and I used artificial contraception. I will leave it up to God as to the degree of sin but I now know that this was wrong. I am also a aware of the fact that the contraception (birth control pills) may have lead to the death of unborn children I may or may not have been carrying.

Whether or not God judges that I have sinned, I am sorry for this behavior. I have asked for forgiveness and know that I am forgiven but I still have to live with the possibility that I may have children waiting for me(God willing) in heaven.

We may not be culpable of sin for the wrong doing in our past but we will still live with the consequences of that objectively wrong behavior.

 

[giuseppeTO]

Is believing something that is wrong but you think its right sin?
I ask this question because awhile back I posted something that was wrong but I thought it was right and people thought that it was sin.

Well, wrong and right are too vague to determine the answer. If you mean sinful and not sinful, then that is an easier discussion. The church has made the conditions for sins fairly clear. If there is some doubt about the culpability for sins or the gravity of a sin, that can only be discussed and resolved in the Confessional. If the church teaches that something is wrong, or sinful, and you believe it is not wrong or sinful, then there is a certain degree of sinfulness involved in that obstinacy. Committing an act that the church teaches as sinful just because you believe it is not sinful, goes much farther in seriousness than simply not believing what the church teaches. And what She teaches is laid out concisely in Her catechisms and in the Commandments.

You cannot sin without knowing it is wrong, either on the natural level or at the level of church teachings. I say “the natural level” because you may not find any specific teaching on, for instance, abusing cats in the catechism, but at the natural level, you should know that it is wrong.

 

[Mediaevalist]

Okay, we can commit sin on an objective level, but yet lack subjective culpability for it. This is because of mitigating factors.

Can ignorance be a mitigating factor in reducing culpability for sin? Yes, I would think so.

How all of that plays out in nuanced detail is way beyond my education.

However, the Catechism does have this to say with regard to self-abuse:

“To form an equitable judgment about the subjects’ moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety, or other psychological or social factors that can lessen, if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability” (No. 2352).

The underlining is, of course, my own. It’s meant to point that there’s an emphasis here on what I understand to be the priestly role of giving guidance to the flock.

Therefore, if you need help determining culpability for your actions, the best place to get said help is from your pastor.

 

[pianistclare]

Being obstinate in believing something is right when you know it’s not…after you have been told is indeed a sin.
We must ascent to Church teaching and not rely on our own “feelings”.

If you think about it, this is why there are so divisions among Christian denominations.
Everyone thinks they are right, but give little thought to what the Church really teaches.