Apostolic Apologetics: Mortal Sin
Introduction
I have created this document as a quick reference guide regarding the concept of Mortal Sin. This is an idea that while explicit in scripture, anti-Catholics at times have a habit of denying. Often this is because the scripture presented below simply isn't taught. This will be straight and to the point.
Scriptural Basis
1 John 5:16
If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he
will ask, and God will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal.
There is sin which is mortal; I do not say that one is to pray for
that.
1 John 5:17
All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin which is not mortal.
The Official Catholic Teaching
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church
1854 Sins are rightly evaluated according to their gravity. The
distinction between mortal and venial sin, already evident in
Scripture,129 became part of the tradition of the Church. It is
corroborated by human experience.
1855 Mortal sin destroys charity in the heart of
man by a grave violation of God's law; it turns man away from God, who
is his ultimate end and his beatitude, by preferring an inferior good
to him.
Venial sin allows charity to subsist, even though it offends and wounds it.
1856 Mortal sin, by attacking the vital principle within
us - that is, charity - necessitates a new initiative of God's mercy
and a conversion of heart which is normally accomplished within the
setting of the sacrament of reconciliation:
When the will sets itself upon something that is of its nature
incompatible with the charity that orients man toward his ultimate end,
then the sin is mortal by its very object . . . whether it contradicts
the love of God, such as blasphemy or perjury, or the love of neighbor,
such as homicide or adultery. . . . But when the sinner's will is set
upon something that of its nature involves a disorder, but is not
opposed to the love of God and neighbor, such as thoughtless chatter or
immoderate laughter and the like, such sins are venial.130
1857 For a
sin to be
mortal, three conditions
must together be met: "Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter
and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate
consent."131
1858 Grave matter is specified by the Ten
Commandments, corresponding to the answer of Jesus to the rich young
man: "Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear
false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and your mother."132
The gravity of sins is more or less great: murder is graver than theft.
One must also take into account who is wronged: violence against
parents is in itself graver than violence against a stranger.
1859 Mortal sin requires
full knowledge and
complete consent.
It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its
opposition to God's law. It also implies a consent sufficiently
deliberate to be a personal choice. Feigned ignorance and hardness of
heart133 do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character
of a sin.
1860 Unintentional ignorance can diminish or even
remove the imputability of a grave offense. But no one is deemed to be
ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are written in the
conscience of every man. The promptings of feelings and passions can
also diminish the voluntary and free character of the offense, as can
external pressures or pathological disorders. Sin committed through
malice, by deliberate choice of evil, is the gravest.
1861 Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human
freedom, as is love itself. It results in the loss of charity and the
privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace. If it
is not redeemed by repentance and God's forgiveness, it causes
exclusion from Christ's kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our
freedom has the power to make choices for ever, with no turning back.
However, although we can judge that an act is in itself a grave
offense, we must entrust judgment of persons to the justice and mercy
of God.
