Chapter 11: Sin and Conversion Flashcards
Hamartia
Greek word for SIN used in Pauline and Johnannie writings
Trent on Sin
Session V: Doctrine of Original Sin
Session VI: Repeats fundamental points of catholic doctrine on sin
1) Lack of faith
2) Every mortal sin deprives us of grace of Christ
3) Maintains distinction between mortal and venial sin
4) Sin does not completely destroy human liberty
Session XIV: proposing the SACRAMENT of penitence, pronounces the NECESSITY to CONFESS each and every mortal sin
Vatican II on SIN
Gaudium et Spes, nn. 13 & 37
GS 13: “What divine revelation makes known to us agrees with experience. Examining his heart, man finds that he has inclinations toward evil too, and is engulfed by manifold ills which cannot come from his good Creator.”
GS 37: …man prone to evil…“constantly imperiled by man’s pride and deranged self-love.”
“…struggle between good and evil…”
Augustinian Definition
“an act, word, or desire, contrary to the eternal law”
2 Elements of Augustinian Definition
1) Sin is a HUMAN ACT
2) Sin is Contrary to the Law of God
Another Definition of SIN
an act contrary to ethical virtue (natural or supernatural), that breaks the communion of men with God in Christ, and consequently, impedes the definitive fullness of divine filiation
2 Elements of Sin
1) “Aversio a Deo” - separation from God = FORMAL element of sin
2) “Conversion ad creaturas” - disordered tendency toward terrestrial goods = quasi-MATERIAL element
Analogical Sense of SIN
there exists a certain similitude between mortal and venial sins, but it is not reducible to a mere difference in “GRADE”. They are ESSENTIALLY DIFFERENT.
3 Conditions for a MORTAL SIN
1) Grave Material
2) Full Awareness/Knowledge
3) Perfect Consent
By Gravity of Material, ACTS classed as:
1) Mortal EX TOTO GENERE SUO
- blasphemy, hatred against God, taking of innocent life
2) Mortal EX GENERE SUO
- theft and injury
3) Mild (“lieve”) EX GENERE SUO
- petty but not harmful lie
2 Ideas of Fundamental Option
SECULARIZATION - weakening of the knowledge of God and of his love toward men. Implies smaller sense of sin. Understand God as far away. Forget fact that GRACE draws man into Intimacy with God.
FALSE ANTHROPOLOGY - weakens sense of Human Freedom, forgetting it is capable of modifying most profound intentions of person and changes them through certain particular acts.
Responses to Fundamental Option
1) distinction between Mortal and Venial sins, not invented by theologians but proclaimed by the Church.
2) teaching on mortal sin NOT a RIGORIST understanding, but taken from the SCRIPTURES - often lists vices that exclude someone from heaven.
3) Church teaches that even ISOLATED SINS and SINS of WEAKNESS (“falls in years of puberty”) can be MORTAL
Levels of Sin according to Fundamental Option
Categorical
1) Venial
2) Grave
Transcendental
3) Mortal
External vs. Internal Sins
EXTERNAL - committed with an action that can be observed from the exterior
INTERNAL - those which remain in the interior of man
3 Types of Interior Sins
1) Consented thought (delectatio morosa).
2) The desire (desiderium) for a completed act.
3) Satisfaction (gaudium) for a completed act.
3 Senses of “Social Sin”
1) EVERY sin, even the most hidden, EFFECTS SOCIETY as a whole
2) There are sins which directly strike MORE DIRECTLY at Social Life
3) There sometimes exists “COLLECTIVE SITUATIONS” which induce sin.
Divisions of Sin
- Original vs. Actual
- Formal (voluntary) vs. Material (objectively disordered, not sufficiently willful)
- sinful ACT vs. sinful STATE (habitual sin)
- Ignorance, Fragility, and Malice
- Carnal (disordered tendency for sensible good [lust]) vs. Spiritual (disordered tendency for spiritual good [pride])
- Commission (execution disordered act) vs. Omission (omission something due)
Specific Distinction of Sins
sins committed against different VIRTUES or PRECEPTS
Numeric Distinction of Sins
the QUANTITY of sins of a certain TYPE that have been committed
Remote Cause of Sin
the Natural “DEFECTABILITY” of man and the subsequent Concupiscence to sin
Proximate Cause of Sin
MALICE of WILL
Vices exists on:
1) the INTELLECTUAL plane
2) the AFFECTIVE plane
3) the DISPOSITIONAL plane
Capital Sins/Vices
1) VAINGLORY
2) AVARICE
3) LUST
4) GLUTTONY
5) SLOTH
6) ENVY
7) WRATH
Vainglory
disordered love of one’s excellence
[Hardon: Inordinate desire to manifest one’s own excellence. It differs from pride, which is the uncontrolled desire for self-esteem, in that vanity (vainglory) seeks to show others what a person has or has achieved. A vain person looks for praise from others and may go to great lengths to obtain it. Thus where pride, though sinful, may have some foundation in fact for whatever one prides oneself on being or having done, vanity is the idle effort to obtain recognition or respect for what a person does not have rightful claim to.]
Avarice
disordered love for exterior goods
[Hardon: An excessive or insatiable desire for money or material things. In its strict sense, avarice is the inordinate holding on to possessions or riches instead of using these material things for some worthwhile purpose.]
Lust
disordered love of sensible pleasures
[Hardon: An inordinate desire for or enjoyment of sexual pleasure.]
Gluttony
disordered love of sensible pleasures
[Hardon: Inordinate desire for the pleasure connected with food or drink. ]
Sloth (and laziness/acedia)
the refusal and fleeing from necessary effort to obtain a moral or spiritual good
[Hardon: Sluggishness of soul or boredom because of the exertion necessary for the performance of a good work.]
Envy
sadness for another’s good, which is considered one’s own evil; and joy of evil brought upon another
[Hardon: Sadness or discontent at the excellence, good fortune, or success of another person.]
Wrath
violent intolerance in face of opposition
Root of All Sins EX PARTE AVERSIONIS
PRIDE
Root of All Sins EX PARTE CONVERSIONIS
AVARICE
3 Types of Temptation
1) The WORLD
2) The DEVIL
3) The FLESH
Moral Principles regarding Temptation
1) Temptations cannot be conquered with our own strength
2) Temptations can always be conquered with the GRACE of God
3) One must react with PROMPTNESS against temptation
4) One can RESIST temptation in two different ways
a) with directly opposite acts and this is recommended for temptations against faith, hope, and charity
b) Occupying the mind in some other thing: recommended for temptations of sensuality (as focusing on the temptation makes it stronger in this case).
5) To feel temptation is not a sin, but only to consent to it
6) One is not permitted to place oneself voluntarily in situations of temptation
Occasions of Sin
those EXTERIOR CIRCUMSTANCES that occur more or less voluntarily and that SUPPOSE a Temptation to sin
Types of Occasion of Sin
1) Proximate or Remote
2) Absolute or Relative
3) Continuous or Discontinuous
4) Free or Necessary
5) Grave or Slight
Proximate vs. Remote
PROXIMATE - when danger is serious
REMOTE - when danger is slight
Absolute vs. Relative
ABSOLUTE - when any normal person feels such danger
RELATIVE - when it is dangerous for only certain people
Continuous vs. Discontinuous
CONTINUOUS - habitually present
DISCONTINUOUS - only present in intervals
Free vs. Necessary
FREE - when placing oneself in the occasion depends upon personal will
NECESSARY - when it depends on a certain state of life
Grave vs. Slight
GRAVE - SLIGHT
according to the THEOLOGICAL SPECIES of sin to which the danger refers
Moral Obligations concerning Occasion of Sin
1) GRAVELY OBLIGATORY to avoid Grave Occasions of Sin
2) One must take every possibility so that the PROXIMATE and NECESSARY occasion BECOMES REMOTE
3) CONTINUOUS, FREE, and REMOTE occasions are to be AVOIDED because they Corrode the Spiritual Life and Predispose it to Grave Sin
Effects of Sin
1) PRIMARY Effect is the EXCLUSION of ONESELF from DIVINE FRIENDSHIP (“Aversio a Deo”)
2) Man, created to liven communion with God, Contradicts His Most Profound Truth and His Own Truest Good
3) Personal sin not only Damages the Sinner, but has Negative Consequences in both the Ecclesial and Civil Community
Cooperation with Evil
the realization of an act that in some way Helps our Neighbor to complete an Immoral Action of which they remain the Principal Author
- Scandal
- Cooperation
Scandal
the ATTITUDE or BEHAVIOR that INDUCES others to do evil/sin
[NB. Scandal (cause evil will) is not Cooperation(assist evil, but cause in another)]
Cooperation
an Action that Actually FACILITATES the EXECUTION of an evil act
Formal Cooperation
the evil is DIRECTLY and FREELY WILLED, and as such, IMPLICIT APPROVAL is given of the other’s actions
Material Cooperation
TOLERATION of the evil action, without implying any endorsement of the behavior of the other, where cooperation comes about as a result of an inevitable action that for some reason you cannot avoid
- IMMEDIATE (direct) of MEDITATED (indirect)
- PROXIMATE or REMOTE
Moral Principles of Cooperation with Evil
Formal Cooperation in evil is ALWAYS ILLICIT.
Material Cooperation, in general terms, is also MORALLY ILLICIT. However, there are a few circumstances that legitimize certain actions that materially cooperate with evil. Principals of Double Effect used in these situations
3 Convictions concerning Conversions
1) The MERCY of God
2) The Necessity of CONVERSION (“metanoia”)
3) The SACRAMENTS of Forgiveness
