Editor’s Note: This series on Apologetics is based on the book Catholicism & Reason. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. You can send them either to the postal mailing address or to the email address below, and we will interrupt this series to answer them.
Special Course On Catholicism And Reason (Chapter 17)
If someone asked you what the greatest evil in the world is, what would you say? Is it war? Is it racism? Is it abortion? Is it selfishness? Is it greed? Most people would agree that all of these things are evil, but there is one simple word that includes all of these evils, and that word is SIN. What is sin?
Basically, sin means saying no to God, turning away from Him, and disobeying His Commandments. But some people today don’t pay any attention to God or to the Commandments. They think that they can decide on their own what is right and wrong.
There are two general categories of sin. Original sin is the sin of pride and disobedience that our first parents committed and that we inherit as their descendants. The other kind of sin is actual sin, which means those thoughts, words, actions, and omissions that we ourselves commit. Examples of actual sins can be found in the Ten Commandments (cf. Exodus 20:1-17) and in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (cf. Matthew, chapters 5-7), as well as in Mark 7:21-23, in Paul’s Letter to the Galatians (5:19-21), and in the Book of Revelation (21:8).
Actual sin can be divided into mortal and venial sins. There are three conditions to commit a mortal sin: (1) There must be grave matter, which means the thought, word, action, or omission must be seriously wrong and a major violation of God’s law (adultery, rape, murder, abortion, drunkenness, racism, hatred, missing Mass on Sunday). (2) The person must know that the matter is a serious violation of the law of God. If they really don’t know that the matter is gravely wrong, it is not a mortal sin for them. (3) The person must commit the sin on purpose, that is, give full consent to it. If a person is forced to commit a sin or pressured into it by someone else, it is not a mortal sin for that person.
A sin is venial if the matter is not grave (e.g., punching someone, stealing a small amount of money, lying about trivial things), if we honestly did not know the thought, word, or deed was wrong, or if someone pressured us to do it.
Before a person commits a sin, there is usually a temptation, that is, some action is put before us as something good or pleasurable (for example, Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit).
Temptation itself is not a sin; it is only when we say yes to the temptation that we commit a sin. There are three sources of temptation: First, the world (bad companions, the Internet, movies and television, immoral books and magazines). Second, the flesh (the desires of our bodies for sexual pleasure, alcohol and drugs, money and power). Third, the Devil (Satan prowls about the world like “a roaring lion,” said St. Peter, trying to get us to turn away from God and pursue a life of sin).
There are seven chief sources of sin and evil that are known as capital sins or deadly sins. They are the main things that lead us to commit actual sins. These seven sins are pride, which is an excessive love of oneself that sets a person against God; greed or covetousness, which is an excessive desire for money and material possessions; lust, which is an excessive desire for sexual pleasure; anger, which is an unreasonable feeling of resentment and hatred; gluttony, which is an excessive desire for food and drink; envy, which is a sadness over the good fortune or success of another person or an excessive desire to possess what others have; and sloth, which is an excessive laziness in carrying out one’s physical or spiritual duties. All of these involve excessive or unreasonable desires.
God has given us free will to say yes or no to temptation, so we are responsible for our actions. We can either choose to follow God or the world in which we live. Those in Hell chose to reject God, while those in Heaven chose to follow His Commandments and, if they broke them, they were able to take advantage of God’s mercy and forgiveness in the Sacrament of Penance, or Confession. There is no sin that God will not forgive if we are truly sorry for what we have done and firmly intend to avoid that sin in the future.
List of Answers:
ANGER
CAPITAL
DEVIL
ENVY
FLESH
FREE WILL
GOD
GLUTTONY
GREED
LUST
MORTAL
PENANCE
PRIDE
SIN
SLOTH
VENIAL
WORLD
Quiz:
1._____ is the greatest evil in the world today.
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