RS 1

• Sin

  • It is not simply "doing something wrong," or "making a mistake"
  • It is a product of man's freedom
  • It "hates the light" (cf. John 3:19; John 2:9), and we, sinners all, are often ashamed to take it seriously
  • It is any deed, word, or desire against eternal law (St. Augustine)
  • It is the voluntary transgression of the law of God (St. Thomas Aquinas)
  • It is turning away from God
  • It is a moral attitude, power action, or refusal to act that leads us into evil, and alienates/separates us
  • It is merely breaking some impersonal law in a book
  • It is a guilt feeling or something we cannot avoid
• Aspects of sin as presented in the Sacred Scriptures (cf. cfc 766)

  • Missing the Mark
  • Depravity and Perversity
  • Rebellion against God
• Missing the Mark


  We miss the standard by failing to meet one's obligation to God and neighbors
• Depravity and Perversity


  Sin is a disorder of character or a defect weighing down the sinner
• Rebellion against God


  Sin is a conscious choice of transgressing God's commandments
• The seven capital sins (cf. cfc 381-382)

  • Pride
  • Envy
  • Greed/Avarice
  • Lust
  • Anger
  • Gluttony
  • Sloth
• Pride


  • Inordinate desire for honor, distinction, and independence
  • Arrogance and self-centered view of the world
• Envy


  Failure to accept oneself and what he/ she has which shows in an attitude that begrudges the gifts of others
• Greed/Avarice


  • Inordinate desire for material wealth and possession
  • Inevitable if we measure our worth by the things we possess
• Lust


  • Inordinate craving for sexual gratification
  • Views people as objects of sexual desire
• Anger


  Hatred than angry feelings alone
• Gluttony


  • Greed for physical body
  • Manifestation of a self-centered attitude
• Sloth


  • Laziness
  • Spiritual apathy
• Images of sin in the Bible (cf. cfc 786)

  • Stain
  • Crime
  • Personal Rejection
• Stain


  Unclean before the all holy God
• Crime


  Willful violation of the covenant
• Personal Rejection


  Of love relationship
• Classification of sin in the broadest sense (cf. cfc 1804)

  • Personal
  • Social
  • Structural
• Personal


  Committed by individual, but always in relation to others and the community
• Social


  Common negative moral attitudes and acts
• Structural


  Economic, social, or political patterns or systems that produce injustice and harm
• Classifications of sin as a personal act (cf. cfc 1805-1807)

  • According to Origin
  • According to Gravity
  • According to Manner
  • According to Manifestation
• Original Sin


  Disobedience of the first parents
• Actual Sin


  Committed by each one of us
• Mortal Sin


  Violation of grave matter, which full knowledge and complete consent
• Venial Sin


  Violation of less serious matter, without full knowledge and without complete consent
• Sin of Commission


  Prohibited act is committed
• Sin of Omission


  Required act is omitted
• External Sin


  Committed with words or actions
• Internal Sin


  Found in thought and desire
• Dimensions of sin according to Church teaching (cf. cfc 788)

  • Spiral
  • Sickness
  • Addiction
• Spiral


  Evil that ensnares, enslaves us in a contagious or pathological habit or voice
• Sickness


  Which weakens us
• Addiction


  Makes us powerless as it becomes progressively more compulsive and obsessive
• Effects of Sin (cfc 1860, ccc 1855)

  • Sin often becomes "compulsive" or "addictive" and weakness our power of resistance
  • Despite its often-glamorous cover, sin actually inquires, destroys, distorts, poisons, and corrupts
  • Every sin spawns endless evils for the sinners and society
  • Mortal sin destroys charity in the human heart… turns him away from God, who is ultimate end and his beatitude