Friday, June 03, 2005
Can sins be mental?
Si.
The reader continues:
There were two examples given on the show that I wouldn't mind getting your take on. The first example is adultery. If X entertains impure thoughts about Y's wife, is it equivalent (i.e. just as bad) to committing adultery? Does it make a difference if X knows he would never do it for real even if the opportunity came up even with no repercussions?
Yes, it does make a difference. How badly one has sinned in a particular case is determined by the degree to which one is willing to offend against God and, by extension, his creatures. If one is willing to go all the way and commit adultery outwardly, with all the implications that has for harming the woman, her husband, whatever family she may have, your own spouse (if you are married), your own family (if you have one), the abuse of the conjugal faculty that God designed into your own nature, etc., then that is clearly worse than if you just deliberately fantasize about it.
In the former case, you are willing to cause all kinds of objective damage that is not there if you aren't willing to commit adultery outwardly. It's bad enough if you only are being unfaithful in your heart--you're still doing damage--but it ain't anywhere near as bad as if you are willing to go all the way and do the act externally.
In the one case your will is configured such that it is willing to offend against God and his creatures in a vastly more destructive way than in the former, and as a result committing an act of adultery outwardly is much, much worse than simply willfully fantasizing about an act of adultery. In the latter case you're willing to offend God up to a point, but you're not willing to offend him to the much greater degree involved in outwardly committing the act.
The second example is more extreme. The host said that he often finds himself having thoughts of shooting drivers who drive slowly in the passing lane. Now, I doubt he would ever do that even if he could completely get away with it so in that case would the sin be equivalent to murder? Or would it just be a sin of anger?
First, the emotion of anger is not a sin. One can have this emotion without sinning. It is what one does with one's will based on the anger (e.g., deliberately nursing the anger by fantasizing about killing someone) that is a sin.
The reader continues:
There were two examples given on the show that I wouldn't mind getting your take on. The first example is adultery. If X entertains impure thoughts about Y's wife, is it equivalent (i.e. just as bad) to committing adultery? Does it make a difference if X knows he would never do it for real even if the opportunity came up even with no repercussions?
Yes, it does make a difference. How badly one has sinned in a particular case is determined by the degree to which one is willing to offend against God and, by extension, his creatures. If one is willing to go all the way and commit adultery outwardly, with all the implications that has for harming the woman, her husband, whatever family she may have, your own spouse (if you are married), your own family (if you have one), the abuse of the conjugal faculty that God designed into your own nature, etc., then that is clearly worse than if you just deliberately fantasize about it.
In the former case, you are willing to cause all kinds of objective damage that is not there if you aren't willing to commit adultery outwardly. It's bad enough if you only are being unfaithful in your heart--you're still doing damage--but it ain't anywhere near as bad as if you are willing to go all the way and do the act externally.
In the one case your will is configured such that it is willing to offend against God and his creatures in a vastly more destructive way than in the former, and as a result committing an act of adultery outwardly is much, much worse than simply willfully fantasizing about an act of adultery. In the latter case you're willing to offend God up to a point, but you're not willing to offend him to the much greater degree involved in outwardly committing the act.
The second example is more extreme. The host said that he often finds himself having thoughts of shooting drivers who drive slowly in the passing lane. Now, I doubt he would ever do that even if he could completely get away with it so in that case would the sin be equivalent to murder? Or would it just be a sin of anger?
First, the emotion of anger is not a sin. One can have this emotion without sinning. It is what one does with one's will based on the anger (e.g., deliberately nursing the anger by fantasizing about killing someone) that is a sin.
