Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: jhpb@lancia.garage.att.com Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Mortal Sins?? Message-ID: Date: 15 Nov 89 09:28:19 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: AT&T Bell Labs (Liberty Corner) Lines: 23 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Careful here! Even in the days of "juridical" (i.e. law-oriented) theology, the nature of the sin depended on the intent underlying the action. Thus if you skipped mass because you over-slept or were just lazy, your actions would not be classified as a mortal sin. If, however, you skipped it _willfully_, that is your intent was to not go for some definite reason which involved the rejection of the Church's teaching, then it would be classifed as a grave or _mortal_ sin. Oversleeping, of course, excuses, as long as it's not through your own fault. Where there's no will, there's no sin. But laziness I can't see as an excuse. I don't see how you can separate it from a conscious decision to skip, in a matter that the Church regards as a serious obligation. I don't see rejection of the Church's teaching as playing a part in this, unless I'm misunderstanding what you mean. We're talking about disobedience here, not rejection of Church teaching, per se. Comments? Joe Buehler