All sin is an offense against God and a rejection of his perfect love and justice. Yet, Jesus makes a distinction between two types of sins. We call the most serious and grave sins, mortal sins. Mortal sins destroy the grace of God in the heart of the sinner.
Mortal sins are grave offenses that sever our friendship with God and, consequently, cause a loss of sanctifying grace. Anyone dying in a state of mortal sin would suffer eternal separation from God in Hell. Venial sins are lesser offenses that injure but do not destroy one's relationship with God.
A mortal sin is defined as a grave action that is committed in full knowledge of its gravity and with the full consent of the sinner's will. Such a sin cuts the sinner off from God's sanctifying grace until it is repented, usually in confession with a priest.
Examples of mortal sins include murder, adultery, blasphemy, and idolatry. Some extreme instances of these sins, such as violence against the pope, can even result in ex-communication from the church which is a severe punishment that excludes a person from the sacraments and other aspects of the faith.
"I think it's to remind people that sins are not just individual," he says referring to the Catholic church's old seven deadly sins — lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride.
In Mark 3:29 Jesus says that “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.” Matthew's account adds that even blasphemy against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but not blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31–32).
Our Sunday Mass obligation is based on the Third Commandment: “Remember the sabbath day — keep it holy” (Ex 20:8). All of the commandments of God are serious matter, so to deliberately miss Mass on Sunday — without a just reason — would objectively be considered a mortal sin.
Grave matter is specified by the Ten Commandments, corresponding to the answer of Jesus to the rich young man: "Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and your mother." The gravity of sins is more or less great: murder is graver than theft.
A Mortal Sin
On New Year's Eve 1930, the Roman Catholic Church officially banned any "artificial" means of birth control. Condoms, diaphragms and cervical caps were defined as artificial, since they blocked the natural journey of sperm during intercourse.
In the Book of Matthew (12: 31-32), we read, "Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.
Just as there are three ingredients in evaluating a moral action (the object, intention, and circumstances), so there are three ingredients in a mortal sin: (1) “grave matter,” (2) “full knowledge,” and (3) “deliberate consent.” And the Catechism is clear that all “three conditions must together be met” (1857).
There is, however, one common temptation that comes with committing mortal sin, and that's to repeat the sin just because you have to go to confession anyway. This is exactly what we SHOULDN'T do after mortal sin.
But lying is contrary to the precept You shall not bear false witness. Therefore, every instance of lying is a mortal sin.
You do not need to confess to a pastor, priest, or spiritual leader to be forgiven. You do not need another human mediator, since (by faith) you already have Jesus Christ: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus…” (1 Timothy 2:5).
Therefore, a lie can be a venial or a mortal sin. “Little white lies,” for example, are usually minor truth-stretches said to cover something up or ease the sting of a situation and would probably be classified as a venial sin. However, repeated little white lies can lead to big lies.
Lust, envy, anger, greed, gluttony and sloth are all bad, the sages say, but pride is the deadliest of all, the root of all evil, and the beginning of sin.
Premarital sex is always a sin and, in some cases, so is passionate kissing if the intent is sexual arousal between unmarried people, although in cases when they are engaged to be married, such kissing can be considered groundwork toward the eventual marital sex act, according to the Catechism—as long as it stays at ...
As a general rule, Catholics are obliged to attend Mass each Sunday. This is in fulfillment of the Second Commandment. Simply watching Mass on TV does not fulfill the obligation. A Catholic who can reasonably do so must attend Mass at a parish church or oratory.
“On this way drunkenness is a mortal sin, because then a man willingly and knowingly deprives himself of the use of reason, whereby he performs virtuous deeds and avoids sin, and thus he sins mortally by running the risk of falling into sin.
It is still considered a mortal sin to miss Mass on a day of obligation without a good reason. The church has always believed that this obligation stems from the Ten Commandments given to Moses, one of which was to “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”
There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
All Sin is not the Same
In fact, the Book of Proverbs (6:16-19) identifies seven things that God hates although there is not any punishment proscribed for those. Scripture clearly indicates that God does view sin differently and that He proscribed a different punishment for sin depending upon its severity.
4:30 – offending the Holy Spirit, making him sad or sorrowful); Insulting the Holy Spirit (Heb. 10:29 – outraging the Spirit of grace, persistent sinning with full knowledge and no desire to repent); Blaspheming the Spirit (Mat.