TPPM (9): "Mortal" Sin

[Tim Strzechowski]

[...] He said he was using "capital" to mean "primary" or "at the head of" because such sins gave rise to others, but there was an additional and darker sense resonating luridly just beneath and not hurting the power of his argument, for the word also meant "deserving of capital punishment." Hence the equivalent term "mortal," as well as the punchier English "deadly."


http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14004b.htm

"Contrary to the teaching of Baius (prop. 46, Denzinger-Bannwart, 1046) and the Reformers, a sin must be a voluntary act. Those actions alone are properly called human or moral actions which proceed from the human will deliberately acting with knowledge of the end for which it acts. Man differs from all irrational creatures in this precisely that he is master of his actions by virtue of his reason and free will (I-II:1:1). Since sin is a human act wanting in due rectitude, it must have, in so far as it is a human act, the essential constituents of a human act. The intellect must perceive and judge of the morality of the act, and the will must freely elect. For a deliberate mortal sin there must be full advertence on the part of the intellect and full consent on the part of the will in a grave matter. An involuntary transgression of the law even in a grave matter is not a formal but a material sin. The gravity of the matter is judged from the teaching of Scripture, the definitions of councils and popes, and also from reason. Those sins are judged to be mortal which contain in themselves some grave disorder in regard to God, our neighbour, ourselves, or society. Some sins admit of no lightness of matter, as for example, blasphemy, hatred of God; they are always mortal (ex toto genere suo), unless rendered venial by want of full advertence on the part of the intellect or full consent on the part of the will. Other sins admit lightness of matter: they are grave sins (ex genere suo) in as much as their matter in itself is sufficient to constitute a grave sin without the addition of any other matter, but is of such a nature that in a given case, owing to its smallness, the sin may be venial, e.g. theft."

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14004b.htm#III


"Mortal Sin is sin causing spiritual death. The biblical teaching is clear: all sin is mortal inasmuch as its intrusion into human experience is the cause of every man's death (Rom. 5:12; 6:23). Roman Catholic moral theology sees sin as two-fold: mortal and venial. Mortal sin extinguishes the life of God in the soul; venial sin weakens, but does not destroy that life. In venial sin the agent freely decides to perform a specific act; however, in doing so he does not purpose to become a certain type of person. In venial sin the individual performs an act, but deep within himself he yearns to be the type of individual who opposes that action. Thus, in venial sin there is a tension between the action and the individual performing the act. Mortal sin involves the agent totally. He determines not only to act in a specific manner, but expresses therein the type of individual he wishes to be in and through that action. The result is spiritual death."
http://mb-soft.com/believe/text/sin.htm


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