To the subject, it is completely logical that some sins bear more "weight" than others. Think of God as our Father (which He is). Think of your own position as a parent. You love your child, but regardless, if he breaks curfew, I'm pretty sure you're going to think it's less an offense than if he knocks over a liquor store. The consequences will be greater for the latter offense. It's logic. In some cases, there may be a reason to someday deny him a home in your home. This isn't a new idea. It's completely logical. The fact that you would, and will forgive your child has nothing to do with the fact that you may not if you don't see true contrition and an attempt to "right" his life. God's mercy is infinite, but He is just.

How about I "phrase" it this way . . .

 

The only limits put on Christ's Love (read sacrifice or mercy) are the ones placed there by human beings

 

1. Some limit by saying you must accept or reject Jesus

2. Some limit by saying you must accept the teachings of a particular church

3. Some limit by saying you must belong to a particular denomination

4. Some limit by saying you must belong to a particular religion

 

I personally believe I limit Christ's Love when I am not fully loving of everyone around me. I believe I limit Christ's forgiveness when I am not as forgiving as He asks me to be.

I limit God's mercy when I do not practice mercy

 

Sheesh - I literally do a lot of limiting of God's power.

Agreed. Did I say anything contrary to what you are saying?

I've tried to ignore this for as long as possible, but let's iron it all out. The complete lack of understanding on the part of so many media outlets across the entire world is, quite frankly, completely and totally astounding.

 

1) There are not 14 Deadly Sins. The list of seven as promulgated by Pope St. Gregory the Great nearly 1500 years ago still stands, unaltered. All these stories were generated by an interview with Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, who has no authority to generate official Vatican documents, much less reinvent dogma. He is a mid-level Vatican official, working for the Apostolic Pentieniary, whose earnest desire to remind people of the importance of recognizing sin in a modern world that often ignores or trivializes it was either glossed over or ignored entirely.

 

2) As far as I can tell, nowhere in Girotti's interview does he even mention the seven deadly sins, though I admit I am still looking for a full English translation and my ability to plod through Italian is noticeably lacking. How this even got started as a news story is beyond me.

 

3) There is no such thing as a "new sin." The point that the good bishop was attempting to make is that sins manifest themselves in new ways as time goes on; in ways that people even 100 years ago couldn't envision, much less Gregory the Great or the early fathers. The men in Rome whose endless task it is to bring Christ's message of repentance and salvation to the whole world do not invent sins. Our understanding of God's will for us is not the result of human invention but the sublime, continuous recapitulation of immutable truth as granted to us by divine revelation.

 

4) There is a difference between the deadly sins and mortal sins. The deadly sins are those seven specific states of mind as listed above. They lead to other mortal sins. Mortal sins are specific offenses against God that, without repentance and absolution, condemn a soul to eternal separation from God. The Church, for obvious good reasons, has never attempted to list them; though they are typically understood as violations of the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes. Look at the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes... it isn't hard to discover how Bishop Girotti managed to list these seven.

I guess what bugs me is this: No matter what anyone says about the Catholic Church, I can't think of one single issue that I don't know exactly what side of the aisle they are. The Church makes it very clear what is accpetable, what isn't, and why. Now, there may be points with which one doesn't agree, but there's no way anyone can say the Church is ambiguous. Yet, there are so many out there who are quick to attack the Church for what they (as an entity) state are our beliefs. Of all the denominations I know, there is none that is less ambiguous than the Church.

 

Discussed this very topic this morning in bible study at McDonald's. I do appreciate that the Catholic Church is brave enough to take stances. I may disagree with some of their stances but appreciative that they take stances and stand up for God's Word instead of being PC.

 

I understand what you are saying because the media loves to attack and paint in a negative light, the dreaded "evangelicals." You would think we are some sort of horrible group of people from the way we are portrayed.

To the subject, it is completely logical that some sins bear more "weight" than others. Think of God as our Father (which He is). Think of your own position as a parent. You love your child, but regardless, if he breaks curfew, I'm pretty sure you're going to think it's less an offense than if he knocks over a liquor store. The consequences will be greater for the latter offense. It's logic. In some cases, there may be a reason to someday deny him a home in your home. This isn't a new idea. It's completely logical. The fact that you would, and will forgive your child has nothing to do with the fact that you may not if you don't see true contrition and an attempt to "right" his life. God's mercy is infinite, but He is just.

 

The only problem with this is that God doesn't always do what is logical to me and you. It fits perfectly with God's logic but we cannot always understand or see that.

 

I go back to my post #48 about the severity is irrelevant.

How about I "phrase" it this way . . .

 

The only limits put on Christ's Love (read sacrifice or mercy) are the ones placed there by human beings

 

 

Might be the best post I have ever read here on BGP.