Mortal Sin?

[Papist]

There are three conditions that make an act a mortal sin:[list=1]
[*]An act of grave matter that is...
[*]Committed with full knowledge and...
[*]Deliberate consent.
[/list]
My question: If one believes an act is of grave matter[but actually is not] and commits the act, is it a mortal sin?

[Jaime]

It's an interesting question. If I'm understanding it properly, your hypothetical is that this person actively commits the final two conditions but fails in the first. From a logical standpoint, the answer has to be no. But it doesn't mean that the act isn't sinful within the other two conditions. Let's take a ridiculous example.

A person we shall call MIDolby believes that not brushing your teeth is an act of grave matter. One day his boss tells him that he's just awful at his job and fires him on the spot. He goes home and tells his wife and she leaves him and takes the kids. The dog is so upset being left behind that it poos in his shoes. MIDolby is so fed up that night he says "I don't care what God thinks! I'm not brushing my teeth! Even if it breaks my relationship with God!! MY TEETH AIN'T GETTING BRUSHED!!!"

Has he committed a mortal sin? No because he wrongfully believes that not brushing one's teeth is an act of grave matter! And while stupidity is bad, it's not inherently sinful. Has he committed a serious sin? One could argue yes because he was so angry that he didn't care if he offended God.

Better and smarter theologians may have a better and smarter answer.

[Jaime]

BTW I got a PM from someone who quoted CAF and suggested that I was wrong.
[quote]
In this case, the venial sin becomes mortal because a person ignores his conscience and commits a sin that violates his conscience in a grave way.
Under the heading “Erroneous Judgment,” the Catechism states, “A human being must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience. If he were deliberately to act against it, he would condemn himself. Yet it can happen that moral conscience remains in ignorance and makes erroneous judgments about acts to be performed or already committed” (1790).
[/quote]

I'm not one to suggest I'm ever infallible but I still stand by my answer. Here is my response to the Pmer

[quote]First of all, no. The answer is correct. Catholic Answers forum is not correctly answering the question. CCC 1790 It is not talking about mortal sin or grave matter. It is talking about conscience.

The Church is crystal clear on the definition of mortal sin. The first criteria is not negotiable. The sin has to be of grave matter. That's it. Grave matter is defined by the the 10 commandments. There is no expansion or allowances for mistakes. If someone thinks that bad oral hygiene is grave matter, it doesn't matter. It still isn't

So let's look at what CAF is quoting

[b]1790[/b] A human being must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience. If he were deliberately to act against it, he would condemn himself. [b]Yet it can happen that moral conscience remains in ignorance and makes erroneous judgments about acts to be performed or already committed. [/b]

However one isn't supposed to read the catechism like a evangelical quotes the bible. You don't do it one line at a time Because its under the heading of [b]Erroneous Judgement[/b] here is the line that follows

1791 [b]This ignorance can often be imputed to personal responsibility[/b]. This is the case when a man "takes little trouble to find out what is true and good, or when conscience is by degrees almost blinded through the habit of committing sin."[sup]59[/sup] In such cases, the person is culpable for the evil he commits.

[b]1792[/b] [b]Ignorance of Christ and his Gospel, bad example given by others,[/b] enslavement to one's passions, assertion of a mistaken notion of autonomy of conscience, rejection of the Church's authority and her teaching, lack of conversion and of charity: these can be at the source of errors of judgment in moral conduct.

It's the ignorance that doesn't condemn the person. The only way that 1790 condemns a person is if they are NOT mistaken. If a person is mistaken about their sin being grave matter, This backs up my statement.

Again, this section is about the formation of our conscience, not what makes mortal sin. This section is about forming a WELL FORMED conscience. This means being free from error. If one's conscience is well formed and that person acts against it, then YES that person can condemn himself. But the act would have to be meeting the criteria of mortal sin.[/quote]

Again if someone smarter and better (and there are lots) disagrees with this assessment, I will certainly yield to them.