Free Will and Sin
According to the Church, all humans have free will - the ability to make choices
including about right and wrong (morality).
Original Sin - the belief that all people all born with the ability to commit sins. Although
all people are naturally good and made in God's image we are not perfect and will have
times where we choose against God (sin).
We have original sin because we have free will and can make choices. Free will also
enables us to be good people because we can make right choices to follow God.
If we didn't have free will and were forced to be like God we wouldn't really be good
because we wouldn't be choosing it. So it is because we can have choices and can
choose sin if we want also enables us to be good.
Sin
Sin is the free choice to hurt our relationship with God, ourselves and our community.
Sin always negatively affects all 3 and goes against both truth and reason.
- Sin is also a choice to disobey your conscience, to do the wrong thing when you know
it's wrong or should have known better.
- Sin can easily develop into a pattern of behavior or habit. The more you sin, the
easier it is to keep sinning and it becomes very difficult to stop.
Conditions for Evaluating Choices and Sin
The moral goodness and seriousness of sin are based on three factors:
Conditions for Evaluating Choices
The moral goodness and seriousness of sin are based on three factors:
1) Action/Object - What you are actually doing and the effects it has on yourself and
others.
2) Intent - Your motivation; the reason why you make a choice
3) Circumstance/Awareness - The secondary factors that affect an act like the time,
place, method of the act and the conditions surrounding the decision. It also involves
how much you know of the situation and the decision you are actually making, like if you
are thinking clearly or if your thinking has been compromised.
Different Kinds of Sin
The Church teaches that not all sin has the same effects and consequences. Some sin
is worse than others, but all sins are in a sense serious because of their effects and
what they can lead to.
- Venial Sin - Less serious sin that damages our relationship with God, ourselves and
the community.
- Serious Sin - More serious kind of sin that greatly damages a person's relationship
with God.
- Mortal Sin - The most serious form of sin that completely breaks a person's
relationship with God. In order for this to happen, the sin has to meet all three of the
conditions of seriously bad action, intent, and full awareness of the situation.
Sin also isn't simply an individual's choice. It can exist as social sin, where the
wrongdoing of a culture or community can cause people to harm one another.