Sin: Original and Personal

1
Sin Original and Personal

• Although set by God in a state of moral
  rectitude (righteousness) men and women, enticed
  by the evil one, abused their freedom at the very
  start of history. Pastoral Constitution on the
  Church in the Modern World 13
• God created all things and saw that they were
  good (Gen 1 3-4, 10, 11b-12, 17-18, 21, 25)
• Read Gen 31-14

2
Sin - 2

• There are 4 alienations of Sin
• Man from God
• Man from Man
• Man from Nature
• Group from Group or Nation from Nation (Gen
  11-9)
• A lack of communication among fellow men
• The results of these alienations are division,
  pain, bloodshed, loneliness, and even death

3
Sin - 3

• Original Sin
• Humankind is capable of much good
• All humans experience a tendency toward evil
• Original Sin is the mans propensity to sin.
• Baptism removes original sin
• Removes in the sense that if we renew our
  baptismal vow whereby we pledged to reject Satan
  and all his works daily, original sin, the
  propensity is overcome---gone
• Our freewill always remains, we can allow the
  tendency toward evil to get the best of us at
  times.

4
Sin - 4

• Personal Sin
• Sin committed by an individual
• A failure to love God and our fellow man
• Two types of personal sin
• Mortal sin--- death dealing, kills the presence
  of God in the soul
• Venial sin--- less serious rejection of Gods
  love, and means easily forgiven

5
Sin - 5

• Three things needed for an action to be a mortal
  sin
• It must be serious matter
• Sufficient reflection full knowledge
• Full consent of the will
• These same three conditions are needed for a
  venial sin but to a lesser degree
• Not a very serious offense
• Insufficient time to reflect or incomplete
  knowledge
• Not full consent of the will

6
Sin 6

• Venial sin --- a spiritual illness which does not
  kill the love of God in the person but strains
  the relationship
• A person in a true love relationship does not
  want to offend the other in any way
• Sins can be
• Actions
• Thoughts
• Words
• Desires
• Omissions failure to do something

7
Sin - 7

• Persons who have committed mortal sin
• Must confess before receiving sacramentsexcept
  Reconciliation, Baptism, Anointing of the Sick
• May be forgiven before confession by making a
  perfect act of contritionone based on love not
  fear of punishment
• Even with a perfect act of contrition, there must
  be confession before receiving the sacraments

8
Sin - 8

• Confession is needed because all sin has two
  dimensions God and MAN
• All sins are already forgiven by the action of
  the cross, however, one must seek that
  forgiveness
• God will forgive any sin if asked
• In confession, the priest represents the portion
  of the sin against mankind. He is designated as
  the representative of the whole of mankind

9
Sin - 9

• Social evil
• The institutionalization of injustices such that
  they become part of the way of life, embedded in
  the laws and social customs
• Accepted as part of the way of life so they must
  not be wrong people expect someone else to tell
  them what is wrong and accept blindly the
  decisions of others
• They contaminate the attitudes and actions of a
  people. They become part of the way of life so
  subtly that few even recognize they are evil
• For example War and the cost of war prevents
  research for cures of illness, capital punishment
  is legalized vengeance and does not prevent
  crime abortion defines the value of peoples
  lives and gives others the right to decide when
  someone is valuable or not.

10
Sin - 10

• LENT
• The focus of Lent is to make one mindful of
  social consequences of sin in the world, for
  example
• By fasting or abstaining from meat we see what
  others who are starving suffer daily
• By doing service projects, esp. during Lent, we
  see the sufferings of others
• It provides us with a time of reflection and a
  chance to make some better choices.

11
Sin - 11

• Formation of a Correct Conscience
• Conscience the part of you which tells you
  right from wrong
• It was placed there by God to make decisions
  regarding your dignity and the dignity of others
• WE ARE MORALLY BOUND TO FOLLOW OUR CONSCIENCE
• Therefore our conscience has to be correctly
  formed
• The conscience will not always be infallible but
  with guidance, prayer, and study it can be close
• Bible, Church teachings, the Holy Spirit,
  parents, others.
• If we rely on our conscience and it is wrong, if
  we have formed it correctly, we are not at fault.