For many years, I have heard that there were different levels of sins. I chalked this off as another practice of the Catholic faith that was not founded in scripture, and therefore were traditions of men.
However, I never took the time to investigate the claims of the Catholic Church's teaching on these different sins - mortal and venial. Now that I have started to investigate the claims of the Catholic Church, I am finding that this view can be supported through scripture - namely:
If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.(1 John 5:16-17)
From this, it would seem that John is suggesting that there are different classes of sin - on that leads to death, and another that does not lead to death. I found this to be very interesting.
I also found an article written by Mark Shea, whose book I am currently reading, to be very interesting as well. In it he explains that he once also believed that there was no classification of sin, but shows how even Jesus seems to describe different classes of sin:
What does Jesus mean in making a distinction between "little" and "much"? Why did he say that the one who knows his master's will and does not do it will be beaten with many blows, while the one who does not know his master's will and does not do it will be beaten with few blows (Luke 12:47-48)?
Not that I want to get beaten by any blows, but there seems to be a suggestion from our Lord and Savior that there is a distinction between different types of sin. Now of course, it is better not to sin at all, but at the same time, is it important to understand this difference between the two classifications and it's implications?
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