tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post1424313458488443974..comments2024-03-18T20:24:18.935-05:00Comments on Alexander Pruss's Blog: Spiritual sickness and spiritual deathAlexander R Prusshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-65596512705324483942008-12-05T13:04:00.000-06:002008-12-05T13:04:00.000-06:00I guess the way I'd read that text is this. It is...I guess the way I'd read that text is this. It is one thing to commit a venial sin <EM>despite</EM> its being forbidden by God. But it's another thing to commit an otherwise venial sin <EM>because</EM> it's forbidden by God. The latter is a grave sin, since it is an explicit sin of rebellion against God (besides being a venial sin of, say, gluttony).Alexander R Prusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-79652671992262590082008-12-05T12:19:00.000-06:002008-12-05T12:19:00.000-06:00Brandon,That is exactly the quote I was thinking o...Brandon,<BR/><BR/>That is exactly the quote I was thinking of. Thanks for pointing it out.<BR/><BR/>The key there is "deliberately get inebriated in contempt of a divine precept."Dan Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04597863188523526649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-81063838422619130752008-12-05T09:12:00.000-06:002008-12-05T09:12:00.000-06:00I think it may be De Malo II.8 that Dan is thinkin...I think it may be De Malo II.8 that Dan is thinking of. Aquinas definitely says something like this of the sin of drunkenness at De Malo II.8 ad 2:<BR/><BR/>"The frequency of inebriation is not a circumstance constituting a species of sin. And so, absolutely speaking, getting inebriated frequently is as much a venial sin as getting inebriated once. But getting inebriated frequently can be a mortal sin accidentally and dispositively. For example, such would be the case if a person were by habit to be brought to so great a state of complacency in inebriation that the person would deliberately get inebriated in contempt of the divine precept."<BR/><BR/>The whole article provides background to this claim.Brandonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06698839146562734910noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-2776748813893025602008-12-05T08:38:00.000-06:002008-12-05T08:38:00.000-06:00I'm not quite sure exactly where Aquinas says this...I'm not quite sure exactly where Aquinas says this. It is in De Malo. There is a chapter in there on venial and mortal sin. I'm thinking that the reference I have in mind comes as a response to an objection somewhere in that chapter, having to do with how venial sin can become mortal sin. Aquinas denies that you can just add up venial sins to mortal ones, but he says there is a grain of truth to this idea: if you continue committing the same venial sin over and over, he thinks, it is almost inevitable that you will at some point endorse the sin with your reason (or else you wouldn't keep doing it), and this is enough to turn it mortal.<BR/><BR/>He also makes reference to this idea when discussing the particular capital vices in De Malo as to whether they are usually mortal or venial. Interestingly, this same point works in reverse: a sin that is "mortal by reason of its kind" (like anger or envy) can take venial forms if it is "incomplete" -- which means that it is either not endorsed by reason (and so just a passing feeling that I quickly reject) or it is about something trivial.Dan Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04597863188523526649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-4001896875181549282008-12-04T14:48:00.000-06:002008-12-04T14:48:00.000-06:00Heath:Quite possibly.Dan:Interesting idea. Do you...Heath:<BR/><BR/>Quite possibly.<BR/><BR/>Dan:<BR/><BR/>Interesting idea. Do you have a reference in Aquinas?Alexander R Prusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-58364870090336587712008-12-04T13:29:00.000-06:002008-12-04T13:29:00.000-06:00It may be that the very fact that somebody "settle...It may be that the very fact that somebody "settles" for venial sin precisely thereby turns the venial sin into a mortal sin. According to Aquinas (as far as I understand him), if you "endorse" a venial sin with your reason -- that is, you're "ok" with it, you approve of it, you refuse to repent of it even when you see it as a sin -- it is no longer venial but mortal.Dan Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04597863188523526649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-14013081164438277942008-12-01T08:05:00.000-06:002008-12-01T08:05:00.000-06:00It is my view that all kinds of spiritual ills, in...It is my view that all kinds of spiritual ills, including this one, result from the fact that while people may or may not "know", they anyway do not "believe" (cf. your earlier post) that one's true good lies in an intimate relationship with God that is necessarily hampered by sin.Heath Whitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13535886546816778688noreply@blogger.com