We Catholics believe there are two kinds of sin. The more serious is mortal or deadly. Deadly that is for the soul. These are serious infractions of the Ten Commandments and cause a loss of sanctifying grace to the soul without which you cannot enter heaven. A person who dies with unforgiven mortal sin on their soul goes to hell.
Venial sins are harmful and offend God but they do not result in the loss of sanctifying grace. An example would be the theft of something like a pencil. If you steal $10,000 then it is mortal.
I have been told numerous times on this website that there is no such distinction. Sin is sin. I saw something in a post that got me thinking. It said a person who had sinned must not have been really saved in the first place. So there are thousands of saved individuals on this site and scripture says they are sinners but they do not doubt their salvation. But some sins do cause others to doubt the salvation of people. So what are the sins that if someone committed you would question whether they were saved in the first place?
Point 1
How much is too much, if you steal £10,000 from a billionaire it would be like
stealing a pencil to them, I doubt they would even miss it.
If you steal a pencil from someone who has nothing else. You are stealing their
one and only possession.
So you see that it’s not possible to use that argument. Muslims have a similar
theology. They think they have an angel on each should one records all the bad
that you do and one records all the good that you do. They base their place in
heaven by hoping their goods deeds are more than the bad.
Thats the problem with man made ideas, the only way to define the truth is go straight
to God’s word, which says all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.
That means you are a sinner, so what will you do about it?
Point 2.
Well actually you cant do anything, you can’t save yourself and as the penalty of sin
is death. You can’t die for your own sin and neither can anyone else because they too
have a sin nature.
The only solution was for God the son who is sinless to pay that penalty which is death.
The grave could not hold Him and He rose from the dead.
The only thing you can do with such a loving sacrifice is accept what Jesus did for you,
accept He has already paid for all your sin, past present and future. Repent and ask
Jesus for a brand new you.
From personal testimony and those of others, I have found
that true born again Christians can usually point to a time in their lives when they
had a deep realisation of what Jesus had done for them, an encounter of some
description with God. A true desire to follow Him. It’s not about us it’s about Him.
I hope you will have such a time in your life and it’s good to keep asking questions.
Oh and one thing many find hard to put into context and tie themselves in knots
with. For a born again Christian there is a difference in justification and sanctification.
Justification, just as if I had never sinned, Jesus washes all the filth and sin away by His
sacrifice.
Sanctification, the process of becoming more like Jesus day be day. We still have a fleshy
nature which needs to learn and deal with old habits and overcome, we are not instantly
perfect overnight. In fact our body is not renewed at all in continues to decay.
Our minds need renewing.
That doesn’t mean we can do as we please, indeed a true Christian will develop a tender
conscious and it will hurt and worry them when they get it wrong. We are to keep short
accounts with God in that respect. Say sorry I blew it, teach me Jesus to walk with you
day by day. Do we lose our salvation? No not if we are truly born again because we are
new creations no longer under condemnation.
2 Corinthians 5:16-21 NKJV
[16] Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh.
Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we
know Him thus no longer. [17] Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a
new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have
become new. [18] Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to
Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
[19] that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not
imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of
reconciliation. [20] Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though
God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled
to God. [21] For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might
become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:16-21 NLT
[16] So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view.
At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view.
How differently we know him now! [17] This means that anyone who belongs
to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
[18] And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through
Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.
[19] For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting
people's sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.
[20] So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us.
We speak for Christ when we plead, "Come back to God!" [21] For God made
Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be
made right with God through Christ.