The wages of infection is death… or something like that.
When I was little, my mom always told me not to pick at a scab, that doing so would cause an infection and I could die from an infection. Fearful of getting an infection through a deliberate act, I reasoned if I accidentally pulled the scab off by rubbing it against something, it would be okay. Scabs are itchy, so I’d rub my arm or leg against a tree trunk or something to peel it off. I told myself I wasn’t doing it to pick the scab, but to itch it. When it came off, I consoled myself that I had not deliberately picked it off myself - it had been an accident, it wasn’t my fault. I never got an infection and I’m alive to tell about it.
I thought of my deceit in relationship to sin. If I can’t help doing something, is it still a sin? If I play around with an occasion of sin, or entertain a temptation, and then commit a sinful act, was it my fault? If I carelessly shoot what I think is a deer in the bushes, and kill a man, is it still murder? Anyone with a conscience should know the answers to such questions.
Bad is good.
Today however, many people, indeed, entire groups of people, decide for themselves what is a sin and what is not. Living together without benefit of marriage, self-cultivation, homosexuality, contraception, in many cases - abortion, all of these grave sins are no longer considered sinful by half the population - including many Catholics. No matter what the Church says - these people no longer believe such behaviors are sinful.
A new study claims Americans overwhelmingly believe in the concept of sin, yet apparently do not agree with what behaviors constitute sin.
“Sin,” as defined by the research organization, is “something that is almost always considered wrong, particularly from a religious or moral perspective.” The study questioned more than 1,000 American adult respondents whether they believe in such a thing as “sin” and then asked them whether 30 different behaviors were sinful.
Out the list of 30 behaviors, adultery was most often described as a sinful behavior by American respondents (81 percent).
Following adultery was racism (74 percent); using “hard” drugs such as cocaine, heroine, meth, LSD, etc. (65 percent); not saying anything if a cashier gives you too much change (63 percent); abortion (56 percent); and homosexual activity or sex (52 percent) rounded out the top five behaviors most often considered sinful by Americans. - Source
How convenient.
I’m not saying the study is accurate, I think there were only about a thousand people participating anyway. Of course, most active homosexuals, people who contracept, even drug users, would say they do not believe their behavior is sinful. People doing the stuff, embracing whatever sinful lifestyle they do, usually say they no longer believe what they are doing is a sin - they have an excuse for it.
That’s almost cute - if you are under 5 years old.
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