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Hello, my name is Hikari. I had a few questions
about the Catholic faith (I'm a Christian
myself but I really want to learn because
I come from a family that has studied all
kinds of faiths.)
I heard about this site and decided to try
and ask my questions here.
I recently met a Catholic who claimed
that St. Paul was married according to
the Catholic Church despite what 1 Corinthians
7:8 says.
8 To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain single as I do.
I shared that I made
a vow to God for lifelong celibacy because
I valued Paul's opinions on Marriage and devotion
to God. He said it was a sin for me to do so because I am not a priest.
Is that true?
The same person claimed it was wrong to say that
Jesus hated sin and that Jesus never said
how He felt about sin, whether He hated it, or
liked it, or anything.
What is the Catholic Church's belief
concerning Jesus' view of sin?
Am I wrong to say He hates it?
I would greatly appreciate answers to these
four questions just to get the truth.
Thank you for your time and may God bless
you!
Hikari
{
What is the Catholic Church's belief
concerning personal celibacy and Jesus' view of sin? }
Mike
replied:
Hi, Hikari —
Thanks for the question.
No, St. Paul was not married; he,
like Our Blessed Lord, lived a celibate
life.
You said: I shared that I made
a vow to God for lifelong celibacy because
I valued Paul's opinions on Marriage and devotion
to God. He said it was a sin for me to do so because I am not a priest.
Is that true?
Your friend is incorrect. All non-married
Catholic men are called to live a
celibate life, although for some,
this can be very difficult due to concupiscence. Based on what you
said in your original question, I
would get in touch with a (priest|spiritual
director) who is faithful to the
Church's
teachings and see if you have a vocation
to either the priesthood or religious
life.
If it ends up that you don't, I'm sure there are still many ministries within your local parish that you can participate in.
You said: The same person claimed it was wrong to say that
Jesus hated sin and that Jesus never said
how He felt about sin, whether He hated it, or
liked it, or anything.
What is the Catholic Church's belief
concerning Jesus' view of sin?
Am I wrong to say He hates it?
You are correct; your friend is
wrong again; Jesus loves the sinnerbut hates the sin.
We can discern what Jesus' view of
sin is from the Catechism:
416 By his sin Adam, as the first
man, lost the original holiness
and justice he had received from
God, not only for himself but
for all human beings.
417 Adam and Eve transmitted to
their descendants human nature
wounded by their own first sin
and hence deprived of original
holiness and justice; this deprivation
is called original sin.
418 As a result of original sin,
human nature is weakened in its
powers, subject to ignorance,
suffering and the domination of
death, and inclined to sin (this
inclination is called concupiscence).
407 The doctrine of original sin,
closely connected with that of
redemption by Christ, provides
lucid discernment of man's situation
and activity in the world. By
our first parents' sin, the devil
has acquired a certain domination
over man, even though man remains
free. Original sin entails "captivity
under the power of him who thenceforth
had the power of death, that is,
the devil". (Council of Trent (1546): DS 1511; cf. Hebrews 2:14) Ignorance of
the fact that man has a wounded
nature inclined to evil gives
rise to serious errors in the
areas of education, politics,
social action (cf. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter His Holiness Pope St. John Paul II Centesimus Annus 25) and morals.
408 The consequences of original
sin and of all men's personal
sins put the world as a whole
in the sinful condition aptly
described in St. John's expression, "the
sin of the world". (John 1:29) This expression
can also refer to the negative
influence exerted on people by
communal situations and social
structures that are the fruit
of men's sins. (cf. John Paul II, Reconciliatio et Paenitentia 16)
409 This dramatic situation of "the
whole world [which] is in the
power of the evil one" (1 John 5:19; cf. 1 Peter 5:8) makes
man's life a battle:
The whole of man's history has
been the story of dour combat
with the powers of evil, stretching,
so our Lord tells us, from the
very dawn of history until the
last day. Finding himself in the
midst of the battlefield man has
to struggle to do what is right,
and it is at great cost to himself,
and aided by God's grace, that
he succeeds in achieving his own
inner integrity.
I wouldn't give much credence to
your friend. In fact I'd
avoid him, at least with regard to
religious information.
A few things Jesus had to say about
sin:
Matthew 5:29ff: 29 If your right eye
causes you to sin, gouge it out
and throw it away. It is
better for you to lose
one part of your body than for
your whole body to be thrown into
hell. 30 And if your right hand causes
you to sin, cut it off and throw
it away. It is better for you
to lose one part of your body
than for your whole body to go
into hell.
Matthew 13:41: 41 The Son of Man
[Jesus] will send out his angels,
and they will weed out of his
kingdom everything that causes
sin and all who do evil.
Matthew 18:6: 6 But if anyone causes
one of these little ones who believe
in me to sin, it would be better
for him to have a large millstone
hung around his neck and to be
drowned in the depths of the sea.
Matthew 18:7: 7 'Woe to the
world because of the things that
cause people to sin! Such things
must come, but woe to the man
through whom they come!'
1 An oracle is within my heart
concerning the sinfulness of the
wicked:
There is no fear of God
before his eyes.
2 For in his own eyes he flatters
himself
too much to detect or hate his
sin.
3 The words of his mouth are
wicked and deceitful;
he has ceased to be wise and to
do good.
We can say that Jesus, being the
Word of God (John 1:1) and the Author
of Scripture, asserted this. It says
that the wicked had ceased
to do wise and flatters
himself too much to hate his sin.
