tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22418326.post8977639261535777848..comments2023-08-21T04:52:59.404-05:00Comments on Scribbledom: Unforgivable?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22418326.post-83356090755714482622007-01-31T13:54:00.000-06:002007-01-31T13:54:00.000-06:00I don't have much to add, but I wanted to point ou...I don't have much to add, but I wanted to point out that Jesus chose "not to live" and in doing so gave us forgiveness. Put me down in the "only God can say" column.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22418326.post-76421957520645338412007-01-31T12:31:00.000-06:002007-01-31T12:31:00.000-06:00Well, the conversation in my head didn't start com...Well, the conversation in my head didn't start completely within Catholicism, so I think you're still in context. In fact the person who made the comment that got this ball rolling isn't Catholic.<br /><br />Thanks for the insight!Laurahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17857809674696521458noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22418326.post-66992437479462872172007-01-31T12:08:00.000-06:002007-01-31T12:08:00.000-06:00Not being Catholic, I'm speaking from the "outside...Not being Catholic, I'm speaking from the "outside", so take what I say with a grain of salt.<br /><br />But even the Catholic Church is quick to admit that things are not black and white. I was utterly shocked when I looked in the catechism to see what constituted a mortal vs. venial sin, only to find a series of guidelines -- nothing hard and fast. One's mental state must be taken into account: if a person is mentally ill, for instance, they can hardly be considered to be 100% responsible for their actions. As far as I can see, the Catholic church logically understands that, ultimately, only God can see into the heart of man. Suicide is murder, and life is sacred, so suicide is a sin...but like any other potentially mortal sin, whether it is damnable or not for any given individual circumstance is not something we can know.<br /><br />In short, as far as I understand it, the saying "Suicide is the only unforgivable sin" is a gross misstatement, not only to your own sense of morality, but also according to Catholic doctrine itself.<br /><br />I would take that a step further -- how do we *know* exactly what happens when we die? As far as I know, all of the revelations we have as Christians (through the prophets, through Christ, through visions like that given to John in his Apocalypse) talk about the end result, but what if something happens between the moment of death and that place? Are we given a chance to make a decision, stripped of the mind-altering chemicals of our fleshly bodies, to be with God or not? I don't know, and given the information we *don't* have, I'm not going to make any presumptions.<br /><br />But that's getting outside of Catholicism, and thus outside of the context of this conversation. :)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14472390904691796614noreply@blogger.com