{"id":93292,"date":"2015-07-20T00:12:14","date_gmt":"2015-07-20T07:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=93292"},"modified":"2015-07-05T22:18:29","modified_gmt":"2015-07-06T05:18:29","slug":"a-reader-asks-about-explaining-mortal-and-venial-sin-to-evangelicals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/07\/a-reader-asks-about-explaining-mortal-and-venial-sin-to-evangelicals.html","title":{"rendered":"A reader asks about explaining mortal and venial sin to Evangelicals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

He writes:<\/p>\n

I enjoyed reading your blog this morning and have a quick question\u00a0regarding \u201csin is sin.\u201d\u00a0 Today I was shocked by what some of my conservative evangelical friends\u00a0told me about what was said in church yesterday about the Supreme Court ruling on marriage.\u00a0 They all expressed sadness, but a na\u00efve lack of concern about where this will eventually lead.\u00a0 Their pastors\u00a0preached\u00a0something to the effect of:\u00a0 \u201cwe don\u2019t like it\u2026we think the ruling was wrong\u2026but in the end it\u2019s sin\u2026and sin is sin.\u201d\u00a0 This attitude\u00a0displayed by my friends\u2019 churches leaves me feeling a bit less hopeful that churches have the right rhetorical skills to fight this battle.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think a lot of Catholics are in the same boat (meaning those who actually hold the orthodox view of marriage: lots of us don\u2019t even hold that).<\/p>\n

Since Protestants don\u2019t like the idea of mortal\/venial sins, I\u2019m wondering if the concept of felony and misdemeanor can be used as good analogies\u2026Have you read anything using such terms to help clarify what Catholics mean by mortal\/venial sin?\u00a0 I\u2019d like to get your brief thoughts on this.\u00a0Thank you in advance for your time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, there\u2019s this piece<\/a> I wrote sometime back: \u00a0It\u2019s my attempt to translate the\u00a0 Church\u2019s theology of mortal and venial sin into Evangelicalese.\u00a0 Evangelicals actually do believe in mortal and venial sin, they just use other lingo for it and are not aware it\u2019s pretty much the same idea as Catholics hold. Best wishes on your work in the Vineyard!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He writes: I enjoyed reading your blog this morning and have a quick question\u00a0regarding \u201csin is sin.\u201d\u00a0 Today I was shocked by what some of my conservative evangelical friends\u00a0told me about what was said in church yesterday about the Supreme Court ruling on marriage.\u00a0 They all expressed sadness, but a na\u00efve lack of concern about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-93292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-mailbag"],"yoast_head":"\nA reader asks about explaining mortal and venial sin to Evangelicals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"He writes: I enjoyed reading your blog this morning and have a quick question\u00a0regarding "sin is sin."\u00a0 Today I was shocked by what some of my 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