Mortal Sin

Here is the final question waiting to be addressed from readers. I expect a new quote from the day's readings will be presented again tomorrow.

Q. In response to purgatory, first, what is a mortal sin? I thought the bible said there is only one sin that is unforgivable and that is renouncing God. Are you saying there are more? I believe when we die, we go straight to judgement with God. Even we, as Christians, are sinning all the time and if we unexpectedly died, we are still in the Book of Life and go to see Jesus. We are either sanctified by Jesus, or we aren't. I have a hard time understanding why I, as a follower of Jesus Christ, need to rely on other sinners still on this Earth to get me to heaven. What are your personal thoughts?

A. I usually put sins into one of two categories, mortal and venial. Both of these are forgivable. However, a mortal sin is more serious for at least three reasons I can think of. First, it concerns grave matter like pushing someone off a cliff and not less serious offenses like pushing in the lunch line. Second, the person has to have known it was wrong and made a conscious decision to sin anyway like premeditated murder vs. an instinctive reaction. Third, they must have done so freely and not have been threatened with harm if they didn’t do it. So if someone does something that meets all three criteria and feels sorry for it afterwards, they ask God for forgiveness and are forgiven. If they die without regretting it, they condemn themselves. So renouncing God would be unforgivable because you have to accept God’s forgiveness that he offers everyone, but these guidelines are for us to judge ourselves and not others because so much of the criteria lies within a person, which only God can know. As for all of those venial sins of commission or omission that we are all guilty of, none of them would condemn us.