Categories of sins

Venial and mortal sins

All sins are serious because all sins separate us from God.  Small sins, or venial sins as we call them, take us only a little way from him; but big and deliberate sins, or mortal sins, cut us off from him altogether.  This is because, when we sin, we are against God and for the Devil.  We leave God’s side and go over to the side of the forces of evil.  And if people are against God when they die, they will be against him after they are dead.  And the place where the souls of people go who are against God and who are not sorry for their sins, we call that place Hell – that place of endless misery where God is unseen, unfelt, unwanted and unknown; where, so far as they are concerned, he does not exist at all.  So sins, which begin by separating us from God, can end by separating us from him for ever, unless they are taken away by forgiveness.  So you can see how sins put our souls in danger.

Sins against God, other people and ourselves

All sins are against God, but some are also against other people or oneself.  We can sin against God in particular, for example, by staying away from church.  The reason why we go to church is to honour God, and therefore to stay away is to refuse to honour God.  We then put ourselves in the position of the people in the parable who said that they did not want the Lord to rule over them (Luke 19:14).  We can sin in particular against other people by telling lies about them so as to give them a bad name, or by leading them into sin by setting a bad example.  We can sin in particular against ourselves by being sulky or greedy or conceited.

Sins of thought, word, deed and omission

Sins can also be divided up into sins of thought, word, deed and omission.  All sins start as thoughts, but they may go on to being something said or done.  Let’s take as an example the sin of anger.  There is the angry thought, or the angry word, or again the angry deed such as striking someone.  Omission means not doing what we ought to do.  We ought, for example, to say our prayers every morning and evening.  If we leave them unsaid, it is a sin of omission.  Another sin of omission is not helping at home when we ought to.