What are venial sins?

Answer 1

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, "Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent," (CCC 1857). Thus, what makes a sin mortal (the opposite of venial) is that it comprises: 1. Full knowledge that the act is wrong

2. Deliberate consent to do it anyway 3. And the act is objectively serious Venial sin is sin which is "defective" in that one of those three elements is missing. Because it is defective, it does not have the full effect of (mortal) sin - to destroy the life of God inside us. Instead, venial sin only interferes with the life of God inside of us. Typically, a venial sins might have been worse, i.e. mortal, if it had been deliberately carried out or if the act itself hadn't regarded something slight. Thus, examples of venial sin include:

a. theft or stealing of something trivial, for example, of a piece of candy (whereas theft is, generally speaking, serious)

b. drunkenness, if slight or unintentional, say, getting a little tipsy by having "one too many," and then stopping the consumption of alcohol for a while (whereas drunkenness, if deliberate, or gross enough to lead to other serious consequences like drunk driving, is a grave sin given knowledge that drunkenness opposes God's will)

c. lying concerning something trivial or to someone who has no legitimate right to know the truth of the matter involved (whereas lying is generally serious, either because the thing lied about is grave, or because lying generally corrodes our ability to know truth) d. failure because of distraction to fulfill a minor obligation, like forgetting to pay a fine or to care for a neighbor's cat after promising to do so (whereas a deliberate refusal to carry out a legitimate and grave civic duty would be a mortal sin if done knowing that one's act opposed God's will; as would deliberately leaving the cat to hunger to death as act of malice, given the same knowledge).

Answer 2

For a sin to be a mortal sin, it must be:

-A deliberate action.

-It must be serious (Stealing a gum ball compared to robbing a bank)

-It must be commited with full knowledge that it is wrong.

A few examples would be:

-Commiting a murder.

-Stealing somethnig with great value.

-Worshipping Satan.

-Commiting an abortion with free will.

Answer 3

Adultery, sex outside marriage, theft, blasphemy and murder are examples of sins.

Sins also depend on which religion you adhere to. What may be a sin in one religion may not necessarily be a sin in another.