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I usually start by thinking of mortal sins as being sins which break the 10 Commandments. Worship of a false god, Adultery, Murder, theft, and bearing false witness.

I think you'd be hard pressed to think of any sin which can not be construed as violating a commandment. They are pretty all-encompassing.

The type of sin has to do with the seriousness of the evil introduced into the world. Bearing false witness to spare someone's feelings is venial. Bearing false witness to swindle money from people or to have someone punished by a court of law is much more serious.

Any sin is a failure to acheive perfection, but mortal sins are so serious that they amount to a rejection of God and His Will.

"I think you'd be hard pressed to think of any sin which can not be construed as violating a commandment. The type of sin has to do with the seriousness of the evil introduced into the world. Bearing false witness to spare someone's feelings is venial. Bearing false witness to swindle money from people or to have someone punished by a court of law is much more serious."

That's very interesting, and I'll have to think about it. You're saying that intention counts as well as the actual action in determining whether a sin is mortal or venial.

"Any sin is a failure to achieve perfection, but mortal sins are so serious that they amount to a rejection of God and His Will."

I've seen the argument that all sin is a rejection of God's will and therefore, all sin deserves death. Since I saw that in Father Keung's book on Karl Barth's theory of Justification, I guess it was from a questionable source. Can you suggest a way of thinking about this?

Could it be that it is the desire to commit the sin that makes it mortal? For example, bearing false witness in order to save someone's life during war time would not be motivated by the desire to sin itself, but rather by the desire to protect someone. Committing adultery, on the other hand, is basically saying, "I know that God Commands us not to do this, but I am going to do it anyway because I desire to do it regardless of what God instructs me to do." (Heaven forbid I ever be in that position.)