Your Life in Christ

Chapter 6 – Sin and Forgiveness

PRAYER

OBJECTIVES: Recognizing that we are sinners, an offence against reason, truth and God, recognizing sin and its types in our lives and how Jesus, through Reconciliation, is the way out.

OPENING

LESSON

  • Review the five steps of the Sacrament of Reconciliation:
  • Examine your conscience – ask the Holy Spirit to help you examine sin in your life
  • Have contrition for your sins – having genuine sadness for not loving, for causing harm in your relationships with God, others, or self
  • Confess your sins – being able to own up to one’s sins takes maturity and sincerity
  • Absolution – after confessing our sins, and making an act of contrition , the priest pronounces the words of absolution, announcing God’s forgiveness
  • Do the penance assigned – the Sacrament of Reconciliation is not finished until the penitent does his or her penance

ACTIVITIES

  • Set us 4 stations:
  • #1 Use “7 Capital Sins” Handout to recognize and discuss principal sins of pride, envy, anger, etc.
  • #2 Check through newspaper to find and discuss recent events that fall within those sins.
  • #3 Bible Search – New and Old Testament passages of sin

#”You’re welcome Here” by Bob Bennett. Starting with Jesus, find reconciliation thru his words and actions and the Sacrament.

  • Hand out and have the students complete The Seven Capital Sins worksheet (attached).
  • In honor of The Academy Awards, students will act out the “Seven Capital Sins”.
  • Based on The Seven Capital Sins worksheet (attached)
  • Two students act out each sin – class guesses what the capital sin is
  • A fake Oscar (or PREPSTAR) will be given to the best actor/actress based on voting by the academy (class)
  • Discuss any movies or TV shows that may demonstrate the capital sins

The Seven Capital Sins

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What follows is a brief description of each of the capital sins. To determine how well you are striving to fight these basic sinful attitudes and habits, rate yourself on the statements that reflect a virtuous counterpart to each sin. Use this scale:

A = This statement describes me quite well.

B = This reflects my basic approach most of the time.

C = I’m so-so on this.

D = I have a long way to go.

PRIDE: and unlimited appreciation for one’s own worth; arrogance; excessively high opinion of oneself

_____ I realize that God is the source of all gifts that I have. Without him, I would

be and have nothing.

_____I am grateful for all my talents, gifts, and possessions and use them for the benefit of others.

GREED (AVARICE): immoderate desire for earthly goods; love of money or possessions rather than loving God and others

_____ I am relatively content with what I have.

_____ I exercise delayed gratification to strengthen my will against the temptations of consumerism.

ENVY: sorrow over another’s good fortune; covetousness; jealousy over another’s possessions or characteristics

_____ I refrain from comparing myself to others.

_____ I make an effort to praise the accomplishments of others, especially siblings, classmates, co-workers, and teammates.

ANGER (WRATH): intemperate desire for revenge; hostile and wrathful feelings toward others

_____ I cultivate a forgiving heart toward those who have harmed me.

_____ When I have negative feelings towards others, I try to find peaceful ways to deal with my feelings.

LUST: inordinate, unrestrained craving for pleasure, especially sexual pleasure

_____ I treat others as persons with dignity, not as objects for my own gratification.

_____Because the sexual appetite is so easily aroused, I avoid situations that will tempt me sexually.

GLUTTONY: unrestrained, immoderate consumption of food or drink

_____ I stay away from drinking alcohol.

_____ I eat healthy foods, exercise reasonably, and get sufficient rest.

The Seven Capital Sins

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SLOTH: laziness in keeping the faith or practicing virtue; neglecting to do one’s duties out of lethargy.

_____ I take the time to do what God expects of me. For example, I pray every day and make sure I get to Mass every weekend.

_____ I commit myself to complete essential tasks. For example, my studies or chores around the house, no matter how boring they can be at times.

Turpin/Hobby 11A

Opening Prayer (2 min.)

Read 1 John 1:8-10

Heavenly Father,

We trust in you to guide us and know that through the power of the Holy Spirit we can live in holiness and follow your teachings. Help us listen to our inner voices of honesty and integrity. Help us to courageously choose to live in your light. We ask this in the name of your son, Jesus. Amen.

Peer Ministry Report: (2 Minutes)

Activity: Nuclear Holocaust: Who Should Survive (20 min.)

  • Survival scenario (attached)

PRESENTATION (15 min.)

  • Ask: Is sin real?
  • “Whatever Happened to Sin”, by Dr. Karl Menninger, 170
  • Basic thesis of this work is that people don’t like to talk about sin because they refuse to admit they are capable of sinning.
  • Refusal to accept the reality of sin leads to pathological conditions in individuals and to corrupt societies.
  • Ask: If we admit we sin, does this mean we should live our lives in despair and be depressed?
  • As Christians we believe Christ dies to save us from our sins. Christ’s death and resurrection, his unselfish, bottomless love for us is why we have tremendous hope in the modst of a world full of sin.
  • The Bible on Sin
  • Many stories in the bible about humanity’s decision to choose self over God.
  • Old Testament
  • Genesis and Original Sin
  • Cain and Able
  • Noah and the Ark
  • Tower of Babel
  • Hebrew images of sin
  • Hattah – missing the mark – choosing to be less than we can be
  • Pesha – “rebellion” – willful violation of God’s law
  • Awon – “guilt” or “iniquity” – Refers to the consequences of sin
  • Alienation from God
  • Alienation from Self
  • Alienation from Others
  • New Testament
  • Lawlessness, injustice, refusal to accept God, falsehood, darkness
  • Jesus strongly condemned actions, inactions, and attitudes
  • Jesus heals the paralytic (Mt 9:2)
  • Jesus forgives the adulterous woman (John 8:3-11)
  • Luke 6:37 - stop judging and you will not be judged; stop condemning and you will not be condemned; forgive and you will be forgiven.”
  • Luke 23:34 – Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.
  • Three main messages from Jesus’ preaching:
  • Repent of your sins
  • Believe in Jesus’ Gospel of God’s love for us
  • With the strength of the Holy Spirit begin to live the good news of love which Jesus gave to us.
  • Ask for examples of sin and write on the board
  • Types of Sin
  • Original Sin
  • Church teaches that all humans are born into the condition of original sin which is the disharmonious situation of our world to which we are all subject.
  • The world is full of sin and somehow we have to live in it
  • Adam & Eve represent the idea that man had it perfect but they abused their freedom to separate themselves from God. They chose self over God.
  • Consequences of original sin
  • Control of the soul over the body was lost
  • Relations between man and woman would be marked by lust and domination
  • Harmony with creation was broken
  • Death entered human history
  • Because we are subject to the consequences of original sin we must constantly battle the temptations of the world and the flesh.
  • Personal Sin
  • Those sins that we freely choose to personally commit
  • Two types
  • Venial Sin – weakens our relationship with God
  • Examples: disobey parents, resentment over helping others, cheating, lying, copying homework
  • Mortal Sin – Destroys our relationship with God
  • Grave violation of God’s law
  • Examples: murder, blasphemy, adultery, abortion, sexual perversion, defraud the poor
  • 3 conditions of a mortal sin
  • Grave matter
  • Full knowledge
  • Emotional illness or distress
  • Maturity
  • Complete Consent
  • We must be careful not to judge the sins of others. God is the only judge of the gravity of sin.
  • Social Sin
  • Cooperating in the sins of others
  • Examples: joining in when others are being mistreated, failing to stop someone from sinning, ordering or approving the sins of another, excusing a violent act by saying “he had it coming to him”, protecting sinners.
  • Larger examples: greed, trashing the environment, supporting policies that deny people fundamental rights, culture of death (acceptance of abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty), acceptance of pornography and prostitution, exploitation of underdeveloped nations for the prosperity of wealthier nations, depletion of natural resources, war

Activity: The Dark Knight (15 min.)

  • Show clip from the movie “The Dark Knight” – Ferry Scary, scene 33. Discuss the moral dilemma presented in the scene.
  • Go back to list of sins on the board – ask students to categorize the type of sin represented (personal, social, venial, or mortal)

Presentation: (5 min.)

  • Conversion and Reconciliation
  • How do we live a moral life?
  • We must admit to being sinners
  • Accept that we are subject to the effects of original sin
  • Admit we are not perfect and that we need God’s help to grow in holiness
  • Pay attention to Jesus’ message of repentance
  • We can turn away from our sins and turn back to God. God will forgive us if we truly and honestly desire his forgiveness.
  • Example: story of the Prodigal Son
  • Are there any unforgivable sins?
  • Just one – the deliberate refusal to accept God’s mercy through repentance
  • We must freely consent to God’s love
  • If we do not repent what happens?
  • We risk eternity in hell
  • Why confession?
  • Forces us to own up to our sin
  • Helps us experience the Lord’s forgiveness through the sacrament. The priest acts as a representative of the community and reassures us of God’s love and Grace

NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST: WHO SHOULD SURVIVE?

Scenario:

World War 3 has just occurred and you and 9 other people find yourselves to be the only people left on the earth. You manage to all make it to a bunker, however, you all realise that if 3 of you wish to survive for many years, 7 of you will have to leave soon because there are not enough resources for all of you to survive.

If all of you stay, then you will all live only for a maximum of 2 years.

In your bunker, you have the following facilities:

  • sewage system
  • water
  • seeds
  • some clothes
  • a few books
  • some medical facilities but no operating material
  • a greenhouse

In your group of ten, each of you have a chance to speak. You must present your case. Explain why you think you should live. Argue for your life unless you really want to sacrifice for others. Listen to others arguments as well.

In the bunker, the following roles will be played out. Each person in the group of ten will play one of the following roles.

  1. scientist
  2. priest
  3. married couple who are hippies and drug addicts
  4. a single pregnant woman with a 5 year old girl
  5. an army officer who has mental instability of some sort but is useful nonetheless
  6. an elderly woman
  7. a disabled person
  8. lawyer
  9. person on welfare
  10. doctor

You have ten to fifteen minutes a s a group, to:

  • allow each person to speak
  • decide whether some will leave and the others stay
  • decide who will leave and who will stay

When that is complete, you are to answer the following question in your journal.

Debrief: Explain why you feel the choice was made. What influenced your decision? Did anyone emerge as a leader? Why? How did this influence the choices?

REASONS FOR YOUR GROUP'S DECISION

CHARACTER / REASONS TO KEEP ALIVE / REASONS TO SACRIFICE THEM
DOCTOR
SCIENTIST
PRIEST
HIPPY MARRIED COUPLE ADDICTED TO DRUGS
SINGLE WOMAN, PREGNANT, WITH A CHILD
ARMY GENERAL WITH PSYCHIATRIC PROBLEMS
ELDERLY WOMAN
DISABLED PERSON
LAWYER
PERSON ON WELFARE

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