Put all our faults, sins into God's hands for forgiveness
Q. I think I understand mortal sin, but what is venial sin exactly?
A bit of history about the Church's attitude toward sin should help you understand the answer to your question.
In the beginning of Christianity, apart from those based mainly on the natural law (the Ten Commandments, for example), one sin was particularly identified as the big one: abandoning one's faith in Christ because of fear or pain or death.
A subscription is required to access this content.
If you receive a subscription to the print edition of the St. Louis Review, you may access this content by logging in - enter your seven-digit subscriber number found on the mailing label of the paper and your five-digit ZIP code. You may also enter your username and password if you have subscribed online.
If you wish to subscribe to the St. Louis Review, please click here. You may subscribe to the online edition only or both the online and print editions.
