Prima Secundae
Lecture 225: Venial Sin as Disposition to Mortal Sin

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Article 3, where the venial sin is a disposition to mortal sin. To the third one precedes us. It seems that venial sin is not a disposition to mortal sin. Oh yeah, he'll do that. He'll do that. Convince me that he'll un-convince me. Yeah, yeah. When you get into these other articles, which are about an article of the faith, right? And you've got to argue against that, right? Well, it convinces me. I mean, that's a subituse sudden motion, right? That sounds pretty good. First objection. One opposite does not dispose to another, right? But venial sin and mortal sin are divided by opposites, huh? Therefore, venial sin is not a disposition for mortal sin. That's thoroughly convincing, I think. Where is that woman? I didn't say who did this painting on, but I've never seen it before. I just ran across it since last class, yeah. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah, I know, well, Francis mentioned it, where it's certainly after you got elected, he mentioned it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I think it's German. Yeah. More acts disposed to something like in species to itself, right? Whence it is said in the second book of the Nicomachean Ethics, that from like acts are generated like, what? Dispositions and habits. But mortal and venial sin differ in genus or species, as has been said, right? And therefore, venial sin does not disposed to mortal. Concedo. Can't defend the truth here, huh? Moreover, if a sin is called venial that disposes for the mortal, it would be necessary that whenever, whichever one, right, disposed to mortal sin, whatever disposes to mortal sin, would be a, what, venial sin, right? But all good works disposed for mortal sin, huh? For as Augustine says in the rule, that pride, huh, insidiously works into good works, right, huh? So that's something I think, well, something that Augustine says, I think I've seen it before, Augustine. You know, that pride arises from good things, right? You know, I did something really good, you know. Now it's a matter of pride, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's insidiata, right? Ergo, therefore, also good works are venial sins, which is inconvenience, huh? But against this is what is said in Ecclesiasticus, chapter 19, verse 1. Who, what, neglects little things, right? Bit by bit, he, what, falls away, yeah? But the one who sins venially would seem to, what, despise, you might say, right? To cast aside little things. To neglect them. Therefore, bit by bit, is he disposed for this that be totally, what, falls down to mortal sin, huh? It's disposing cause, huh? The answer should be said that the one disposing something is in some way a, what, cause. Once, according to a two-fold way of cause, there is a two-fold mode of, what, disposition. For there is a cause which is moving directly to the effect, as the hot heats. There is also a cause indirectly moving by removing the prohibiting, one kind of accidental cause. Just as the one removing the column is said to remove the, what, set above, yeah. And according to this, the act of sin in two ways disposes to something, right? In one way, directly. And thus it disposes to an act which is like in species, huh? And in this way, primo et per se, first and through itself, venial sin does not, what is it, venial sin exgenera, right? Does not dispose to the mortal exgenera, because they're different species, right? Different genera. Since they differ in species, huh? But through this way, or in this way, by this way, a venial sin is able to dispose through a certain, what, consequence, huh? To the sin which is mortal on the side of the agent, huh? For the being increased, you might say, the disposition or habit through the acts of, what, venial sins, to such an extent that the desire of sinning grows, right? The libido, I guess, a strong desire of sinning increases. So the one who sins constitutes his end in, what, venial sin, huh? For to each one having, to each one having a habit, as such, the end is to act according to that habit. That's a fundamental thing, right? And thus, those sinning, many times venially, are disposed for, what, mortal sin, huh? What does Augustine say? We should say to our Father every day, you know, to seek forgiveness for our venial sins, huh? Yeah, of course, it's too, but I mean, for the venial sins, right? Lest they produce a habit, right, huh? When Aristotle saw the need of, what, the moral virtues for, what, prudence, right? Because the principle of prudence, the beginning of prudence, is the end, right? And you have to not only know the end in some way, but you have to, what, be in your desiring powers, attracted to it, right, huh? So if you're in desiring powers, you're being attracted to something other than the last end, well, then, it could become so powerful, right? That you would choose something other than what is, in fact, the last end in place of it, huh? Getting a habit of so much for candy, right? That finally becomes the purpose of your life, to eat candy. When did I get the alcoholic, you know, where he gets a, you know, taste for alcohol? And then it becomes habitual, right? And his whole life's taken up, you know, maybe he's rooting his marriage and whatever else, his job and everything, you know? And then, you know, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what And then it becomes really, you know... An obsession. Some guy invented the intermittent windshield wipers, and he tried to get a patent, he hadn't got a patent on it or something, and he sold it to some car manufacturer, and they ripped him off. They paid him some money, but they ripped him off, and they wouldn't give him, you know, what he deserved. So he went to Corp, and he fought, and he made it to life's cause, to win that case. And I think he eventually won it, but he destroyed his whole life. Because he would just think that was his goal of life. He would write that wrong. I thought, wow, one greedy man ruining himself for another greedy man. Well, Scott says that's where the scotch are, you know. They're being caught up with this idea. You know, their whole life revolves around this, you know, repeated attempts in the court to get justice, you know. So, before it comes down to the second thing, the moivins, prohibins, right? He's already seeing a way that venial sin can dispose, right? In another way, a human acts disposed to something by removing what prevents, huh? And in this way, a venial sin from its genus can dispose for mortal sin from its genus, huh? For the one who sins venially, in genus, overlooks or sets aside some order, right? And from this he is, what, accustomed for his will in minor things, right? Lesser things, to not be subject to a suitable, what, order. And therefore, he's disposed that his will be not subject to, what? Choosing that which is a mortal sin from its, what, genus, huh? You get a disrespect for, what, order, right? That's a bad thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. See how Shakespeare says you should be looking before and after, right? You should be looking for order, right? Helpful, helpful. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I kind of see it in the life of the mind, even, you know, that people get a little bit sloppy as far as order is concerned, you know. And then they go further and further away, right? And then they proceed without any order, huh? Going back to that thing I was talking about earlier there, the pneuma planis, right? The spirit of what? Error, right? Where the word error comes from what? Yeah, yeah. And wonder signifies a disordered movement, right? And so when you speak of the mind wandering, right, huh? It wanders into what? Yeah. When Shakespeare's played there the comedy of errors, right? You know, he had the lines in there, and now we wander in illusion. But, you know, if people want in favor of, you know, having marriage between, you know, people of that same sex and so on, you know, they wander in illusions, right? They're really, uh, pathetic, you know? Yeah. Mother's Day has been officially changed to Woman's Day. What? Has the name Mother's Day been officially changed to Woman's Day? Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised given the way. I saw something on the weather, uh, Women's Day coming up, and is it Mother's Day coming up in May? Yeah. But, uh, it was wondering if… Yeah. It sounded… I hate it. I heard something like that maybe. No, I didn't know. He's never known. We have the drug store on the next time called Family Pharmacy. Yeah. They have an image. Yeah. Androgynous two adult figures with a little child figure. You can't tell if they're male. You know, it doesn't matter. But we wonder when these, uh, you know, some of the states have tried to say the marriage between a man and a woman, right, you know? What do they give as a reason why it's between a man and a woman? You have to do so in terms of the, what, child, right? That that's the purpose of marriage, right? Right. That's the purpose that defines marriage, right? I mean, the love of the man and the woman is not the primary purpose of marriage, right? It's the children, right, huh? And they're really the, what, common good of the mother and the father, right, huh? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. A bit of a cider, but I was admiring my friend there, Washington Irving, right, huh? His last work was this magnificent biography of George Washington, right, huh? And, uh, it's beautiful, beautiful, very well written. Of course, he was named after Washington, right? And I guess he was a little boy, you know, his nurse or something, took him into this store, right? And, uh, it's in New York because at that time that was where the capital was, New York. Philadelphia and then Philadelphia and then Washington, yeah. But anyway, George Washington was in there looking at the books or something and, and, oh, she saw it also. She said, this little one's named after you, you know. And Washington put his hand on him, you know, like that. And I don't know if, if, if, uh, Washington can remember that as a little boy. You know, he's pretty small. I'm sure he was told about it if he didn't remember it, you know, as a little boy. And he felt this responsibility, you know. But if you should honor your father and mother, you should honor the father of your country, right? He wrote this beautiful thing, you know, huh? And, of course, the last page he has to say, you know, give a eulogy, you know, at the end. He doesn't do it himself. He takes it from an English author, you know, praising Washington, you know. You know, that's what he fought against the curse, you know. And so that's, you know, having your, having your enemy. Beautiful way he does it, you know, huh? But a magnificent biography, you know. Great respect for Washington. And then some of the men in the politics department had assumptions. They had a beautiful statement from, of, uh, Jefferson, you know. What was Washington's really character, you know? And it's really magnificent, you know. You'd never known him ever to swerve on what was right, you know, and, and to be influenced by, you know, personal things, you know. And he was making his decision. It's really beautiful. I don't, you know, I don't have it. But, but, uh, said very well by, by Jefferson. And, and there, you know, there's some conflict between them, you know. But he had the tremendous respect for Washington, you know. So I'm, you know, I'm surprised. And I'm surprised. I mean, I'm, uh, I'm pleased that my friend, Washington Derby, right. He would write this beautiful, and do that in the last part of his life when he was already, he'd always tried to do it, you know. But he couldn't get around to do it until the end and so on. Here's a biography of, of, of, uh, Columbus too, you know, which is, yeah. And, of course, Columbus is kind of the discoverer of our country, so it's fake, you know. Yeah, yeah. I was thinking about the Canary Islands there, because that's where Lincoln, I mean, where, uh, Columbus would leave, right, for America, right. And he'd go to the church there, you know, and, uh, stayed in one of the houses there, and so on. One of the places he got his ship there and, you know, modeled it there, you know. In, you know, in cement or whatever it is, you know. But, you know, just in the city of the town, you know. Because he had left, that's one of the places he had left him, you know, to go to the New World. It was kind of the place to be, to get the trade winds or something, you know, and get the right things. Okay. I think it's interesting that Thomas sees that, though, huh? You know, that thing I gave you, the thing of hostility there, you know, about the music of Mozart in the borough period, you know. It represents emotions in an ordered state, right. That's correct. That's correct. What the romantics will not agree to, you know, is that the emotions should be, what, ordered by reason, right? And Aristotle says on the rule of reason over the emotions should be like the rule of the father over the son, not like that of the master over the slave, right? But the father rules the son for the good of the son, right? So it's actually for the good of the emotions, right? As my old teacher could say, you know, about this romantic music, it tears you out, he says. And it's true, you know, huh? My wife and I turn on the classical music station there in the car sometimes, you know, and if there's a romantic music, you know, a lot of times you say, well, this is too much, it just tears you out, you know? I mean, you're getting accustomed to what? Disorder, right? You know, and you can imagine what this rock and roll and that stuff does, you know, huh? What's the name of that band, Grateful Dead, was it? I told you I was working in the package store, you know, and I'd see people coming in, they're Grateful Dead, you know? And I didn't know nothing about that as the name of a band, you know? I just said, what a sick thing to be walking around with. Put me out of my misery, you know? I'd be Grateful Dead, you know? I didn't know it was a band, but I mean, you know, but people go around, you know, to, some of them follow these bands around the country, right? You see, they're on a concert tour or something like that, and I'm happy with the name, they're calling them deadheads, right? Well, you're being introduced to disorder there, right? And Aristotle, you know, he talks about the best city there in the last books of the politics, right? He has a nice section there on music and how important music is, right? He says, paintings, you know, there's some paintings you should look at, right? But it's even more important, he says, the music, you know, even in the paintings, right? That you have the right music, huh? There's a disorder in this country, you know, with the music. It's just terrible. Yeah, what's interesting is that with the movies, now, they combine a disorder music with a disorder image. Yeah. It's just like insanity. Yeah, yeah. So this is removing, prohibence, Thomas says, right? You're taking away the respect for order, right? Anything goes, huh? I mean, that's what it is. You take away order. Anything goes, huh? There are alternatives to rationality. Yeah, yeah. Aristotle usually calls philosophy, you know, a methodos, right? Which means knowledge over a road, and road is taking the idea of order there, right? So we speak of a road. One time, Antony Dion says, you know, how come you don't pay more attention to this other professor? And he says, well, he doesn't have the order that you and Deconic have, so he let it go at that. Now, to the first, it should be said that venial and mortal sin are not divided ex proposito as two species of one, what, genus, like black and white or hot and cold, right? But, as we saw before, as accident is divided against what? Do you remember that in the previous article? I mean, the first article, I should say, the first one we read last week, week. Yeah. He was talking about what, it was not univocal, right, huh? Okay. Whence, just as accident can be a disposition for substantial form, so venial sin for mortal. Rest my case, right? The second thing should be said, that venial sin is not like mortal sin in species. It's nevertheless like it in what? Yeah. Insofar as both imply a defect of the suitable order, although in different ways, right? It's a much more disorder than, obviously, the mortal sin, right? That's very much set up with that, removings, prohibits, right? Where you have, what, remove this respect for order, right? And then you go on, yeah. Then anything goes. In the name of a song or something, anything goes. That's why so many people who, this is my impression, I think, is the reason why the gay agenda is winning out of everybody is they've already bought the sexual revolution and they can't possibly have an objection to this now. Yeah. Because they've already bought that. Yeah, yeah. There's no prohibition. There's nothing left to stop them. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It shows that people have the decency not to want to be a hypocrite. So that's the survival. Maybe some of you can work on them. It happened in regard to marriage, you see, you begin to make the love of the spouses, right? Or their mutual enjoyment, or whatever it is, equal to the children as being the end, right? And that's already disorder, right? And then finally, you know, it becomes kind of the main thing in marriage and so on. And then why not if they enjoy each other, you know, and so on. You know, I mean, you know, if marriage was just for two people to enjoy each other, right? Well, it'll open up a lot of things, right? That's been the trend for so long, you know, when it's professional couples who don't want children, but they just have a dog as a sort of a child, which is very possibly anything to see. Yeah. But it's so incredibly common. Yeah. But they, yeah. We talk about that. See, I've been getting these advertisements on the radio, you know, when I turn on to listen to Rush Limbaugh on the way up here or something like that, and they're always talking about, you know, seminaries here on divorce, right, huh? And all the questions you want about divorce will be answered, right? Like, who gets a dog? I don't know how you decide who gets the dog, do you? I mean, there was someone who decided, you know, who loves the dog more? Yeah, who loves the decision rights. Who introduced the dog into the family? Yes. Emotional and physical closeness? Yeah, because really for a society, you know, you need a common good, right? And the common good in the family is the child, right? And if you don't have that, you know, you don't really have the basis for a society. How the children are born. Like, you see other cultures. Yeah. Yeah. And how did that happen? Yeah. Yeah. I can't think of the guy now, the Hollywood actor, he says, anybody who hates kids can't be all wrong. Oh, WC Field? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. WC Field, yeah, yeah. He's saying, he's saying to me, what's about playing in the street? What about playing traffic? Yeah. Yeah, it's just not. It is what for a child. A child is my choice. I got it. But you just couldn't stand kids. It's an odd thing. But yet, it's not so uncommon. Yeah, yeah. It's a professional. So I'm ashamed. I'll get to the third now, objection. Um... That a good work is not a per se disposition to mortal sin. Thank God for that. It would really be hard enough. It is nevertheless able to be what? The matter or occasion. Tom Sawyer used the word occasion. He was talking about example cause, right? Of a mortal sin, parachidens, right? But a venial sin per se disposes for what? Mortal, yeah. So if a woman is beautiful, she might become, what? Proud of her beauty, right? But beauty is something good, right? It doesn't per se, it's not per se a cause of pride, right? But it can be occasion for pride, right? Yeah, yeah. Or if you discovered the great theorem or something, you know. That's good, that's very good. But that can be the occasion for pride, right? But it's not the par se cause, right? You've got to watch out for that parachidens cause, huh? There's a federal express commercial where there's a young, not too bright office worker who comes up with the idea, well, we could save a lot of money if we use federal express. And that the boss, and that the boss built the idea, and the company saved a lot of money, he got a promotion, and that became the core of his life. He was recounting to everybody, and the commercial shows how he, you know, goes through the rest of his life. That was the shining moment of his life, he was posting about the guys at the bar, and finally he's an old man, and he's got all this family, and he has this big federal express sort of poster commemorating that great day at work, you know, 50 years before. Yeah, that's sort of an example there too. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, the article 4 here, huh? To the fourth one proceeds thus. It seems that the venial sin is able to become what? Mortal, right? As soon as you're talking about one and the same sin, right? You're not talking about being disposing for it or something like that. For Augustine says, expounding that of John 3.36, who is what? Unbelieving to the Son? Will not see life, right? He says, even what? The least sins, right? That is venials. If they are neglected, they, what? Kill. But from this it is said, what? To be a mortal sin that spiritually kills the soul. Therefore, venial sin can become, what? Mortal. Or is it that something with a venial sin turns around the next day? Hey, now it's become a mortal sin. My venial sin yesterday. Or is it disposing me to commit now another act, which will be mortal, right? Moreover, the motion of sensuality, before the consent of reason, is a venial sin, right? But after consent, it becomes a mortal sin. Concedo. Ergo. Well, venial sin can become mortal. Get the woman out of here. Taps over my desk, you know. Venial sin and mortal differ as a curable sickness and an incurable one, as has been said. But a curable sin can become incurable. I can hear about that every once in a while, you know? Therefore, venial sin can become mortal. More, a disposition can become a habit. But mortal, venial sin is a disposition for mortal. And therefore, venial sin can become, what? Oh, boy, this is really good stuff, huh? What is it? The Boy Scouts, they teach you how to make a good knot? What Tom was supposed to learn in logic, how to make a good knot in the mind, huh? It doesn't stay very tight to them. We'll be reading again now, you know. That was back in the first timers in Paris, right? They think 56, 59, right? Oh, 56, 12, 59, something like that. You're pretty good at that. You have 18 arguments, you know, some of these ones on one side. You really trained the mind on those days, huh? Distractingly. I know. They're talking now about, you know, they think that this, all this, you know, these gadgets is going to make more Alzheimer's and so on because the mind's not being active enough, you know? It's just something else is doing the work for you. It's getting to come out, right? Yeah. I keep reading my Euclid, you know. I get my mind. Sure. Yeah. But against this, those things that differ in infinitum, right, are not changed into each other, right? But mortal sin and venial differ in infinitum, as is clear from the foregoing. Therefore, venial cannot become mortal, right? He tells that to in the old days, right? To go to the confession, no? As Thomas said, I guess he sees a distinction, right? It's included in the idea of looking before and after, as I've been clear to point out. I answer, it should be said that a venial sin to become mortal can be understood in three ways. Well, that's news to me. In one way, that the same act in number, first is a venial sin and after a mortal. I did anticipate that a bit. And this is not able to be. Because a sin chiefly consists in the act of the will, just as every, what, moral act. You can almost define moral virtue in their style there as a habit of, what, choosing, right, huh? Are you accustomed to choose to drink moderately? Are you accustomed to drink, to make sense, right? You know. Have you learned how to drink with your parents? Maybe you learned how to drink moderately, right? That you learned with your boyfriends in high school or something like that. You learned, let's get drunk this weekend. I'd hear my fellow students saying that, you know. Quence is not said to be one act morally if the will is, what, changed. Although, what, the action, according to nature, can be, what, continuous, right, huh? But if the will is not changed, there cannot be a, what, change from venial to, what, mortal, right? If the will is changed, it's not the same moral act you're saying, right? Because principally it consists of the act of the will. In another way it can be understood that that which is venial in genus becomes mortal, right? And this is possible, right, huh? Insofar as one constitutes in it is, what, end. Or insofar as one refers it to a mortal sin as to a, what, end, huh? Okay, we talked about that in the previous article. And the third way can be understood as many venial sins constitute one mortal sin, right? Which is, it is thus understood that for many venial sins as a whole is constituted one mortal sin. This is false, right? And they're always telling us that. You know, even a huge number of venial sins is not, doesn't add up to a, you know, you have to be able to add, yeah. They don't add up to it. For not all the, what? Not all the venial sins in the world are able to have as much of, what, guilt, I guess, or death, yeah, as one mortal sin, right? Which is clear on the part of duration because the immortal sin has the debt of eternal, what, punishment. Venial sin, the debt of, what, yeah. So you might be in purgatory to the last day, but, yeah, yeah. It is clear also on the part of the punishment of the damned, eh, damnation, that mortal sin merits, what, the lack of the divine vision to which no other punishment is able to be compared as Chrysostom says, eh? It's a death, that little sigh there about Chrysostom there. I forget the name of his teacher. of rhetoric, right, because he's a very famous guy. So he's like Augustine, right, he is, yeah. This guy was not a Christian or something, he wasn't a Catholic, he wasn't a Christian. And so when he got to old age, this rhetoric teacher said, who's going to succeed you because he was such a famous teacher? And he says, well, Christmas to him would if they had not, if the church had not stolen him from me. I was kind of struck, you know, by that, you know, the number of the great minds here, the church there that had this rhetorical training, right? Destin had that, he was a teacher of rhetoric, wasn't he? Here, this great famous teacher of rhetoric, you know, would like to have used wisdom to succeed him, you know, and the Christian stole him from me. Was it, was it, was it, was it, Jerome, you know, you were a Ciceronian or a Christian, remember, you know? Yeah, that's what our Lord said, he had a dream, wasn't it? Yeah, yeah, some kind of a dream. I'm a Christian, but you're not a Ciceronian. Yeah, what are you, which are you? That's, you know, so they admired, you know, the Cicero's rhetoric and so on. But it seems to me that's kind of a training, though, for the mind, too, that rhetoric, kind of a disposition, huh? You can go from rhetoric to dialectic, huh, to demonstration. But it gives them, you know, what Cicero means, what, golden mouth, I guess? You know, that's the name given to him. It's not maybe his real name, is it? Yeah. But I mean, he's like Augustine, you know, Augustine's a beautiful way of writing, huh? It comes from rhetoric, right? It's part of rhetoric, huh? It's the third book of rhetoric, right, where Aristotle talks about style and those sort of things. So, this is a beautiful thing, huh? To which no other punishment can be compared, right, huh? It is clear also on the side of the, what, punishment of sin, as regards to the worm of, what, conscience, huh? Although, perhaps, according to the punishment of fire, they are not unproportional punishments, huh? It's all for that. If one understands, right, that many venial sins make one mortal sin's dispositive, right? Sic verimest, right, huh? As has been shown above, right? According to two ways of disposition by which venial sin disposes for what? Mortal sin. And one was at the part of the agent, and the other was at Procedent's way, huh? Okay. To the first, therefore, it should be said that Augustine speaks in that sense, that many venial sins dispositive, huh? One cause immortal sin, right? Not that one and the same sin becomes that, or not that one, they skip genus generally, right? To the second should be said that that same motion of sensuality, which precedes the consent of reason, never becomes, what? Immortal sin. But the act of reason, what? Consenting, right? To the third should be said that bodily sickness is not an act, but a certain, what? Permanent disposition. Once the same remaining, it can be, what? Changed. But venial sin is a transient, huh? Passing away act, which cannot be, what? Resumed, right? And as it regards this, the comparison is not, what? Simulae, right? Likeness is the great cause of deception, right? To the fourth, then, it should be said that the disposition which becomes a habit is as something imperfect in the same, what? Species. Just as an imperfect science, when it's perfected, becomes a, what? Avid. The same with the moral virtues, right? But the venial sin is disposition of another genus. As accident to substantial form, in which is never changed. And the accident never becomes a, what? Substance. As most philosophers, not most, but true philosophers, no. Take a little break now.