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Comment by nailer | Hacker News Reader

> I'd be asking what it is about Christ that turns people into murderous psychopaths...

That's a reasonable question. Christianity does have an emphasis on forgiveness, which I suspect these prison chaplain programs emphasize - so it's more a matter of murderers turning themselves into Christians.

However murder is considered a mortal sin that separates one's soul from god and that cannot regularly be forgiven.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_sin, scroll to 'Actions constituting grave matter' for the list.

My grandmother was devout and spent her last few weeks convinced she was going to hell for something I do not know.

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> However murder is considered a mortal sin that separates one's soul from god and that cannot regularly be forgiven.

Don’t think that’s true. Murder is considered a grave sin but not one that can’t be forgiven…remember Paul (who wrote several books of the New Testament) was a killer, so was Moses in the Old Testament.

I think the only sin mentioned as unforgivable is “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit” which is very vague.

(Was raised Christian, no longer one).

Edit: Another comment there’s a Catholic-evangelical disagreement on this, so maybe that’s the case.

IIRC it was a a little vague about what Saul of Tarsus actually did to the early Christians. I've heard it argued that Moses killing the Egyptian was an act of faith rather then of murder.

FWIW I think god is not real, just playing devil's advocate.

> However murder is considered a mortal sin that separates one's soul from god and that cannot regularly be forgiven.

By Catholics, specifically. Evangelical Christians don't typically share this belief.

Mortal sins can absolutely be forgiven in Catholicism

See for example the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1456

> 1456

> Confession to a priest is an essential part of the sacrament of Penance: "All mortal sins of which penitents after a diligent self-examination are conscious must be recounted by them in confession, even if they are most secret and have been committed against the last two precepts of the Decalogue; for these sins sometimes wound the soul more grievously and are more dangerous than those which are committed openly.

That seems to say mortal sins must be confessed. But I cannot see where it says they can be forgiven.

The only unforgivable sin according to the Church is "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit"[1], which is defined as refusal of God's mercy and forgiveness [2].

[1]: https://ucatholic.com/catechism/1864/

[2]: https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/d... (see 46)

Your references seem to say that blasphemy is unforgivable but not that other mortal sins are forgivable. Unless I’m missing something.

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