Wages of Sin

Before we discuss how the Church has profited by the multitude of sins in its inventory, let us look at a brief catalog of the same.

Catalog of sins

Towards the end of his article ‘Drowning in Sin’, Kenneth 

Humphreys has drawn up a catalog of sins as devised by the 

Church.

1. Original sin: the act of disobedience by Adam inherited at conception; it is remitted by baptism.

2.  Actual sin: a voluntary act willed by the individual.

     

     Actual sins fall into the following categories:

a.  Venial sin: pardonable and excusable; e.g., stealing a pencil from   your classmate.

b.   Mortal sin: intrinsically and absolutely evil; e.g., planned murder.

      

     Thought crimes:

c.   Delectatio morose: the pleasure taken in sinful thought without   even desiring it;

d.   Gaudium: Dwelling with pleasure on sins already committed;

e.   Desiderium: the desire for what is sinful.

      Habitual sin: being in a state of sin until grace is restored by   penance.

       Sins of commission and omission:

f.     Sins of commission: acts contrary to some prohibitory order;

g.     Sins of omission: failure to do what is commanded.

Cardinal sins (Capital vices)

h.     Pride;

i.      Envy

j.      Avarice (greed)

k.     Anger (wrath)

l.      Sloth

m.    Gluttony

n.      Lust 

Humphreys goes on to discuss how Church profits by sin. To him, 

the Church has become very wealthy using the wages of sin.

Wages of Sin

Sin, guilt, purgatory, hell, and heaven formed a very profitable 

combination for the Church right from the outset. With eternal 

happiness in heaven on the one hand and everlasting torture in hell 

as the alternative, the Church mercilessly exploited man’s fears of life after death. No one has ever come back after death to tell us what awaits us. Using speculative philosophical arguments, Church has simply made up myths about life (?) after death. 

With the long catalog of sins the Church has produced, everyone, throughout the day and night, commits a multiple of sins that he has to be guilty of. Augustine’s perverted invention ‘original sin’ made the bedroom a den of a variety of sins for the legally married. Hell, with all possible kinds of tortures lasting for all eternity, was created along with sin and guilt, to force the faithful to go back again and again to the priests to confess and to be cleansed of sins to avoid the fires of hell. In this way, the faithful become Church addicted. Collections, donations, and contributions to the church invariably follow in the name of building churches and their upkeep, for the training, formation, and maintenance of the priestly class and the luxurious lifestyles of the hierarchy. In addition, funds are demanded for sacraments like holy mass, baptism, and marriage.

The invention of purgatory and indulgences to get out of purgatory 

to go to heaven was one of the most brilliant ideas of Church 

authorities for the financial exploitation of the naïve faithful. The sale of indulgences for the remission of sins started with this invention. The living, anxious about their deceased relatives suffering in purgatory, could offer prayer, service, and payment to the Church so that those in purgatory could have an early release to reach heaven. Papal agents like friar Tetzel sold indulgences to the gullible for the release of the souls of their beloved from purgatory. Many credulous souls fell for his sales talk: ‘As the penny in the coffer rings, the soul from Purgatory springs'.