In the past two blogs we have discussed the book Why We Make Mistakes. Another point the author makes is that research has shown people feel more responsible for their actions than their inaction. He notes that inaction means we did not do anything and we typically need to do something to feel guilty or good about what we did. [1]
However, the idea that failing to act is as much of a sin as wrongful acts is not a foreign concept to us. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated that “. . .it is just as bad to passively accept evil as it is in inflect it.”
In Ezekiel 3:16-21God tells Ezekiel and in Ezekiel 33:1-9 God instructs Ezekiel to tell the people of Israel that it is our responsibility to warn others of danger or of the error of their ways. If we do not, God will require that person’s blood at our hand.
In the study of the theology of sin one way of categorizing sin is by sins of commission and sins of omission. Sins of commission are when we take actions that are contrary to God’s commands. St. Thomas Aquinas states “a sin of omission violates a command to do something positive”. [2] So in either case are we not violating a command of God? Would that not make a sin of omission no different than a sin of commission?
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[1] Joseph T. Hallinan. Why We Make Mistakes. New York: Broadway Books, 2009, p. 53.
[2] Timothy McDermott, editor, St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiæ, Norte Dame, IN: Christian Classics, 1989, p. 250.
