Q. If something feels right to me, it can't be a sin - or can it?

A. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Sin is an objective wrong. It is a violation of God's law, as understood by God's Church. The Church bases itself on Scripture and Tradition when it concludes that something is sinful. This has several implications.

First, what is sinful is not decided by voting. Something is, or is not, a violation of God's law. Whether it is a common or popular thing to do, or a rare and uncommon action, does not make it sinful or virtuous. Something is objectively sinful or virtuous regardless of whether one person, or every person, knows its nature as virtue or vice. The only question is: Does God forbid it?

Second, when an act, thought, or failure to act is sinful, it is sinful for everyone. It can't be right for one person because he thinks it is right, and wrong for another person because he thinks it is wrong. It does not matter whether I believe I am justified in committing the sin, or whether I believe it is wrong. A sin is a wrong done to God, and is a wrong even if I think it is right. For example, I may think that cheating is right. I may be sincere in that belief. But cheating is still wrong - objectively, it is still wrong for me and for everyone else.

Third, it does not matter what my emotional response to the sin is. It may feel good; it may bring me great pleasure, it may not stir up any felt sense of guilt. But a sinful act is still wrong. I don't have to feel guilty, or bad, or worried. I may enjoy the sin greatly. Or I may feel intensely guilty, and be very worried, and have found the sin distasteful. It doesn't matter what I feel: sin is wrong, period. My feelings do not make it wrong or right.

Fourth, the normal person only commits the sins that he or she finds attractive. People in general do not commit the sins that repel them. Therefore, the fact that a sin is attractive to me, feels good, or otherwise interests me, does not reduce the sinfulness of the action.

Finally, we must act and think with charity. We have no business judging others, unless they are under our supervision. Parents have responsibility to judge their children; persons in government (depending on their position) must judge whether actions are legal or illegal; supervisors must judge the people they manage. But Catholics ought to refrain from judging others unless we hold a position of authority over them. We must remind ourselves that it is easy to judge, and often difficult to understand. It is especially easy to judge those who commit sins for which we personally have no attraction or temptation. There is enough lumber in our own eyes; we don't need to go after the faults of others.