Encounters may encourage eschewing terrible sins, according to sources (5)
I believe the answer is:
meets
'encounters' is the definition.
('meet' can be a synonym of 'encounter')
I can't explain the rest of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for meets that I've seen before include "Comes across" , "Comes into contact with" , "Effectively copes with" , "Comes into the presence of" , "Joins with" .)