I've been working on a modern list of the Seven Deadly Sins. The name, Seven Deadly Sins, comes from the Catholic Church and there is no "biblical" list of seven deadly sins. Proverbs 6:16 does includes a list of 6 sins God hates and 7 that are an abomination and Galatians 5:19-21 includes a longer list of sins (15 specific and a broad 16th). The Seven Deadly Sins, according to the Catholic Church, are Greed, Sloth, Pride, Wrath, Lust, Envy and Gluttony. They are deadly, again according to the Catholic Church, because your soul is in extreme danger if you commit these.
All that aside, sin is sin and any sin separates you from God. What I wanted to do is update the list for today. I will keep the name "deadly" because I believe these sins will KILL the Church if they go on unattended. You will notice some sins on my list are similar to the original. I need help adding the 7th so here are my Six Deadly Sins (just doesn't roll off the tongue). Some of these deadly sins may need to be regrouped with others. Just let me know what you think!
1 - Opinion (Which is nothing more than pride repackaged. Opinion says I'm right, you are wrong so it includes judgment. Opinion is not fact.)
2 - Gossip (This is fake or immature knowledge. When you pass on knowledge/information that is not known or not yours to share that is gossip. If you wonder if what you are sharing is gossip, then don't share it.)
3 - Apathy (Apathy says I don't care. Faith without works is dead. Is your faith active or dead? There is no place for Zombie Christians, they may move but they are actually dead. We must care. We must live out our faith!)
4 - Intentional Ignorance (Some have a fear of being responsible for the knowledge they gain. There is little to no (or know) personal study, no desire for personal growth, always asking others if they ask at all. Grow so you can share!)
5 - Cultural Attrition (The culture has a definite affect on us. The culture determines for too many people what boundaries they can and cannot cross. The nation becomes more sexual, our language deteriorates as we sound more like flash celebrities and theology is replaced with philosophy.)
6 - Habitual (So many buy into the "healthy habit" lie. Habits are broken all the time. We don't take habits serious. People say, "I got out of the habit of 'prayer', 'church', 'study', whatever…these are not mere habits, these are lifestyles that must be lived.)
7 -
Well, as you can see 7 is blank. Help me out.
all about Christ,
David
For me number 7 would be "religion". In Sunday school I've been co-teaching through the book of John. This week was the other man's week to come up with the lesson, and as we were going through it, something really struck me.
ReplyDeleteThe passage we covered included John 19:31 -- "Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down."
When we read this, even though I've read it 100 times before, a new thought came to me. I saw this verse in a new light. These Jewish leaders biggest concern was not that they had killed a man. It was not that they had killed the Messiah. It was "Hey we don't want these dead bodies ruining our Sabbath." Their biggest concern was rule following, and not their heart.
I looked at that and realized I can be the same way sometimes. Sometimes I can be more concerned with how things should be done than my heart around doing those things. I meet with a few guys once a week to talk about our marriages and to improve as husbands. One week one of the guys skipped it to have lunch with his wife. I jokingly told him "Fine, go have lunch with your wife instead of working on being a good husband!" While I was just joking, there have been times in my life where I am truly tempted to replace following God with religion, and grace with rules.
Adam, excellent insight! I think religion definitely kills. I hadn't thought of it specifically as a sin for this list, but you are right, when religion/rules replaces faith then that is a sad day.
ReplyDeleteYour though really makes Matthew 9:13 pop out at me.
Great post, David. I'd probably make the 7th the one that is "an abomination" like in Proverbs 6. I'd put Pride (so would C.S. Lewis) since it's pretty much the root of every sin.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of including Religion though (from Adam).
Seth, pride is huge and I like having it listed as an abomination. I had connected pride to opinion because our opinions are all about us. That's a problem when it should be about Him! Thanks for the comments Seth.
ReplyDelete