Envy, sloth, greed, anger, vainglory, gluttony, lust…just to name the ‘seven deadly sins’ is to sound quaint, out of touch and so not psychologically astute. After all, what even is ‘vainglory’? And if it means ‘pride’ well, we all know that self-esteem is the cornerstone of healthy self-development. Or do we?
The Seven Deadly Sins are more appropriately seen as habits, just not good ones. We used to call them vices and knew that opposed to vices were virtues. Both come out of our nature as creatures that are ‘prone to wander’, yet both vices and virtues can be actively encouraged depending on how we live our lives.
After proclaiming that “Christ is risen” on Easter morning, we may ask ourselves what that resurrection event means for our lives, here in our corner of Kentucky, when we wake up each morning and go about our day. But truthfully, we probably don’t ask unless that particular day is particularly hard and involves a trip to a hospital.
Yet we have been given the power of the Holy Spirit, and the wisdom of Scripture and the love of Jesus Christ so that we would become more and become more now, than if none of that were present. The church since the time of Jesus has known that who we are inside becomes how we live our lives outside. The vices called ‘deadly’ are called that not because there are no greater sins, but because they are the main branches of the tree that give rise to all the other ways in which we just go wrong.
So we are going to begin a time when we explore both the Seven Deadly Sins, in modern form, and the teachings of Jesus that point us to a better way. We’ll look at how modern these ancient vices can be like in a Madison Avenue campaign promoting the deadly sins in which sloth is celebrated with the tag line: “If sloth had been the original sin, we’d all still be in Paradise.” And we’ll explore how sloth is really not about lazy afternoons at the beach, but about being lazy about love. Each ‘deadly sin’ is not what you think it is…
Want to make sure you don’t miss your favorites? Here’s the schedule:
April 28: What’s So Deadly About…Sloth?
May 5: What’s So Deadly About…Greed?
May 12: What’s So Deadly About…Anger?
May 19: Pentecost
May 26: What’s So Deadly About…Gluttony & Lust?
June 2: What’s So Deadly About…Vainglory & Pride?
Want to read on your own about how we moderns have much to learn from the early understanding of human nature? Download or order a copy of Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and their Remedies by Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung available on Amazon and for Nook or Kindle.
