The Seven Deadly Sins: Literary Excerpts

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Literary Excerpts

"Miserable wretch that I am!" groaned Jabez Stone. "I've brought you a devilish way, and now I see my folly. Let him take me if it wills. I don't hanker after it, I must say, but I can stand it. But you're the Union's stay and New Hampshire's pride! He mustn't get you Mr. Webster! He mustn't get you!" pg. 35 of The Devil and Daniel Webster by Stephen Vincent Benet

"After a sleepless night spent pacing the terrace, he made up his mind to go to Petersburg and punish those people - those who had failed to appreciate him- by trying to get himself transferred to another ministry" pg. 62 of The Death of Ivan Llyich by Leo Tolstoy

"For instance, I keep wondering, What if it's partly, maybe mainly, because of Shawn that I am who I am? What if God couldn't help Shawn be normal, so the next best thing he could do was give me everything, all of Shawn's talents and all of my own too?" pg 125 of Cruise Control by terry Trueman

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What’s Your Fave Deadly Sin?

The Seven Deadly Sins In Astrology from Darkside Zodiac by Stella Hyde, USA, 2004

Aries

You simply do not have the time for anything intellectual, or namby-pamby, so you go straight for Wrath, or Anger: a big, strong, all-terrain sin that’s just as unhelpful halfway up K2 as it is in a downtown gridlock. It’s straightforward, uncomplicated, and requires hardly any brain power (it’s just a matter of coupling mouth and fists to your awesome irascibility drive). Plus you get to do the shouting. In your quieter moments, you might consider Greed; it makes a useful indoor sin for the older Arien whose form is slipping.

Taurus

“I’ll have all them, now” is naturally your first thought, since the desire for some new stuff fogs your brain. When you finally understand you’ve got to choose, you go away to ruminate, and come back some days later with the obvious answer: Greed, with a substantial side dish of Gluttony (maybe served in a jus of Lust). You think having and holding until death do you part is sensible behavior, and nothing is ever going to change your mind. As for Gluttony, what’s wrong with liking your fodder, especially if it comes at a prix five?

Gemini

Oh, come on! Only one deadly sin? For you, the dilettante of depravity? I don;t think so. You need at least four: two for each twin. What to choose? Pride, for sure, although you prefer to use its other name, Vanity (you know you look so good, so why not say so?); Lust, because it’s fun; Envy (why should the rich have all the nice, shiny things? Indeed, why should anybody have anything you want? And how can you prize it from them without them noticing?). And Greed, Greed is good. What’s wrong with wanting it all?

Cancer

How you wish you could work up to a full-grown deadly sin, but all you can manage is watery own-brand versions; you don’t do Anger, you do Irritability. However, there is a low-profile deadly sin that you could claim; it’s the quiet one that usually lurks at the back in group photos, hiding behind Gluttony. Modern sinners call it Sloth (bone idleness), but its historical name is Accidie, a medieval attempt to define the paralyzing immobility that comes about when you let despair get you in its grip. You’re really good at that.

Leo

And which sin comes by royal appointment? All of them, is the republican response-they’re practically a job description for successful monarchy. But your Number One sin has got to be Pride. For a start, it’s the deadly sinners’ deadly sin: it’s known as the sin from which all others arise, and you just love to be up there with the top people. Pride is also known as Vanity, which as far as you’re concerned is just as it should be: Vanity is your second favorite, and you get two sins for the price of one.

Virgo

Don’t cast your eyes down modestly, shuffle your feet, and pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. Oh, sin is such a filthy word it could never pass your lips, let alone cross your mind. You are the zodiac’s Mary Poppins (the harpy in the books, not the sugarplum in the film): insufferably please with yourself, but cruelly critical of everybody else. Your sin is Vanity, the lighter side of Pride. And you do something clever with Gluttony, reversing it to make a homely little nameless sin of sucking all the joy, taste, and mouth-feel out of food.

Libra

“Oh dear,” you dither winsomely, “how can you possibly ask me how to choose just one deadly sin, when they are all so rich and charming and handsome?” In the interest of finishing the book, let’s offer you a choice of three. After some soul searching (like you’ve got a soul? You go for Vanity, Greed, and Sloth (but you hedge your bets by writing pretty apologies on scented notepaper to the other four). Why are we not surprised? We’re just grateful that your main motivator is Sloth, which means that you rarely act on your worst impulses.

Scorpio

You know them as the Seven Surefire Methods of Manipulation, for there will always be one that pushes the buttons of the most incorruptible. So, which is your favorite? Of course, you have dabbled stylishly with all seven, and enjoyed some vintage lost weekends with Greed and Envy, but you always come back to Lust: lust for power, lust for money, lust for status, lust for revenge, lust for other bodies, lust for your own. But don’t you secretly wish that Total Control was a deadly sin, so that you could simple enjoy it even more?

Sagittarius

What? All of them of course-what would be the point of not savoring the experience of every available combination of moral, physical, and spiritual degradation? You’re only young once. So you gallop along, snatching a few mouthfuls from each, but if you’re honest (!), the simple, obvious stuff like Lust, Greed, and Gluttony does it for you- because you can’t resist indulgence and extremism- and just a slick of Vanity to create that naughty, devil-may-care, messed-up look. And Sloth? What’s that all about?

Capricorn

After statistical analyses have been completed, you conclude that the DS that best matches your profile in Avarice, the sophisticated version of Greed. Greed just sounds gross and fat-making, but Avarice is cold accumulation, an insatiable hunger that sucks you dry from the inside, so that you have hollow cheeks and a tiny, tiny heart, and squat like a dragon on treasure you can’t spend. However, your inner goat makes up for this when let out, going straight for naughty but life-affirming Lust and Gluttony (goats eat anything).

Aquarius

It’s fascinating what humans devise to beat themselves up with-must be some sort of ritual psychodrama. All the sins are a bit crude and obvious, and require an engagement of the flesh that you don’t really do, but finding out which ones fit you looks like fun-kind of like knowing your sun sign- and you lover a good mind game. Some perhaps the one called Sloth, because you can be a tad languid, and maybe Pride, but that’s rather academic, for you obviously are superior to everyone else, not just swanning around thinking you are.

Pisces

As you are weak-willed sensationalist, you have regularly been led astray by all Seven DSs, often all at the same time (which may explain some of your mood changes, but is still no excuse). Anger and Lust seem uncomfortably proactive and positive for you, and Greed is a bit too much like hard work, so Envy, Sloth, and Gluttony are your solid drinking crew-especially Envy, since you could have been a contender if only your cruel parents hadn’t held you back, and everybody else in the world hadn’t made your life an absolute misery.

The Seven Deadly Sins in the Bible

Where are they found?

• Lust – “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28).

• Gluttony – “for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags” (Proverbs 23:21).

• Greed - “Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more” (Ephesians 4:19).

• Laziness – “The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway” (Proverbs 15:19).

• Wrath – “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Proverbs 15:1)

• Envy – “Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation” (1 Peter 2:1-2).

• Pride - “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18).

What are the seven detestable sins according to the Bible?
“There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers” (Proverbs 6:16-19).

One of our church leaders recently spoke on Acts 5:11. He mentioned how Ananias and Sapphira sold property and would give the proceeds to the church. However, they held back some of the money but said that they had given the entire proceeds. God’s judgment was immediate death. The sin of Ananias and Sapphira was not that they kept some of the profit, but that they lied to God and to the Apostles.

Such immediate result is not the usual way God deals with us today. However, judgment and retribution for our sins are part of God’s way of running a balanced moral universe. We need to get the message across that we do not go on sinning thinking that we won’t have to reckon with God and others.

When we receive Christ as our Lord and Savior, we know He has conquered sin in our life. It is through His death that our sins have been cleansed and no longer to be remembered. Jesus’ life makes the difference. "Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him” ( Romans 4:7-8).

The Seven Deadly Sins

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Literary Excerpts

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Seven Deadly Sins

Pride

Lust

Sloth

Wrath

Gluttony

Greed

Envy

What’s Your Fave Deadly Sin?

The Seven Deadly Sins in the Bible

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