The Seven Deadly Sins

What is your weakness? 2nd Cup of Coffee turned me onto a quiz that is supposed to identify your fault. Apparently, wrath is my greatest weakness. I think those that know me would find this kind of funny, but I guess the results are not just action but also intent. And there I must admit, smiting those that hurt / harm myself or my family seems to be a reasonable response. Anyway, I have posted my results below. Why don’t you take the quiz and let us know your results. Do you think it is an accurate assessment of your character?

Greed:	Very Low
Gluttony:	Low
Wrath:	Medium
Sloth:	Low
Envy:	Very Low
Lust:	Very Low
Pride:	Medium

The Seven Deadly Sins Quiz on 4degreez.com


I did a little extra research about the 7 deadly sins and found that there is no direct scriptural reference. The ideals are repeated throughout the Bible, but there is no specific place that says “And though shall avoid the Seven Deadly Sins: pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony, lust.” These 7 are not the original list, but have been refined and ordered throughout the ages. Coming to the form that we currently know when they adapted by Pope Gregory. It is actually many Medieval stories that engrained the idea into our minds.

A very interesting article on the Seven deadly sins can be found at http://sjmc.cla.umn.edu/stupro/virgil2001/sevendead.pdf

I think that I will need to pick up the Canterbury Tales again.

Premarital Relations

Have you heard of promise rings? A ring given by the father to the daughter when she pledges to remain a virgin until getting married. I think the whole concept is a little strange, especially when they are presented in a large ceremony, but on the positive side at least it brings up the conversation of premarital sex. This conversation has been brought up twice today in our teenage household. Once because Tuesday night is the airing of The Secret Life of an American Teenager and two, due to very inappropriate IM’s from her friend’s boyfriend.

Having seen the previews of The Secret Life of an American Teenager, dd has only watched the show with me sitting beside her. The show is based on a teenager getting pregnant. I have now seen 3 or 4 episodes which have entered dd into many delicate discussions, but at least we are talking about it. It certainly doesn’t glamorize teenage relations as it is obviously how the main character, Amy, got into such a crisis. On the other hand, it seems like all the teens are physically involved except for one. The one, of course, is the religious girl, the goody, goody. Although I find this character very stereotypical, I must admit that I hope that over the course of the show she doesn’t relent just for the sake of plot.

The question arises – does being religious really reduce teen pregnancy? I did see in our other situation, inappropriate emails, that the answer to this question may be “yes”. Ok, it may be well too early to say that it will, but at least when bugged by this boy on the IM, my daughter came back with some pretty good retorts. He said something about her wanting it. She said that she wasn’t doing anything until she got married. He tried another tactic, “Well, what if you die before you get married?” “Then I’ll die a virgin.” While I was appalled by this conversation and it let to yet another conversation between my daughter and I, I was thrilled at her insistence of no premarital sex. She was very clear that as a Christian this was her obligation. I’m sure, unfortunately, she will face this question many more times before she is actually married. I think that our influence and openness will help her make the right decision, but I believe her strong belief in chastity as a requirement of her religion will be the real guidepost along her path.

Confess our Sins

O God, you teach us compassion, and yet we practice bigotry. You implore us to trust you while we create idols. You send Christ as a witness that you will not forsake us; yet we fret over matter as though you cared not at all. Forgive our compulsion to control our own destiny. Look kindly upon us when we fear for our future. Have mercy upon us when we mismanage your grace. We are your people; help us to dwell in your promise, through Christ our Lord. Amen

Tears welled in my eyes as we read this Prayer of Confession. I tried to wipe them away at first but then they flowed freely from my eyes. I never think of confession as a big part of my relationship to the church. As a Congregationalist, we don’t have confessionals or a requirement to confess our sins to our priest. Confession is left between you and God, except for during the once a month communion where a joint prayer of confession is read. This one hit me hard. . .”Control our own destiny”, “fear for our future”, “mismanage your grace”. Here lay my greatest faults.

We often think of sin as murder, adultery, lying, cheating, but sin also lies in these much simpler faults: putting our needs before God’s, believing that we are in control of our destiny, silence. It is easier to think of ourselves as good people when we think of the first list and equate sinners with “bad guys”. It is much more difficult to realize that we are all sinners that need forgiveness. We are all sinners that can walk a straighter path. We need prayers of confession and supplication. Step one according to www.allaboutprayer.org is to “recognize that we are all sinners in need of forgiveness.”

Fortunately, after the “prayer of confession” comes the “words of assurance” and then the “invitation of the Lord’s Table”. Sinners as we are, Jesus loved us. God sent him to this earth to wipe away our sin. We do not have to be perfect to come to his table. We just have to believe.

Sinner or Saint

Recently an old friend came by. It was so good to see him. Back in high school, we would talk for hours on the phone discussing all the problems of the world or at least the world as we knew it back then. Many years have passed and we both now have families of our own. As we sat at the table reminiscing, I caught myself staring at a tattoo on his arm. It was he that brought it up, “What do you think it says?”

“Saint”

“Now?” He turned his arm the other way.

I could not make it out at first. “What is the opposite of saint?” he hinted.

“Sinner?”

How easy it would be in life to change so simply. How simple if it was always a clear as choosing which to be. Most of us are probably not purely saint or purely sinner, but more in the middle. We affectionately call this condition “human”. Perhaps after confessing our sins and asking forgiveness, we tilt a little closer to saint, but most of the time we are probably closer to the sinner side. None of us want to admit that. We like to believe that we are living right and certainly most of us strive to live as Jesus, but few of us can actually accomplish it.

Irronically, his arm is more naturally in the sinner position, which perhaps he may think he is more likely to be (I know better though). But maybe it is a reminder to us all that we have to work at doing what it right. It is very easy to sin and fall away. 13". . . For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV)

Each day we need to think about what message we want our life to project. Do we want our sign to say “sinner” or “saint”? What would someone reading your life say that your life says? Is this in line with what you want it to say? How can you change your life so that these two things are in alignment? Remember there will come a day when the sheep are separated from goats. Which group do you want to be in?

Philippians 1:9-11, “I pray that your love will keep on growing and that you will fully know and understand 10how to make the right choices. Then you will still be pure and innocent when Christ returns. And until that day, 11Jesus Christ will keep you busy doing good deeds that bring glory and praise to God.”