GUILTY...and ON YOUR KNEES DEPT.
Catholic Church Upgrades Seven Deadly Sins List...or Mo' Sins to Nail Y'all With
By Don Jibaro Barbanegra
Even as the apostle John was about to go home, he solemnly warned everyone that if anyone added anything to the prophecies of the Sacred Writ, God would add to their punishment horrible plagues. ¡AY! And if any takes anything away from the same book, God will take away from them their share of the fruit of the tree of life and of the Holy City, et al. Again... ¡AY! That means that if God said two pounds of wheat, it’s two pounds of wheat. Not four… or six.

So now we have a couple of new doors open to lead you straight to Hell... do not pass "GO", no $200, no Purgatory. Nada... just down the slide into the Gate of Hades. You gotta admit that there was a certain bracing poetry about the original seven deadly sins--pride, gluttony, melancholy (which was dropped in the 17th century in favor of sloth), lust, greed, envy and anger--which among them could account for virtually all the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind. Jesus said that you can sum up the whole tablet of the law and denominate it into just two laws: 1.) Love God with all your heart and 2.) Love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus answered, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and the most important commandment. The second most important commandment is like it: 'Love your neighbor as you love yourself.' The whole Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets depend on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:37-40)

The original list... ataloged by Pope Gregory the Great,
|with an assist from Thomas Aquinas and Dante.
 

So if we were to sin on the least, it would be not loving God with all we have and not loving our neighbor as ourselves. There is nowhere in the Bible is there a list of the Seven Deadly Sins, although lists of virtues contrasted with lists of sins are found in certain books of the New Testament, such as Galatians.

Then if we scrutinize, anger gives rise to violence; gluttony to waste; pride to every manner of tragedy and hurt. This is just enough to keep you in line for at least 1,500 years, ever since they were cataloged by Pope Gregory the Great, with an assist from Thomas Aquinas and Dante.

However, this is not such anymore. The new Papa states that "We are losing the notion of sin," and warns, as attendance at confession goes down, that the culture celebrates what once it sanctioned: parents encourage pride as essential to self-esteem; Gourmet Cuisine, even in abundance is no sin. Envy is the engine of tabloid culture. Moreover, lust becomes an advertising strategy; anger, the righteous province of the aggrieved.

But the original old mortal sins had as much to do with attitudes as greed might lead to theft, lust to adultery, as sin was conceived within the heart.

It's as if a Politically Correctness Disease invaded the land. This is to say that we find justification for our infractions in order not to pay the penalty… whatever that may be. So one can understand the impulse of the Vatican to stress a broader range of sins for the modern age… then more penance. Got that? "You offend God not only by stealing, blaspheming or coveting your neighbor's wife" but also by polluting, cloning, taking drugs, promoting social injustice or becoming obscenely rich.

Where the old sins are individual failings, in a global culture sin becomes a social disease because its consequences are more abundant and more destructive. Thus, the realm of biotechnology is especially dangerous, which reflects church teaching that destroying an embryo or a fetus equates with murder. Yet modern research does not seem wicked to many suffering patients or the doctors who hope to cure them; the church's sin is their salvation. Enter Justification. The plot thickens.

The original old mortal sins (as opposed to “venial" or "minor”) had as much to do with attitudes as greed might lead to theft, as lust to adultery. Sin begins in the heart and goes to the mind and then to the physical body. Even Master Yoda warned young Skywalker that "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering. I sense much fear in you". Clouded this boy's future was.

Similarly, too much wealth seems ironical to the Vatican. Bill Gates, the Great Grabber, who as a philanthropist, is now perhaps the greatest individual force for good around the world? Does it not seem as if he has grasped the eternal somewhere along the way? NO, not by far. It’s not by works that we’re saved, but by faith. Wealth helps, but it’s not the criterion for the Eternal Heavens.

After 13 years on top, Bill Gates is no longer the richest man in the world. Actually, Forbes says that Bill's friend Warren Buffet has more money... a mere $62 billion. A Mexican named Carlos Slim is second with $60 billion and Bill is third with $58 billion. Oprah? ...just a measely $1.5 billion.

The question of punishment. In Dante's purgatory, the punishment
for envy was to have your eyes sewn shut with iron wire. OUCH!

But these were personal punishments for individual crimes. Moving on, what happens then when whole societies fall short of the mark? …dismissing the poor, despoiling the planet? Who’s guilty and what’s the payment? Am I responsible for the lies I tell or the fries I crave? Do I have to give to the poor? How do I dissect the sources to find the sin? Simple: READ THE BIBLE!

Sin is not just a spiritual notion, sin is the saboteur that keeps us from grace, separates us from God. The new list makes abstract the failings that once were intimate and attempts to make sin smaller, not bigger or more relevant. We consequently we deplore it.

Faith may be private but it speaks to public duty, as Gandhi may have said: "Wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, science without humanity, knowledge without character, politics without principle, commerce without morality and worship without sacrifice."

The responsibility rests with the individual… ergo, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbor as you love yourself.'

"I, John, solemnly warn everyone who hears the prophetic words of this book: if any add anything to them, God will add to their punishment the plagues described in this book. And if any take anything away from the prophetic words of this book, God will take away from them their share of the fruit of the tree of life and of the Holy City, which are described in this book." (Revelation 22:18-19)

Peace to you...
Live Long & Prosper,