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The Seven Deadly Sins We are lucky to have been provided with a list of sins that can apparently lead to all sorts of trouble - the Seven Deadly Sins. These should not be confused with the Seven Samurai (who could also cause lots of trouble and be deadly), the Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, or the Seven Sinful Ice-cream Flavours (chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, pistachio, anchovy, mint-choc-chip and pumpkin). Obviously, it would be bad to commit any of these sins (they`re deadly, remember), and as such it seems reasonable to suppose that our Lord and Creator would carefully avoid them too. Let`s see how well He does. PRIDE After creating various bits and bobs in Genesis, we are told "And God saw that it was good". So, He takes pride in His work, apparently. Also, when John baptised Jesus (good job he did, because we all know what happens to un-baptised people when they die...) God said, and I quote, "You are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased". God, who is Jesus, loves and is pleased with Jesus, who is God. If you knew someone who claimed to love and be pleased with himself, wouldn't that hint at a self-proud person? WRATH Well, according to the Old Testament, God was a genocidal maniac of Biblical proportions (naturally). However, it could be argued that many of the mass-slaughters described therein were not done out of anger, but for some other Godly motives. Fair enough, but are there any specific examples of wrath? Samuel (24:1) tells us :"Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying 'Go and take a census of Israel and Judah'". Burning anger? Sounds like Wrath to me. Also from Samuel (6:6) "When they came to the threshing-floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. The LORD's anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the Ark of God." Presumably God would have preferred the Ark to fall into the mud, but Uzzah paid the price here... ENVY From the Ten Commandments : "You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God..." Says it all, really. We don't even need to look for the evidence here, as we get it straight from the horse's mouth (so to speak). LUST Your school Nativity Play is a good example : the Holy Spirit impregnating virgins... Naughty, naughty - randy old God. GLUTTONY Why are we here? Many theologians would say "To love and worship God". Apparently, God just can't be content unless He creates five billion souls for the specific purpose of telling him how great he is. That's lot of people. That's just plain gluttonous. AVARICE Okay, he's let off this one - God has no need of money. Unfortunately his spokespeople, the televangelists, more than make up for this. Send me money and get to heaven! Either they're lying and just trying to get rich, or God actually does need money. Either way, it doesn't look good. SLOTH Back to Genesis again: "By the seventh day God finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all His work." Being omnipotent, god cannot get tired. If He has access to an infinite supply of energy (as we are led to believe), He could create a billion galaxies without so much as breaking into a sweat. It looks like He was just slobbing around... Score : 6.5 out of seven. Not so hot, is it? Now, we are told that Adam and Eve were not supposed to eat the Fruit in Eden, as this would make them more like God (having knowledge of Good and Evil, etc.). Could it be that the Seven Deadly Sins are a similar thing? After all, if you commit all seven, you will indeed be more like God (who, as we have seen, is guilty of all seven). Maybe this is just a bit of reverse psychology. If the churches tell us all about the Seven Deadly Sins, some of us are more likely to actually go out and commit them. From the church's point of view this would be a good thing. After all, they can't have us mere mortals subscribing to a higher moral code than God, now can they? © Adrian Barnett 1998

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