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Microsoft Word Created as parish educational materials. No original copyright The Seven Deadly Sins intended or implied. And the Seven Holy Virtues SEVEN DEADLY SINS SEVEN HOLY VIRTUES 1. Pride 1. Humility 2. Anger 2. Patience 3. Envy 3. Kindness 4. Greed 4. Charity 5. Gluttony 5. Temperance 6. Lust 6. Chastity 7. Sloth 7. Diligence History. THE HISTORY OF THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS begins in scripture where vice lists are common. Proverbs 6:16-19 and Galatians 5:19-21 are two of many. Scripture nods to the idea of seven significant sins in the Gospel of Mark (16:9) and its parallel passages. The NIV translates it this way: When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. Later theologians would suggest this a reference to the “7 Deadly Sins”. Where did the list of the seven sins come from? They came from a monk named Evagrius Ponticus, who listed in Greek eight evil thoughts in one of his works written in the mid 300’s AD. These eight evil thoughts were carried over to the Latin Church and popularized in 590 AD by Pope Gregory the Great in the form we have above. It was this list that Dante used in his hugely influential “Divine Comedy”, and this list that remains with us to this day. The “Seven Deadly Sins” are so-called because they are seen as the source of all sin. Any sinful act will fall under one of these seven headings, as we shall see. THE HISTORY OF THE SEVEN HOLY VIRTUES begins in a different place, in ancient Greece with Aristotle and Plato. These philosophers identified four “cardinal virtues” that are universal among all humankind: Temperance, Wisdom, Justice, and Courage. These are the four “Cardinal Virtues”. Saint Paul’s writings on the significance of “Faith, Hope, and Love” were added to this list in the New Testament times, becoming known as the “Seven Virtues”. The first four were for all humankind, and the last three were unique for Christians. However, the “Seven Holy Virtues” developed to pair directly with the “Seven Deadly Sins”. These holy virtues are the seven listed at the top of this page. THE MEANING OF SIN. Sin literally means, to miss the mark. It is an ancient archery term that caught on because of the usefulness of the image. To hit the target everything must be in balance in the archer. The target is seen. It is aimed at. One neither drifts the aim to the left or the right. The shot neither overshoots from zealousness nor undershoots for laziness. Note that the arrow can hit anywhere on the target. There are many ways to be good or to do something rightly and honorably. It is clear and obvious, however, when the target is missed. Whilst the archery image is helpful in imagining and clarifying what goes into sin, motivations are even more helpful to consider. Just as Jesus said in Matthew 15:11, 18-20a It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles a person, but what proceeds out of the mouth. This defiles the person. The things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile. So it is the heart that is the source of sin. In at least three ways the heart can be manipulated to seek out sin: by pain, fear, and carelessness. Pain. The experience that many have in their youth of never quite getting things right, never fully understanding, never being able to speak or do things as well as we imagine, and the pain that comes with it, can create a motivation to assert ourselves on others and on the world to affirm our specialness and value. It is easiest to go to the world and our actions for these things, but the result never lasts and is usually sinful for being so focused on self-gratification and self-congratulation. Only in the spirit, by finding our value in our creator and His gift to us of life, His Son, His Spirit and His mind, can this pain be truly overcome. In this overcoming we cease looking outward for our value, but find it inward, and finding it inward, are able outwardly to live in concern and self-less love toward others. Fear. The sense that we are on our own, that no one is looking out for us – the sense of the dangerousness of the world, that if we don't fight or take then nothing will be left to us – can lead us to assert ourselves over and above others for that which we perceive as essential to our survival. This self-ishness leads to much brokenness and much harm. This fearfulness runs contrary to the truth revealed in scripture that God is always watching over us, caring for us, and giving himself to us; that we are protected, empowered, and part of a perfect interconnected fabric that is knit by the hand of God. In this realization sin has no place and no reality. Carelessness. When we forget the value of virtue, when honesty, hard work, discipline, groundedness, love and compassion seem to require too much energy and "just don’t matter that much anyway" – when we fall down on our watch and succumb to such weakness of heart we fall right into the clutches of sin. In such a case it is only through renewed vigor, by shaking ourselves up, getting out of the funk, getting out and really seeing, caring for and loving others that we recognize the value of the ordered life and are given eyes to see deeper truths and God at work in all things. The Positive. Turning Pain into Confidence, turning Fear into Connectedness, turning Carelessness into Care we are able to live no longer to ourselves, but to him through whom all things were made. The Problem. Pain, Fear and Carelessness teach the heart that we are small and insignificant. Our natural reaction is to try to seek out and assert our size and importance. This pursuit of everything that goes along with bigness puts all people and all things into a relationship of manipulation with the individual, and most of what comes out of that will be sin. The Goal. Confidence, Connectedness and Care become for the Christian an inward source of light, life, power and self-knowledge. Through them we recognize our innate largeness, not in this world, but by our Heavenly Father in the truth and reality of the next. Recognizing this largeness as a free gift from God through Grace, we are freed to pull away from the drama of this world and the cloying attractiveness of the Seven Deadly Sins. 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