Talking of Sin
A t first I thought I call this ‘ looking afresh at sin ’, but like ‘ Fresh Expressions ’ it sounded like an invitation to something positive . I just wanted to remind ourselves that in the Lord ’ s Prayer we are asking “ forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us ”. We had a neighbour in Cumbria , an old clergyman who maintained that nobody can sin against us , sin was something only between God and man , and actually there only was one ‘ sin ’, not sins that keeps us away from God . In the Old Testament there were two forms of that sin : blasphemy and idolatry , while 1 John 2 , 16 speaks of the ‘ love of the world ’ the ‘ cravings of sinful man , the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does ’, as meaning a turning away from God .
Sin has long been falsely personalised . It is usually seen as connected to sexuality , unmarried couples were ‘ living in sin ’, but this interpretation does not take into account the idea of a general sinfulness of mankind in the sight of God that Jesus came to redeem . But that in turn could mean that personally we aren ’ t responsible for our decisions . Yet sin and guilt are somehow connected to human dignity , they tell us that we are not wheels in a fatal mechanism . While it isn ’ t undignified to eat cream when wanting to slim , although some call this ‘ sinning ’, it would be so , if you denied your responsibility by maintaining you only obeyed orders , as many Germans did after the war .
There has always been some kind of grading as to the gravity of sins committed . Pope Gregory the Great ( 540-604 ) gave us a list of ‘ Seven Deadly Sins ’, also known as the ‘ Capital Vices ’ or mortal sins , which are believed to destroy the life of grace and charity within a person . This list includes
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Pride , Greed , Lust , Envy , Gluttony , Wrath and Sloth .
There was a remembering verse for these : SALIGIA , after the initials of the Latin words for them : Superbia , avaritia , luxuria , invidia , gula , ira , acedia . - The Church has also a parallel list of seven virtues : virtue , chastity , temperance , charity , diligence , patience , kindness , humility . These lists were used for Christian ethical education and confession .
Important works , both in literature and art , have had these sins and virtues for subjects . The Parson ’ s Tale in Chaucer ’ s Canterbury Tales , Dante ’ s Purgatory , Berthold Brecht and Kurt Weill ’ s ‘ The Seven Deadly Sins , and in art especially Peter Breughel the Elder ’ s prints of the Deadly Sins and more recently Edmund Spencer ’ s The Faerie Queen ’. You can see them also in Rosslyn Chapel ’ s carvings .
An anonymous English Lollard Tract attributed to Wycliffe paired each of the deadly sins with a demon , who tempted people by means of the associated