In the interest of gritty and honest hard-hitting journalism I am out to sin and not just once but seven times! You guessed that right my friends, I am out to commit the Seven Deadly Sins and no one can stop me!
Just to clarify; the seven deadly sins are something the Catholics came up with, along with other lists as well. I’m not going to get into all that but suffice to say these particular sins seem tame as sins go. They are not so deadly; no killing or maiming or any bloodshed at all. They can’t be all that bad I’m reasoning to myself. Not enough to get struck down by lightning or anything drastic. Maybe some light finger-wagging by the guy upstairs?? And really what better time to go out and conquer sin? I’ve spent the great part of the last 20 years lost in some sort of June Clever-ish world, immersed in a certain domestic passivity that has separated me from anything even vaguely resembling sin. That being said, I think that it’s high time to embark on a wondrous journey of mild debauchery.
But then again…
It is wintertime and the downtown area of Portland where I was planning to sin gets mighty cold this time of year. Perhaps I will wait for the summer when it is HOT.
I will just have to get by with some light preliminary sinning from the comfort of my home. My favorite chocolate chocolate ice cream with chocolate and whipped cream sounds like a great start. I think I’ve got the sloth and gluttony down! RIGHT ON!!
…and while I think of other ways I can mildly sin from home let’s explore the world of THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS through the following quotes and images:
~NLM
“But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.”
~Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
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~ ♦ ♦ The 7 ♦ ♦ ~
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Pride
Is pride, the never-failing vice of fools.
~Alexander Pope
“I would always rather be happy than dignified.”
~Charlotte Brontë
ENVY
“I envy
the cup of coffee
that gets
to kiss
your sleepy lips
awake
every cold and
bitter morning.”
~Sade Andria Zabala
“Success makes so many people hate you. I wish it wasn’t that way. It would be wonderful to enjoy success without seeing envy in the eyes of those around you.”
~Marilyn Monroe
GLUTTONY
“Well,” said Pooh, “what I like best,” and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn’t know what it was called.”
~A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
There is no love sincerer than the love of food.”
~George Bernard Shaw
SLOTH
“You know, sloth is a sin,” he says softly.
“I prefer to think of it as an adorable animal.”~Ella James
*
“Progress isn’t made by early risers. It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.”
~Robert A. Heinlein
WRATH
“The peace of God is with them whose mind and soul are in harmony, who are free from desire and wrath, who know their own soul.”
~Anonymous, The Bhagavad Gita
GREED
*
“Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed.”
~Albert Einstein
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“Look at the orators in our republics; as long as they are poor, both state and people can only praise their uprightness; but once they are fattened on the public funds, they conceive a hatred for justice, plan intrigues against the people and attack the democracy.”
~Aristophanes
LUST
“Each of us is born with a box of matches inside us but we can’t strike them all by ourselves”
~Laura Esquivel
“Desire is the kind of thing that
eats you
and
leaves you starving.”
~Nayyirah Waheed
*
“Sin lies only in hurting others unnecessarily. All other “sins” are invented nonsense.”
~Robert A. Heinlein
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In Roman Catholicism, the Seven Deadly Sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, are a list of the worst vices that cut a person off from God’s grace. In Latin and English, the Seven Deadly Sins are: superbia (pride), avaritia (greed), luxuria (extravagance, later lust), invidia (envy), gula (gluttony), ira (wrath), and acedia (sloth). Each of the Seven Deadly Sins corresponds to one of the Seven Holy Virtues (see below), and together these lists were the moral standards and tests of the early Catholic Church.
The Roman Catholic Church recognizes the seven virtues as opposites to the seven sins:
| Sin | Virtue |
|---|---|
| Lust (undesired love) | Chastity (purity) |
| Gluttony (overindulgence) | Moderation/Temperance (self-restraint) |
| Greed (avarice) | Generosity (vigilance) |
| Sloth (laziness) | Zeal (integrity) |
| Wrath (anger) | Meekness (composure) |
| Envy (jealousy) | Charity (giving) |
| Pride (vanity) | Humility (humbleness) |
Life Is Color 