The Seven New Deadly Sins

Written by Zhey Chua |Posted on April 28, 2008 | Comments

I was doing my usual Monday morning blog-hopping activity when I saw this on Baddie’s, uhm, “universe”: The New Seven Deadly Sins: I’m Screwed.

Well, I didn’t know that the Vatican recently added seven new deadly sins. I know, I know, some of those who are informed are probably rolling their eyes and shaking their heads while breathlessly asking the wind, “were you just born yesterday, girly?” or something to that effect, but, sigh, I’ve been really out of the loop lately, I know.

Anyway, according to FoxNews.Com, the Vatican’s list include drug dealing, genetic engineering, social injustice, polluting, pedophilia, abortion and being Donald Trump or Paris Hilton, err, I mean, being obscenely rich.

Apparently, the seven new deadly sins list came about because the Vatican thinks certain adjustments need to be made in accordance with the changing world. Say for example, genetic engineering, this type of technology was nonexistent more than fifteen hundred years ago, thus it is only fitting that the list of sins, deadly (lust, gluttony, avarice, sloth, anger, envy and pride) or less serious (venial) be “updated” in accordance with globalization and technological advancement.

Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican body which oversees confessions and plenary indulgences, said after a week-long Lenten seminar for priests that surveys showed 60 percent of Catholics in Italy no longer went to confession.

He said that priests must take account of “new sins which have appeared on the horizon of humanity as a corollary of the unstoppable process of globalization.” Whereas sin in the past was thought of as being an individual matter, it now has “social resonance.”

“You offend God not only by stealing, blaspheming or coveting your neighbor’s wife, but also by ruining the environment, carrying out morally debatable scientific experiments, or allowing genetic manipulations which alter DNA or compromise embryos,” he said.

Bishop Girotti said that mortal sins also included taking or dealing in drugs, and social injustice which caused poverty or “the excessive accumulation of wealth by a few.” – FoxNews.Com

While it is true that some of the offenses included in the list are in fact abominations, I still could not help but ask why is the Vatican making things difficult for everyone? In fact, they have made things too difficult for so many people that even Catholics themselves had begun to laugh at this new move.

Vatican, oh Vatican… Where in the Scriptures can all these be found? I am not a theologian, but it won’t take a theologian to understand God’s Word and the universal message that He is sending us through the Scriptures. God never made it as intricate as you make it to be!

since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them – Romans 1:19

The world is as complicated as it already is, people are running around looking for clues and answers, yet many still remain clueless and unanswered because you are one of those who make it extremely difficult for them to see what is already exposed! You cover it up with sugarcoated verbs and nouns like “drug dealing”, “polluting”, “being obscenely rich” (this I cannot really take), “genetic engineering” and so on, when all of these things can all be simplified into SIN. After all, God never judges and punishes according to the “weight” of our transgression because big or small, there is only one punishment for sin- death.

Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. – Romans 1:32

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life inChrist Jesus our Lord. – Romans 6:23

The Vatican missed the whole point, the issue here is not globalization and the “decreasing sense of sin”. The issue is the heart… How evil has it become, how has the lack of proper and true teachings hardened it, so to speak?

Sis. Vangie is right, the external is simply the manifestation of what’s inside. Perhaps, the Vatican should start looking deeper, right to the very core of things.

My simple and small brain thinks: how can a tree die when you do not dig deeper to sever its roots from the soil? Anyone wants to enlighten me, please be my guest…