In the News....
It is time to straighten up and fly right!
I don't know if this has made the news in the USA, but it is all over the news here. The pope has added to the infamous 7 deadly sins. The original list has been around for a long time and consisted of such things as:
lust
gluttony
avarice
sloth
anger
envy
and pride.
These sins are considered to be mortal sins – the gravest kind, which threaten the soul with eternal damnation unless absolved before death through confession or penitence. Sitting here and looking at that list I wonder (and you might also) what else can be added? These really cover a lot... most of which are matters of the heart... Well, because you asked... The new list consists of:
polluting
genetic engineering
being obscenely rich
drug dealing
abortion
pedophilia
and causing social injustice
I am not trying to be sarcastic... after all... these are all things that I am against! But there is part of me that does not really understand a couple of them. After all.... what does it mean to "pollute"? Does having a SUV now damn people to an eternal hell? Or is someone who works at a polluting factory guilty of the sin.................? "Genetic engineering"........? I'm not sure if I could commit this sin even if I wanted to! "being obscenely rich"....? I'm not sure that I understand this one too...... after all... I have been to Rome...... I have seen the obscenely rich treasury of the Vatican..... I have seen the millions of dollars tied up in their art collection.... I've seen the extravagance of St. Peter's...... Is this not obscenely rich? if not... what is???? These are just a few of the questions that a friend and I came up with over coffee this morning... Is there anyone else out there that is as confused as I am?
I don't know if this has made the news in the USA, but it is all over the news here. The pope has added to the infamous 7 deadly sins. The original list has been around for a long time and consisted of such things as:
lust
gluttony
avarice
sloth
anger
envy
and pride.
These sins are considered to be mortal sins – the gravest kind, which threaten the soul with eternal damnation unless absolved before death through confession or penitence. Sitting here and looking at that list I wonder (and you might also) what else can be added? These really cover a lot... most of which are matters of the heart... Well, because you asked... The new list consists of:
polluting
genetic engineering
being obscenely rich
drug dealing
abortion
pedophilia
and causing social injustice
I am not trying to be sarcastic... after all... these are all things that I am against! But there is part of me that does not really understand a couple of them. After all.... what does it mean to "pollute"? Does having a SUV now damn people to an eternal hell? Or is someone who works at a polluting factory guilty of the sin.................? "Genetic engineering"........? I'm not sure if I could commit this sin even if I wanted to! "being obscenely rich"....? I'm not sure that I understand this one too...... after all... I have been to Rome...... I have seen the obscenely rich treasury of the Vatican..... I have seen the millions of dollars tied up in their art collection.... I've seen the extravagance of St. Peter's...... Is this not obscenely rich? if not... what is???? These are just a few of the questions that a friend and I came up with over coffee this morning... Is there anyone else out there that is as confused as I am?
Labels: in the news, religion
5 Comments:
i'm confused, too!!!
i had the same questions when i heard about these additions...is using electricity polluting if you don't use something like solar power? i also completely agree with your last thoughts...maybe the pope should check out matthew...i hear there are verses having to do with a plank and a splinter or something like that...
The "obscenely rich" does strike me as quite hypocritical. What interests me is the "drug dealing". I assume this has to include the pharmaceutical companies, since they enable this country's primary drug problem. Check this out:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/03/10/pharma.water1.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch
"(AP) -- A vast array of pharmaceuticals -- including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones -- have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.
How do the drugs get into the water?
People take pills. Their bodies absorb some of the medication, but the rest of it passes through and is flushed down the toilet."
This is how many drugs we are on...
I think a discussion on some of the new ones is interesting but I must say the "rich" one seemed to raise a red flag immediately. The Vatican? You said millions in art but it has got be hundreds and hundreds of millions if not billions, right? Also, "causing social injustice" is very vague and subjective. I guess I'm just a rebel. (Just think if you managed a pharmaceutical company--polluting, obscenely rich, drug dealing, providing for abortions, possibly genetic engineering research, you are toast!) --tim
'Sin' can come across as quite an old-fashioned word, often resulting the acts of sin being mocked by sinners.
Perhaps a better term, rather than coming up with another list of sins, would be to use the word 'selfish.' Try putting that up against both the old and new list and you will soon see ways in which people so often think of themselves more highly or powerful than others.
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