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I don't think that the church was trying to say that you shouldn't have any of these vices. It's just when people let these kind of vices control them does it become sinful. Self-control is a powerful virtue, something the church tries to advocate.

Pride- You are allowed to feel a certain amount of pride in your actions, but when your pride blinds you to truth, that is when it becomes a vice.

Greed- The desire to posses more than the man next to you. Is this necessarily a vice? The Capitlaist economy is based on self-preservation and indulgance. But what of the betterment of society? How will your hoarding what you want (cash, cars, etc.) help your fellow man, something that is so obviously a message preached in the Bible?

Envy- Your neighbor has a nice yard, a beutiful wife, a fancy car, a bigger house. "Keeping up with the Jones'" is the term if I recall correctly. This strive to be better than everyone else is what brings about advances in technology. Bigger buildings, advances medecines, interconitnetal railroads... nuclear arms. I think (personally) that envy leads to a race for power which eventually ends in one or both parties being destroyed. If we're supposed to love our neighbor as the bible suggests, why would we want to destroy him?

Anger- We all get angry. I have a pretty stressful life and though none of you have been on the recieving end of one of my infamous flamings, rest assured: they've definitly happened. What comes from supressing anger? More anger. You become stressed and the stress tears you down emotionally, making you more stressed and depressed, and in the end, more angry. Expressing your anger can be just as deprimental as bottling it up. How then do we relieve ourselves of this rage in a healthy and productive way? Each person has their own thing that works for them. But when you express said rage in an unhealthy way, which damages yourself or another either physically or emotionally or even pyscheologically, that's probablly what the church had in mind when they listed anger as a sin.

Lust- Ah, lust. What a.... BEAUTIFUL thing. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for monogamy and finding someone to be with, but I'm not gonna lie and say that I'm pure. Far from it. But having sex just for the sake of getting laid isn't cool... though I guess I'm not one to talk. lol
I think that if you have someone you love or at least are comfortable with, sex can be a wonderful experience to share with them. And hell, religion's all about procreation, right?
Iunno.. I just think theres a fine line between having sex and making love, ya know? Expressing feelings with someone you care about compared to going out and getting your d**k wet.

Gluttony- We're fat. America, along with many in Westernized civilizations are overweight.... well, mostly Americans. Did you know the average AMerican, myself included, eats three times what he/she needs to eat in order to survive a day? A serving of meat is supposed to be about the size of your mouse, but you go to a reasturant and you'd be insulted if that's what they gave you. Hell no, you want a slab of steak the size of your damned computer monitor screen and you won't be satisfied until you get it. Well, theres a differance between survival and satisfaction. Millions of people starve to death or contact diseases from rotten food a day and we sit back in our recliners and eat cookies. You don't find that sinful?

Sloth- Look at the world. It's a dreadful place. No one gives a damn about anyone else, there's pollution in the streets, half of the Amazon is gone because deforestation. Where does it end? These problems don't fix themselves, ya know. Sitting back and watching the world crumble around you is something that no one should be content to do, wouldn't you agree?

And the thing with the virgin Mary:
That's the whole miracle. The fact that she was with child and skipped conception is freaking amazing. God planted his holy seed in her whom and she gave birth to the savior. She was a virgin when it happened, but we all know that she was married to Joseph, and we all know that they got busy.
I dunno if she had sex to conceive Jesus, I'm just saying, it'd defeat the whole point, ya dig?


A Christian's opinion of someone pure at heart? Damned if I know, I haven't pretended to care about Christianity in a long time. But I'd assume it has something to do with control. God knows we're not perfect, pardon the pun, we all experience these feelings once in a while. Hell, I'm lazy. I enjoy sex and I like to eat. But all good things in moderation, ya know?

Then why do they make all figureines of her?

The 'sin' is indulging, or being in the extreme of, in these, and not repenting, or making amend.
You're generalizing; and in the case of an extremists, yes, they expect everyone to be the same, and live in a world of perfect masks. As surely, the fundamentliasts hide their own faults from even themselves. The song "The Facade" from the play Jekyll and Hyde illustrates this very well.
It was a miracle, for one, so they can believe it, just as we can believe in other miraculous things. It isn't just about 'stripping away feminine power'. Kinda' like being pro-choice doesn't mean your pro-abortion; just means you want people to have the choice, not every woman have a freaking abortion.

Consider that the original Hebrew and Christian sects where trying to break away from the ancient Pagan faiths, such as Kemeticism and the Roman belief structure. These two faiths accepted various sexual practices that are written as being bad acts in the Canon; these two faiths were also the faiths of individuals and groups that persecuted them. So, it might be reasonable to presume that the younger Abrahamic religions were trying to completely break away from their rulers, and thus wrote some things down to seperate themselves morally.

Again, generalizing, which is very bad if we wish to make postive change. Yes, there are extremists and fundamentalists that put a very bad face on the faith, but that doesn't mean we should damn it all.

As some people see the Constitution of the U.S.A. as a "living document", I see the Biblical Cannon as alive, where it is subject to man's interpretation and reasoning over time. If it is the "Word of God", wouldn't it make sense to be alive and ever-growing with us?

If you do a little bit of research, the seven deadly sins didn't enter the scene until around 600AD, first introduced by some Saint Gregory. They weren't widely acknowledged by the Church until Dante wrote The Divine Comedy in the 13th century. This satirical epic poem is also where the idea of purgatory originates from, a common idea which the Church never actually adopted.



Here are the seven virtues, which originate from a poem by Prudentius in the 5th century. Their sinful counterparts, according to Dante, are in parenthasis. Chastity (Lust), Moderation (Gluttony), Generosity (Greed), Zeal (Sloth), Meekness (Wrath), Charity (Envy), and Humility (Pride). They are also known as purity, self-restraint, vigilance, enthusiasm, composure, giving, and humbleness, respectively.

The only biblical link to the seven virtues is the three christian virtues Faith, Hope, and Love (1 Corinthians 13) and the four cardinal virtues Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude, which were derived by St. Thomas from Greek Philosophy. As you can see, these seven virtues do not line up nearly as nice with the seven deadly sins as do Prudentius' seven virtues.

So what is a Christian supposed to do besides indulge their sinful nature? Learn more about how to grow closer to God. The Bible calls this growing "in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18, NIV). In John 13:13-15, Jesus says, "You call me 'teacher' and 'master,' and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do." The mission of a Christian is to become like Christ, a servant of God's people.



You're not the only one who thought Mary's pregnancy is fishy. Even her husband didn't want to marry her once he found out she was with Child. Matthew 1:19 says, "Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly." Later, it talks about how an angel visited him and told him that the child was, in fact, conceived by the Holy Spirit and persuaded Joseph to keep Mary as his bride.

Whether you believe Mary was just some girl who had a child out of wedlock or was handchosen by God to carry Christ Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit is your choice. I know which idea I will stand by.



You are correct when you say that the seven deadly sins are at the heart of a human being. I believe that the "human nature," or one's desires are conflicted with the "divine nature," or the Holy Spirit of God. A human is a delicate balance between these two drives. The word "Satan" means "adversary." Who is the adversary? Nobody - the real adversary is the sinful desire of the human spirit.

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