Deadly Resources

We began a new sermon series yesterday at our worship gatherings: Deadly. For the seven weeks of Lent we will explore each of the seven deadly sins. Several people have asked me for the definitions we read for each of the sins yesterday. These definitions come from Jeff Cook's excellent book, Seven: The Deadly Sins and the Beatitudes.

I am using several different texts as resources for the series but thus far, Cook's has been the best. I am also using William Willimon's, Sinning Like a Christian: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins, the writings of John Cassian in The Conferences, as well as those of his writings (along with those of Evagrius) found in The Philokalia: The Complete Text, Volume 1.  

So, here are Jeff Cook's definitions for the seven deadly sins. Also, the original artwork of Jeremy Collins that I referenced yesterday is pictured above.

• Gluttony: The excessive consumption that deprives another human being of a life-giving necessity.
• Lust: The handing of control over my body and mind to illicit cravings.
• Greed: The desire to possess more than I need because of fear or idolatry.
• Anger/Wrath: The love for justice perverted into bitterness, revenge, and violence.
• Sloth: The indifference toward my neighbor, my soul, my world, or my God.
• Envy: The rejection of the good life God has given me for an obsession with what God gives to someone else.
• Pride: The natural love for myself magnified and perverted into disdain for others.

Comments

[Chad]

Thanks Tim.

[Erik Leafblad]

What struck me this weekend, as well as now, about these definitions was how relational they each are. The deadliness of these sins, then, is how they serve to break our full humanity in relation to each other, and thus distort and destroy our human vocation in imaging God.

[jim]

I don't know if these would be helpful but every time I'm in the essay section at Barnes and Noble I run across a series of books I keep meaning to pick up on the seven deadly sins.

I think these are written not necessarily from a religious perspective but a cultural perspective. I've often thought they might inform a sermon series pretty well.