When trying to put the teachings of Christianity into practice, it can be helpful to have a list or template to work from. A framework for putting thought into action can be supremely helpful. How does a Christian function in society? A list of do's and don'ts or at least guidelines distilled from the teachings of Jesus could be super helpful. Otherwise, it can all seem overwhelming.
Scripture gives us many of these: The 10 commandments and the Beatitudes are two of the best examples.
Christian tradition gives us still more. The corporal and spiritual Works of Mercy, derived from Scripture, are a shining example. So too are the various monastic rules which have helped in this regard for monks and non-monks alike. The principles of Catholic Social Teaching, based on documents from the Catholic hierarchy, are a modern way of helping to understand a Christian's relationship with the world. Various protestant denominations have developed tight-knit communities and have cultivated a charism--a way of life--through which to interpret and live out the Christian faith--the Anabaptist tradition figures prominently here, although all Christian denominations do this to some degree.
Each of these frameworks has benefits and limitations. Yet each is a window to the whole of Christian teaching if one were to dig deeply enough. For example, the Beatitudes say a whole lot more about peace and nonviolence than the 10 Commandments, but you can arrive at those same teachings with enough meditation and study on the 10 Commandments--it may just take a lot more work to get there as the path isn't as direct.
Christians today often try to approach society using the lens of contemporary issues: Immigration, poverty, the environment, marriage, abortion, the death penalty and so forth. These are the thought categories of the modern mind. It's how we organize our lives. However, the issues themselves are defined by the secular society. A Christian has to then take some extra steps to work out how these are relevant to a person of faith. It can be more confusing when Christians disagree on how best to deal with these issues. It might be better if Christians were to operate out of their own center and create the framework, first.
In other words, instead of Christians simply applying a Christian opinion on issues which have been framed by the secular world, it might be more helpful if Christians had a stronger worldview of their own to work from.
The list of the seven deadly sins was incubating around the time of the fall of Rome. It may have had roots in Greek philosophy. It was written about by monks and the Desert Fathers. It was eventually codified by Pope Gregory in 590. For better or for worse, it was a prevailing system for understanding life when the last vestiges of the western Roman empire crumbled, so it remained a cornerstone as Europe plunged into a thousand years of dark ages. You can see evidence of their prominence in the Canterbury Tales and Dante's Purgatorio, for example.
They haven't completely fallen out of favor. Even in the modern era, prominent Evangelical leader Billy Graham used to preach about them. The Catholic Church and several Protestant denominations continue to stand by the list. But they have certainly fallen out of the common street vernacular in our culture. Our whole culture suffers as a result, in my opinion.
What Are The Seven Deadly Sins?
Pride. Greed. Lust. Wrath. Gluttony. Envy. Sloth.
These are the fundamental issues in play underneath the sins of today which the church can correctly name and ultimately help heal.
Some of the sins have been neglected by Sunday sermons altogether. When is the last time you heard a sweat-dripping, fist-pumping sermon on the sin of greed, for example? "Greed" is not even considered a sin by many. The power of greed runs rampant through our culture and the churches are nearly silent about it. Pride (which I discussed in a previous post) is the often invisible culprit behind so many other sins.
That's exactly why we need the list.
However, it doesn't help that some of these words are not well understood in today's parlance.
The list can come across as insensitive to the modern ear, and for good reason. Before you can start unlocking the wisdom it contains, you have to first explain and justify the list at all. It doesn't help that it usually is delivered with archaic-sounding words.
Some of the other sins, such as lust, are simply poorly understand by modern people. The church as a whole got a bad reputation for being too aggressive in policing sexual morality that when the church calls out "lust" many in our culture refuse to hear the legitimate wisdom that may be there. For many, Christianity has a credibility problem when preaching about sexuality, and throw in an archaic word like "lust" and it just rubs many folks the wrong way. Many equate "lust" with sexual desire, which is thought by many today to be natural and healthy, but the concept of lust itself goes beyond mere natural desire and more into objectification and entitlement. We dance around "gluttony" so as not to offend those who have a weight problem, even though "gluttony" refers to more than simply one's relationship with food. Trying to explain why "envy" is not just a problem but is actually a sin will be met with blank stares by most--but it could be because to envy someone else is to have little faith in your own individual dignity endowed on you by your creator.
The thing I like about the list is that it is a deeper distillation of the Christian message than simply a stance on certain hot-button issues. There's theology here. There is a profound Christian worldview presented. It is a worldview that our modern culture is thirsty to hear. It helps us speak to and unpack some of the silent but significant dynamics in play underneath those hot-button issues.
We can still apply a framework such as the seven deadly sins to other contemporary issues. We can hold the list up to immigration, abortion, etc. But instead of the church simply picking which of the pre-determined sides in a political debate it agrees with, the church instead can offer it's own way of looking at the situation which can critique all sides.
For example, it's one thing to say the U.S. treatment of asylum seekers at the border is wrong, but it is quite another to point out the underlying greed (for-profit detention centers), pride ("our nation/race is better than yours"), or even envy of the solid Hispanic families compared to our own fragmented society. I will go into more detail in a later post showing how to apply this Medieval idea to our contemporary issues, but that is enough for now to get the idea.
No list like this can be all-inclusive. I would never suggest that the Seven Deadly Sins is the only list of concerns for Christians. But it is an extremely useful framework to apply to our lives.
Conclusion
Christianity may often feel like it is fighting a losing battle against the wider culture. It helps if the wider culture is exposed to at least some vocabulary for understanding the Christian witness. It helps if Christians are bringing something to the conversation that is not already there.
This is why the answer to today's sin is the same as it has always been: We must repent, seek confession and forgiveness, offer penance and restitution, and ultimately hope to reconcile. We have to name sin first and then show a way to deal with it.
Because the church has in so many ways lost this language, we are abdicating what should be our primary contribution to the social narrative.
Our society is so polarized. So when the church enters the debate in the same way using the same language as the rest of the culture, it ends up confronting and edifying the same echo chambers and talking points. It encounters the same resistance. But the church can help society get to the root of it all. It can get underneath all those labels and talking points. It can get around people's defenses by talking in a new way, like Jesus did.
I think it's long overdue to recover the brilliance of the Seven Deadly Sins. Look for further installments in this series where we'll unpack how to approach modern issues using this lens.
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This is an ongoing series on the Seven Deadly Sins. Other installments so far:
Fasting from Division, Feasting on Inclusion
Pride: The Root of all Sin and Division
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