Seven Types of Sin, One Type of Sinner

Anyone who reads this blog will almost certainly know me well enough to know I'm a bit of a fan of Big Brother. OK, I'm a BB Addict - I find people-watching endlessly fascinating; and viewing a houseful of folk and their various foibles is intriguing, compelling and distasteful all at the same time. This year one of the tasks the Housemates had to complete was related to the Seven Deadly Sins. Carole (known to some of us as 'STFU Carole') had to decide which HM was most guilty of each sin. It's a shame there isn't a recognisable sin along the lines of 'dictatorial manipulative old witch' as Carole would surely have been a shoo-in? Anyway ... I got to thinking (as you do) about those seven 'deadly' sins and how we are all guilty of each and every one of them. Or is it just me? If we take them in alphabetical order (anal? Me? How very dare you!) I can relate to every single one:~

(1) ENVY

A definition of this transgression is "those who commit the sin of Envy desire something that someone else has which they perceive themselves as lacking". So ... me wanting the Villa to win the European Cup like Liverpool did in 2005 makes me guilty. I want to feel the pride and elation that those lucky blighters, the Liverpool Fans, felt. I don't only perceive myself to be lacking either ... Villa haven't actually won the European Cup since 1982! And that's only one facet of my envy - believe me, there are zillions more.

(2) GLUTTONY

Apparently this sin is "marked by unreasonable or unnecessary excess of consumption". I have to hold my hand up and say that on numerous occasions I have wolfed down a whole family-sized packet of Waitrose ready-salted crisps in one sitting. Maybe they shouldn't be labelled as family-sized ... maybe they should be labelled 'Glutton-sized' - that might make people like me think twice, eh?

(3) GREED

According to Wiki, "Greed (as seen by the Church) applied to the acquisition of wealth in particular ..." It is a 'material' sin in that it wants more for itself in terms of money or 'things'. OK, I admit it, I would like to have more than 56 pence in my purse - whoops, there goes another sin. Honestly, I would like to have more money - not that I believe it would bring me happiness, but it would enable me to have a choice about so many things which, currently, I don't.

(4) LUST

Erm ... right ... lust. Dante's criterion of lust was "excessive love of others," which therefore rendered love and devotion to God as secondary; but I think modern day language perceives lust to be 'love' of a very physical, sexual, nature. Do I, or have I ever longed for sexual fulfilment? Have thoughts of a sexual nature pushed their way into my consciousness when I might more puritanically have been thinking of other things? Let's just say I've been there, done that (or not, as the case might be), got the t-shirt, seen the film, and read the book (which is presently residing on the top shelf of the bookcase in my bedroom).

(5) PRIDE

After doing a spot of reseach, I found that this particular sin is probably deemed the 'worst' or most serious of sins - at least to the Christian for whom these guidelines were originally intended. A definition I found, listed the sin of Pride as "identified as a desire to be more important or attractive than others, failing to give compliments to others though they may be deserving of them, and excessive love of self". I don't know that I do wish to be more important than anyone else, and I like to think that I do easily give compliments, but as for the desire to be more attractive than others ... oh dear. How I longed for Andrew Walters to be dazzled by my beauty instead of that of Jackie Bayliss in the Upper Juniors at Primary School. So, there goes that sin.

(6) SLOTH

And now to the sin "of laziness, of an unwillingness to act, an unwillingness to care". I can be incredibly lazy - I know I have slept or lazed away many an hour which could have been filled with more productive activity. Only last week I heard the recycling lorry drive up, and realised I had forgotten to put the green box out. Did I zip outside and catch them before they drove off? Did I hell - I thought 'I can't be arsed - I'll put out double the amount next week'. That's another tick on my sin list then.

(7) WRATH

"Wrath may be described as inordinate and uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger". I don't think I hate anyone ... here is a prime example of my being slothful - I won't summon the energy required to hate. But I have definitely experienced anger. The time when I was most angry was just a few years ago. I was making a large fabric collage as a gift for someone - I had spent hours and hours on it and was very near the end; and can remember I was sewing thin black strips around and into the piece. My son (who was at the time only 2 or 3) was painting in the kitchen whilst I sewed at the dining room table. I went upstairs for something, and when I came back down, he'd taken my black strips and painted them all luminous Dipsy green with his Teletubby paints! I could not believe my eyes; I was so angry I actually shook all over. I couldn't move or speak, I just stood there staring at him, gleefully painting away.

So there we are - I've managed all seven sins many times over so far - and I'm sure I'll give them all another go at some point or another. When musing this entry into my blog, I found this online quiz (go on, I dare you ... do the quiz and post your results in the comments section):~

7 Deadly Sins Quiz Link

According to this, I score

• 'Medium' for Greed and Gluttony,
• 'Low' for Pride, Lust and Wrath;
• 'Very Low' for Envy
• 'High' for Sloth.

Harumph - I'm not sure I agree with that, maybe I should do it again? ............... Oh sod it - I really can't be bothered.

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