Deadly Sins

Deadly Sins

Sin can be described as the rebellion against God. Sin started with Lucifer, possibly the most beautiful and powerful of all angels. Lucifer was not content with his position and wanted to be higher than God. This was Lucipher’s downfall and the origin of sin.

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How are thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For though has said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. (Isaiah 14:12-15)

There are many types of sins. It is stated that there are 15 definitions of sins in the Bible. Seven of these sins are called Deadly Sins. These seven sins are haughtiness, lying, murdering, plotting evil, eagerness to do wrong, a false witness, and sowing discord among brothers (Proverbs 6:16-19). The seven sins are a disgrace to God.

Even though these are the “original” seven deadly sins, they are not the ones that everyone is taught. In the sixth century, Pope Gregory the Great, the first monk to become pope, reconfigured the seven deadly sins. He stated that the seven deadly sins are pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed, and sloth. These are the traditional seven deadly sins most are taught today.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss three of these traditional deadly sins. This paper will define pride, lust, and gluttony. It will also inform some of the different types of other sins that can be categorized under the deadly sins.

The first sin to discuss is pride. Some people have said that pride is the “original” sin that will generate other sins. Pride can be a double edged sword. There are two different types of pride: good and bad. Some people think only bad pride exists but that is not true at all.

Good pride often gets confused with bad pride. Good pride is how someone may feel about themselves. It is not a bad thing to have self-respect. People that have self-respect do not necessarily think of themselves as superior. “Self-respect is indispensable to a life of virtue. It is the skeleton of the soul that protects integrity by preventing the wrong sort of flexibility” (Sands, 2010).

Another example of good pride is self-esteem. This is explained in scripture.

For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. (Romans 12:3)

Romans explains self-esteem as having sober judgment. Sands also has a great explanation of self-esteem. “It is not based on stock