Translating a World on the Edge

Have you heard of the Seven Deadly Sins? No, I don’t mean the movie, although it was a good depiction of all seven.

The capabilities of each of the seven deadly sins exists in each of us. Even the movie’s logline agrees: Seven Ways to Die.

Sometimes called Cardinal Sins, the Seven are: Lust, Gluttony, Avarice, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride. They are nests for the evil in humanity.

Each of us has the capability to commit these sins, but not all of us do. What keeps us from it is that each human being also has higher capabilities. These are called the Seven Cardinal Virtues: Chastity, Temperance, Charity, Diligence, Patience, Kindness, Humility. They are the goodness in humanity. The positive, not the negative in our human nature.

Too often, people seem to turn away from positive in their nature, as if they resent it. Take a look at Chastity, and its opposite, Lust.

Today, Chastity is probably the most resented virtue. Chastity is no longer seen as something good, something noble, something we should all pursue. Just the opposite, Chastity is now often portrayed as something harmful for human persons! They argue that chastity is detrimental to the psychological well-being of young men and women, because sexual desire is natural, so it’s ‘unnatural’ to restrict it in any way–i.e. No restrictions??!!

Our very culture appears to resent chastity, too. We see the resentment in many college classrooms, in many “sex ed” programs, and especially in the media. For example, when a Hollywood film or prime time sitcom portrays romantic relationships, how often is chastity held up as a moral ideal? How often is chastity presented as something good, something that makes us happy, something that a hero would choose?

Instead, lust is equated with love. How deceiving!

“The greatest deception in modern times has to be the illusion that lust is love. Lust is prevalent everywhere, at every level of society. It is the ‘sweet’ deception used to sell us everything from clothes, to cars, and even lifestyles. And we buy it.

Instead of truly loving, respecting and understanding another person, we buy into the very thing that violates another person.  And lust is truly a violation, especially of the family. There’s no quicker way to destroy a marriage and the innocent lives of children.