I want to start with a warning, this is a long post.
With the issue of Gay Marriage in the hands
of the California Supreme court I have been seeing a barrage of people using
the bible as a weapon of hate. So I just wanted to add my two cents to the
conversation. First I want to talk about what sin as defined in the bible.
Deuteronomy 5:6-21
6 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of
Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
7 “You shall have no other gods before
me.
8 “You shall not make for yourself an
image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the
waters below. 9 You shall not bow down to them or
worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God,
punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth
generation of those who hate me, 10 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who
love me and keep my commandments.
11 “You shall not misuse the name of the
Lord
your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
12 “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping
it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. 13 Six
days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your
son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or
any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your
male and female servants may rest, as you do. 15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an
outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God
has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
16 “Honor your father and your mother,
as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long
and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
17 “You shall not murder.
18 “You shall not commit adultery.
19 “You shall not steal.
20 “You shall not give false testimony
against your neighbor.
21 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s
wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his male
or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Here are the Ten Commandments that God gave
to Moses on the mountain. Now I am going to tell you something I have broken
all of them in my thoughts and or in my actions. I am going to go through and
explain my sin. I am going to number them 1-10.
1. Before I met my husband I had no religious
beliefs only an idea that I was already too sinful to be forgiven. My husband
loved me and showed me what it means to love and to forgive. This is an example
of putting someone else before God. Now I believe that God sent me my husband
because he loves me, but that is a different matter.
2. Well this is a good time to mention that
before I came to God I searched for God's love in all the wrong places. So yes,
I have prayed to the God and Goddess for protection.
3. I get so upset sometimes I curse and I
misuse God's name. I want to believe it is rare but I am guilty of this.
4. I am also guilty of not keeping the
Sabbath day and I sometimes chose to stay home over going to mass.
5. My father died when I was an infant, and
then my step father died when I was 9. I am angry with my mother for all of the
hurt she has caused me. In the past the anger bordered on hate, not very
honoring.
6. I am a meat eater; animals die so that I
might live. I kill spiders for no good reason except for fear. I have even said
I am so mad I could kill . . . If our thoughts are just as sinful as our
actions then it counts, because even for a moment I believed I was better than
that other person.
7. Rob was not my first love. All those times
I chose lust over love was me cheating on my future husband. Or even looking at an attractive actor and
feeling lustful, yeah that counts too.
8.
When I was young, still in elementary school I stole from a gas station that I
had to walk past on my way to school. I waste time, which is stealing from
myself, my family, and from others. Sometimes I hide in the bedroom closet to
eat chocolate so that I do not have to share. Is that not stealing?
9.
I can be judgmental and when I was younger I was a huge gossip. I took what I
heard as fact and spread it around like jelly on toast. I learned a very hard
lesson about how much that hurts people and I try not to be so destructive. But gossip is sin folks, and I am guilty.
10.
I see things that I want and I covet it. I feel envy and jealousy. Why can't I
look like that, that is so cool I really want that too. How many times have you
witnessed me coveting my friend's cow Bessie? More than once.
I
am guilty of breaking all Ten Commandments. How about the seven deadly sins,
let's see how I measure on that scale. Here is a great article that I am using
here
Proverbs 6:16-19
16 There
are six things the Lord hates—
no, seven things he detests:
17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that kill the innocent,
18 a heart that plots evil,
feet that race to do wrong,
19 a false witness who pours
out lies,
a person who sows discord in a family.
Here
is a clearer list I found http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/documents/Seven_Deadly_Sins.pdf
The
Seven Deadly Sins
Three
Spiritual Sins
1. Pride (spiritual sin)
2. Envy (spiritual sin)
3. Wrath (spiritual sin affected
by body)
Four
Corporal Sins
4. Accidia or Sloth
(corporal sin)
5. Avaricia/Cupiditas or
Greed
(corporal sin)
6. Gluttony (corporal sin)
7.
Lust (corporal sin)
1.
Pride. I looked up a good example of what being prideful is when we lie, we are wanting to make ourselves look good, make
excuses for our not doing the right thing. I do try to justify myself so I fail
here to.
2. Envy. I covered this in the Ten Commandments.
3. Wrath. I mentioned that I get angry and that I am still angry
at my mother above.
4. Sloth. I am lazy, say 75% of the time. I hope I am being
generous.
5. Greed. I guess hiding in
the closet eating chocolate falls here to.
6. Gluttony. I over indulge on alcohol, chocolate, and crafty
things.
7. Lust. Well I fail here too. Although I only want my husband I
have been known to see attractive people and think "that's nice."
After looking at my own sinfulness based on the bible's definition
of sin, it appears that I am not going to make it into heaven. I fail a lot. I
am sinful. So what is the point? JESUS. I will get to that. First I want to examine
the seven holy virtues
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
13 If I could speak all the
languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a
noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy,
and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and
if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I
would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even
sacrificed my body, I could boast about it;[a] but if I
didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or
proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not
irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not
rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love
never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every
circumstance.
8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages[b] and special
knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9 Now our
knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only
part of the whole picture! 10 But when the time of perfection comes,
these partial things will become useless.
11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a
child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see
things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see
everything with perfect clarity.[c] All that I
know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely,
just as God now knows me completely.
13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the
greatest of these is love.
Seven
Holy Virtues
Three Spiritual
(or Theological) Virtues
1. Fides (Faith)
2. Spes (Hope)
3. Caritas (Charity)
The Four
Cardinal (or Pagan) Virtues
4. Prudence
5. Temperance
6. Fortitude
7.
Justice
1. Faith. I believe that we are made in God's image and that we
are all made perfectly. I believe that God loves all of us so much that he sent
Jesus to die for our sins. I have a lot of faith in God's greatness.
2. Hope. I am filled with Hope. Hope that I can be better. Hope
that I will meet God in the afterlife.
3. Charity, which one does good deeds out of love for God alone. I
try to do this.
4. Prudence, careful in providing for the future. We grow food and
teach the children in the value of living in a way that protects the earth.
5. Temperance, moderation or self-restraint in action, statement.
Well I am a work in progress.
6. Fortitude, mental and emotional strength
in facing difficulty, adversity, danger, or temptation courageously. I think I
do a good job of this, at the very least I try hard.
7.
Justice, the moral principle determining just conduct. I think I do okay on
this one too, but again I try to do my best.
I
know this is a crazy long post and if you made it this far. Thank you for
sticking with it. Now I have gone over the Ten Commandments and the seven
deadly sins. I have bared all my sins for you to witness. Homosexuality is not
on either one of the lists that are in the bible. Even if it were how can I
judge another person for their sins look at mine. I am dirty, flawed, and
broken. I believe love is love. I also believe in equality.
I
am a Christian; all that means is I follow the teachings of Christ. Jesus said,
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you
must love one another” (John 13:34). Love one another, it is just that easy. So
let's stop using our bibles as weapons and start loving each other equally. Let's
leave the judgments to God.
I
am sorry for the long winded post today but I hope you understand why I wanted
to share my views with you.
I
hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my
friends.
