Two deadly omissions in seven deadly sins
there is nothing more deadly than godlessness and no fear of lies
The Catechism of the Catholic Church lists the seven deadly sins as follows:
pride, 2. covetousness (greed), 3. envy, 4. anger/wrath, 5. gluttony, 6. lust, and 7. sloth (1866).
Even as an eight-year-old child, this list did not make sense to me. How on Earth is there nothing about not believing in God? Now, as an adult, I wonder how there is nothing about lying.
According to the Catholic Church, lying is not a deadly sin. However, deadly sin is found in your behavior: if you yell, get angry, consume excessive food, have sex, or disobey authorities. Greed, gluttony, and lust all reflect a similar lack of spirit. It is a lack of moderation.
Omitting the truth is the most common form of deception. Remaining silent when you should speak can be a serious moral failing. Why?
I need not remind you of the last four years, when lying resulted in excess deaths. But let’s examine what happened to Eve and Adam. Eve chose the path of least resistance. Heart's desires are things you do not quite deserve yet. Everyone aims to be the winner. Sports teach great lessons in humility. You are worth it based on your last game, not your school score from 20 years ago. Eve sought to be wiser and to enjoy wisdom without breaking a sweat. She aspired to be godlike. Adam did not get angry at her, even though he should have. Anger in the mind is a natural reaction for an alert person who wants to play by the rules. This is why you often see angry outbursts on the sports field. Instead of reacting with anger and reminding her of the rules, he also chose to eat. Being angry when the situation escalates means you are engaged; you are awake. You care about the outcome. It is not a sin. A notable expert example supports this theory: when people perceive injustice, they react: link. Silence can imply agreement; therefore, it is common to see people shake their heads in disagreement yet remain silent.
But lying is a sin, and a deadly one. For a lie to come alive, there must always be two parties involved, just as it takes two to love. After Eve and Adam ate the apple, they became infected by the virus of lies. Lies ultimately led to their downfall, and the new sport they began practicing started in the very next moment: shifting the blame onto each other.
So, all infected people now blame others for their behaviors instead of eradicating the virus. It is irrelevant how Eve behaved, but it becomes a matter of life and death if your Mind is asleep and accepting lies simply because they have been presented to you. Adam should have spoken the truth and expressed anger towards her before eating.
Every time you choose not to speak out when you know the Truth, you engage in a dangerous game called lying. Modern society has even glorified lying, labeling it as a social skill. This is how lying has been concealed by centuries of trivial sins that are not deadly at all. There is no unity except in the Truth. The Bible emphasizes the Truth; no one can complete his or her mission without adhering to the path of Truth. Yet, the Catholic Catechism considers this not to be a sin:
John 17, 11:
“Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth. I pray not only for them but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.”
Another sin that is even worse than lying and is deadly is godlessness. Before learning about Jesus and the theory taught for the First Holy Communion, I was curious about what to avoid initially. The list of deadly sins seemed like a perfect guide; reasoning suggested that avoiding those would keep me on the safe side. Discovering the absence of godlessness was a huge surprise. It simply didn't make any sense. Love for the Truth is Piety. As explained in my previous post, which I encourage you to read, when there is no love for the Truth, there is no fear of the lies; they are two faces of the same coin. Two gifts: love for God and fear of God, one for the Heart and another for the Mind. What you lack in your Heart, you will also lack in your Mind. This is why the Church emphasizes the love ( Heart ) but misses the true meaning.
There is a significant difference between anger and wrath, the latter being a deadly sin. All serial killers possess wrath, which is the urge for revenge.
But what about 2, 5, and 6 from the list? These are all sins of the body, excessive pleasures, and fundamentally the same sin of immoderation. Whether you seek food pleasures, money, or sexual pleasures, this represents the same sin. You can not make a decision, discern what is important from what is unimportant, and function as efficiently as possible. Increasing pleasure, material possessions, or food intake to enhance joy is merely a sign that a person lacks the gift of counsel- a gift of the Soul that answers your Why questions. There is nothing wrong with wanting joy, but not by going in the wrong direction. Joy is the product of discipline and tough decisions. Sportsmen and women can attest to this, as can scientists after a huge discovery they have pursued for years.
Now, imagine a logic to this: are there more or less deadly sins? If we apply the math, lesser deadly sins must be more numerous to match the lethality of those deemed the worst of all: pride. Pride is the sin of the Mind when it lacks knowledge; it serves as the second face of the same coin alongside wrath in the Heart. A lack of understanding in the heart gives rise to wrath. Wrath in the Heart is Pride in the Mind. And those could not have been the first sins that Eve and Adam committed. Their sins were no Love for God or godlessness and no Fear of God or fear of lies. So pride and wrath come after in order.
If you still have doubts, godlessness is not a deadly sin:
“And when he comes he will convict the world
in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation:
sin, because they do not believe in me;
righteousness, because I am going to the Father
and you will no longer see me;
condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned."
Overestimating oneself embodies pride; it reflects the belief that one knows more than they truly do. Since competition in life rarely allows individuals to acknowledge that their knowledge or love is inferior to that of another, it becomes challenging to recognize this unless one's heart transforms to embrace reason. An unreasonable heart leads to an unreasonable or prideful Mind. Instead of embracing the gift of knowledge, the person who “knows it all” can be full of information that leads to no conclusions, no results, and no deeds. This reflects the natural law of the inverted triangle, where the Mind of this person, although elevated above the ground by his or her strengths, remains in complete darkness due to being cut off from the Light. Like a frog that desires to be the size of an ox, it inflates itself to death.
Bishop attempts to defend the theory of less deadly sins by arguing that they possess less spiritual quality and are more related to bodily sins, such as gluttony, lust, and greed. While all deadly sins are spiritual in nature, as they indicate a deficiency of the Holy Spirit, these three sins do not embody the same spirit of Counsel.
Where do we see that the sin of having no fear of lies has been belittled for centuries? In the Holocaust and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Simultaneously, the love for lies grows alongside the love for money. Money has replaced Truth and God, fostering love for money instead of love for God, and following famous people instead of the Word of God. It does not matter what is said, but who said it. Lies have become part of social intelligence: “Social intelligence is the ability to understand one's own and others' actions. " “Social intelligence is learned and develops from experience with people and learning from success and failures in social settings. It is an important interpersonal skill that helps individuals succeed in all aspects of their lives.” (wiki)
In his explanation of Lust as a deadly sin, Bishop Barron emphasizes that sex is a gift from God. If something is a gift, how can it become so deadly? It is not the body that drives the sin, but an empty Soul that lacks purpose in life and tries to increase joy but fails miserably. Why follow God’s will and not my own? Why not choose the path of least resistance? Why is this good for me? Then he explains that lust is using another person for pleasure. In essence, this is the sin of lying. Lying to someone you pretend to love just to take advantage of them has nothing to do with lust; it's about lying.
Taking Jesus' word and using logic, I can not help but see faults in the explanation of the deadly sins, particularly by omitting the cornerstones of our downfall: lack of love for God, lack of fear of God, and the necessity to update these deadly sins to reflect the true one that has claimed so many lives in the last four years: love for money and a disregard for lies.
Lying by omission has infiltrated the Church as well, and the time is ripe for some updating, removing redundancies, and adding the two most deadly sins that have existed since the beginning of our lives:
Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right [751] to the tree of life, [752] and may enter in through the gates into the city.
15 For [753] without are [754] dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
16 [755] I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches.
Loving the Truth means having hearts committed to the Truth, like a man to his wife, with no change of heart. Seeking Truth requires a mind adaptable to change and growth when making mistakes, while having a healthy fear of lies, the only rational fear there is.
The mind is flexible and alert, ready to accept new evidence and seek equations in everything. Thus, the deepening of knowledge can never stop, and there is always room to improve and fine-tune, but not change, the target of our destination, which is the Truth and Life.