New deadly sins

I'm not sure what has disturbed me most with the latest media frenzy around the Catholic Church's release of the '7 new sins', the fact that they have been so easily dismissed by Christians and the general public alike, or the amount of mockery which has come with the delivery of the story from many media personalities. I mean headlines such as, "Drug pushers, the obscenely rich, environmental polluters and “manipulative” genetic scientists beware – you may be in danger of losing your mortal soul unless you repent." are not helpful, it just stinks of media poking fun. Then again this may still be the common belief of God fearing people!

In case you haven't heard, the 7 new sins are as follows:
1. "Bioethical" violations such as birth control
2. "Morally dubious'' experiments such as stem cell research
3. Drug abuse
4. Polluting the environment
5. Contributing to widening divide between rich and poor
6. Excessive wealth
7. Creating poverty

I would like to debate the first two, however the next five I think would naturally coincide with what it means to be a Jesus follower. Happy to discuss this if anyone cares to comment.

The media on the other hand have chosen to have fun with this and ask the public what 'social sins' have been left out. Responses have included road rage and going through the express checkout lane with a full trolley. I found this comment page entertaining.

In all seriousness though, are we going to continually be so dismissive of some serious sinful behaviour on our part, behaviour (as I mentioned in the previous post) we continue to be unrepentant about. The Catholic Church name some pretty serious social issues here. Some that have burdened my heart for some time now include poverty and the gap between rich and poor, and the deterioration of our environment. When I look around the world in which I live, common behaviour suggests to me that we are still not prepared to address these issues because they require major lifestyle changes and shifts in basic philosophy and behaviour.

And so we remain in our sin.

Longing for Shalom
Mark