Serious as Sin, Part 2

One of the great things about Catholicism is that the beliefs of our faith are spelled out, and you can find them in one book: The Cathechism of the Catholic Church.  When I sat here stumped about what to write about the topic of sin, I consulted the Catechism, and it made me wonder why I even bother coming up with something original every week.

Here's what it had to say about sin in general:

"Sin creates a proclivity to sin; it engenders vice by repetition of the same acts.  This results in perverse inclinations which cloud conscience and corrupt the concrete judgment of good and evil.  Thus sin tends to reproduce itself and reinforce itself, but it cannot destroy the moral sense at its root."

In other words, sin leads to more sin, and eventually it erodes our ability to even see sin for what it is.  When the little voice in our head begins to justify the sin we're committing, this is when we know that sin has taken root and our conscience has become clouded.

In this podcast, Deacon Tim mentions the "7 Deadly Sins," or "capital" sins, the sins which lead to other sins.  If we think of sin as an ugly weed growing in the garden of our soul, these sins are the roots:  pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth.  When I look at this list, I am shocked at how common these sins are (and I'm looking in the mirror here). 

The good news?  God's mercy and grace stand waiting to fill our soul - we hope this podcast begins the journey.

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Comments

[Snafu]

At the end of every episode, I'm left asking: "It's over already??"

Good job guys!

[Barb]

For the past several years, probably since I've become a "pastor's wife", I've been living the verse about the log and the speck. I believe the Holy Spirit has led me to those words to quell my tendency to judge. About 11 years ago I read Philip Yancy's What's So Amazing About Grace which turned around my understanding of grace and my desire to see others and myself under amazing grace and to constantly admonish myself with the words, "but for the grace of God go I."
I am reluctant to confront a friend when I see sin but that's more out of fear of rejection but the harder story is when the friend says there is no sin. Then all I can do is pray the Holy Spirit's kindness would lead to repentance.

[Deacon Tim]

The passage that I referred to in the podcast is James 5:19-20: "My brothers, if anyone among you should stray from the truth and if someone should bring him back, he should know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins."

[DT]

Deacon Tim,

You said "When I sat here stumped about what to write about the topic of sin, I consulted the Catechism"

Why not consult the Bible?

DT

[John]

DT- just curious- do you listen to the podcast and read the blog, or do you just read the blog?

The podcast and blog posts are usually chock-full of Biblical references, so I feel pretty sure that they always consult the Bible.