Monday, February 20, 2006
Seven deadly sins ideas
I've been thinking about the "seven deadly sins" talk. Here are some random ideas...
Aims
To look at the issues raised by the so called 'seven deadly sins'...using no more that two questions for 'sin' we'll try get through the lot.
It is not my intention to get wrapped up in Catholic theology etc. or look at the supposed punishments for such sins.
The sins
To try and make this simple, I'm going to use the following keywords, or titles. These have been taken from wikipedia:
- Lust -> fornication, adultery, rape, incest, seduction, and unnatural vice
- Gluttony -> overindulgence, desire of excess, a misplaced desire of food or its withholding from the needy
- Greed -> covetousness, a desire to obtain more money, wealth, material possessions or any other entity than one needs
- Sloth -> laziness
- Wrath -> anger, hatred, desire of revenge
- Envy -> jealousy, desire of greatness, focusing on others' status rather than your own spiritual growth
- Pride -> vanity, narcissism, desire of greatness, competitive and excessive belief in one's own abilities that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God, or the worth which God sees in others
Note that my understanding is that the Bible does not specifically refer to "seven deadly sins", but each of the above are in themselves considered to be sins. There is a refers to six types of sins in
Proverbs 6:16-19 (NLV)
"There are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven that are hated by Him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that kill those who are without guilt, a heart that makes sinful plans, feet that run fast to sin, a person who tells lies about someone else, and one who starts fights among brothers."
"There are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven that are hated by Him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that kill those who are without guilt, a heart that makes sinful plans, feet that run fast to sin, a person who tells lies about someone else, and one who starts fights among brothers."
Introduction
Introduce the title / theme for the night...then ask:
- What is sin?
- What kind of things are 'sins'?
- What makes these things 'sinful'?
Write down what is said, and consider taking a pre-printed list of ideas to put around the room
Video clip
I don't think there is anything that covers the 'seven deadly sins' per se, but I think we could use some clips that deal with the specific issues. Choosing one or two of these should act suffice as an introduction:
Here are some ideas I've come up with / come across:
- Charlie and the Chocolate factory - "The four bad children in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory represent four of the seven deadly sins: Augustus Gloop represents gluttony; Violet Beauregarde, (possibly) pride; Veruca Salt, greed; and Mike Teavee, sloth/wrath". See this page on wikipedia.
- The meaning of life - the sketch about Mr. Creosote is kind of about gluttony / eating to access
- Envy - I blogged about this here
- Chocolat - the film is set in France and revolves around the fortunes of a Chocolate shop. This shop opens during lent, which causes all kinds of commotion and temptation within the small community. Anyway, about 3/4 through the film the priest (if I remember rightly) goes on a bender, and ends up breaking into the chocolate shop and eating the lot. All of this comes after he has spoken out about against the said shop!!
- The video to X-press 2 "Lazy". I found a copy on the bbc website here. I got a copy a while ago from ebay
Ideas on each of the seven
Lust
- http://www.gotquestions.org/what-is-lust.html
- "Lust is about pleasing oneself"
- Things people do to fulfill desires, without any regard for the consequences
- Exodus 20:14
"You shall not commit adultery" - Matthew 5:27-30
"But I tell you that if anyone looks at a woman and wants to sin sexually with her, in his mind he has already done that sin with the woman"
Gluttony
- Exodus 20:17 (CEV)
"Do not want anything that belongs to someone else. Don't want anyone's house, wife or husband, slaves, oxen, donkeys or anything else" - http://www.gotquestions.org/gluttony-sin.html
- Proverbs 23:20-21
"Don't be a heavy drinker or stuff yourself with food. It will make you feel drowsy, and you will end up poor with only rags to wear"
Greed
- Colossians 3:1-6
"...Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed..." - Luke 12:13-21 - the story of the rich fool
- 1 Timothy 6:10
"Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble. Going down that path, some lose their footing in the faith completely and live to regret it bitterly ever after"
Sloth
Wrath
- http://www.gotquestions.org/anger.html
- Ephesians 4:25-26 (CEV)
"Don't get so angry that you sin. Don't go to bed angry" - http://www.youthideas.co.uk/yw/talk/040426-anger.shtml
Envy
Pride
End bit
- Consider how we can find forgiveness / closure?
- 1 Thessalonians 4:7-8
"God didn't choose you to be filthy, but to be pure. So if you don't obey these rules, you are not really disobeying us. You are disobeying God, who gives you his Holy Spirit. "
Labels: Video clip ideas
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