Uh oh. Yeah I just went there. For those of my readers who are very patriotic, bear with me and hear me out. After all, this is only half-baked.

 

If you were to google the 7 deadly sins, your search would return with, “Pride, Envy, Wrath, Gluttony, Lust, Sloth, and Greed.” I will go through each one and give a brief definition and how I see each characteristic glorified in 21^st century American culture.

 

Let me start with Pride. I googled pride and returned the definition of, “a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements.” Pride is simply thinking overly high of yourself and is one of my biggest struggles. It is something that if you study what it is, it becomes easier to spot it and rid it from your own life. That being said, pride is everywhere. It is every American’s dream to “make it” based on their own achievements. We have coined terms like “I’m proud of you” that we throw around thoughtlessly. Our Nation is often banded together by taking pride in our country or pride in this or that.  It is everywhere you look.

 

Envy. Ahhh, envy. This one is almost not even treated like a sin now-a-days in the Church. However, this is one of the only ones to make both the list of the 7 deadly sins and God’s top 10 no no’s (The Ten Commandments). Envy is as simple as being jealous. When you see a nice car and say, “I wish I had that,” you were envious. Just look around. We all wish we had more money, a bigger house, that we were like that family, et cetera. Envy is something that is paralyzing and causes us to lose sight of the goodness that surrounds us, the goodness that we have in our lives.

 

The third one is Wrath and boy is this one prevalent in American Ideology. Just look at our recent news over the past year. The riots in Baltimore, the shootings, the fights, how we glorify fighting. Wrath is defined as extreme anger. Just mention politics in a room and watch the opposing views ignite anger in people. Wrath is all around. Do I need to even talk about this one? What about what happened in Virginia with the Neo-Nazi riots?

 

Next we have Gluttony. I had some friends from Australia visiting last Summer and one thing that they asked me was “Why are there buffets all over the place?!” They were astonished. When they asked me that I was kind of embarrassed. Gluttony is simply over eating, and we see that in America, especially where I live in the South. Fast food is entirely too prevalent in our “microwave culture” where we want everything now. Most Americans over eat whether or not they are obese and over eating is something that is said to be one of the 7 deadliest sins. Chew on that.

 

The fifth one is Lust and, boy oh boy, is this one big. Lust is defined as “a very strong sexual desire.” From the problems of adultery to the fact that a 13-year-old losing their virginity is normal in today’s culture, it is sad that lust has so crept into our society. Many foreign countries think that America is full of sex and alcohol and, if we’re being honest, they have a point. Walk around on any high school or college campus and look at what is glorified. Look at what 15-25 year olds wear and how they carry themselves. Sex is highly prevalent in this culture and it saddens me.

 

Next is Sloth which is synonymous with laziness. Let me ask you, do you see laziness in this country? From the amount of people on unemployment to the amount of college kids taking out loans to pay for college while they don’t have a job. The sense of entitlement is outrageous in this country and I think a lot of it has to do with our level of slothfulness that has become accepted as the norm. Kids in my generation are often entitled and don’t seem to have a ‘hard work’ ethic to get what they want. Everyone is looking for a short cut.

 

Lastly, we have Greed, “intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food.” Greed seems to be what drives many people. Any celebrity, musician, sports star, etc. The goal is to be the best, to be a champion. To be the best business person. It is everywhere. Think about gambling, the lottery. Greed is everywhere. People hunger and thirst for more money, possessions, and security when what they need to hunger and thirst for is the restoration of God’s intended reality.

 

Now don’t get me wrong, there are many good things about American Ideology as well. I understand that. American Ideology embodies freedom and hope.  It promotes acceptance, love, and help in times of hardship. One cannot ignore a nation that bands together to move forward, but what good does it do to ignore the things that hold a nation back? OR, maybe what binds us together shouldn’t be a shared nation at all, but something much larger.

 

On the other hands, why would/should we settle for American Ideology when we are offered Heaven on Earth? When we are offered humility rather than pride, kindness rather than envy, patience rather than wrath, temperance rather than gluttony, chastity rather than lust, diligence rather than sloth, charity rather than greed, and so much more? The Church, the body of Christ, is supposed to be the place where Heaven and Earth collide. That is the job of Christians, but so often I see us living in a world that we are called out of, being satisfied with a world that we are called to make better.

 

Maybe I am wrong, who knows. Whatever your opinion may be, we can all agree with what Michael Jackson once said; that in order for you to see the change you want in the world than you have to start with the man in the mirror. I think he may have been on to something.

 

Or maybe it is like those Dr. Pepper commercials where one person walks against the whole crowd and is in a different color shirt going the opposite direction. Either way, I’m challenging you, and myself, to be different. To not be participants in a culture that seemingly, unknowingly, and hopelessly glorifies these 7 deadly sins.  Be different. Be better.

 

 

Shalom.