I was wondering whether there was any direct scriptural support for the Christian (? Catholic?) notion of the seven deadly sins or are they inferred from various elements of the text?
They were coined by Pope Gregory I, but I don’t think any Christian would find any of them controversial- the connection to the Bible is inferred, yes.
Thanks!
I had always assumed they were somewhere in the text so I was rather shocked today when a rather rotund preacher was going off on the immorality of this and that. I couldn’t help but notice the hypocrisy that someone who so obviously engaged in gluttony was taking the moral high ground on other issues that could arguably be included within the seven deadly sins but either aren’t necessarily without some very strict interpretations of them. Normally I’m OK with letting braying dogs bark, but he was in a gayborhood with precisely the sort of locals he oughtn’t be pestering (if he wants to go to gay clubs at midnight on the weekend and talk about the immorality of lust, well, I can’t argue with that, but people going about their business shopping? I mean really. Likewise if he were just talking about Jesus’s live in that area I couldn’t fault him.) I pointed out the contradiction between his purported beliefs and his obvious action and his response was to tell me that the seven deadly sins were a catholic contrivance. That surprised me since I can’t think of a single tradition that doesn’t have cognates to the seven deadly sins (I have a hard time imaging anyone objecting to seven deadly sins as long as they recognize morality) but in this case I suppose it is a matter of perspective.
While it is highly possible the rotund precher you speak of may indulge too much in food, there also a possibility he could have a thyroid condition that affect his weight.
Given his response, that wasn’t the case.
Seven deadly sins? You know they must be fun if the church called them that 
Not really. Neither wrath, avarice, envy, nor sloth are particularly “fun” and while lust and gluttony can be fun they are pretty ephemeral in their enjoyment. Pride is really the only one with enduring value to the holder, which is why it is particularly deadly.
Where’s your sense of humor…? It was a joke that involved dissing the churches tendency to repress having a good time.
They call me Buzzkillington.
Well, he wasn’t right either. Pope Gregory was from the 6th century, back when there was still just ‘The Church’- no Orthodox schism, no Protestant Reformation. So calling it a Catholic contrivance was kind of a lame response.
What would be much, much worse would be if he was using that response to say that, in fact, gluttony was not a sin. I know it’s a sin, because it’s one that I wrestle with constantly. Nothing adds to the torment of trying to overcome a habitual sin than somebody telling you there’s nothing wrong with what you’re doing, from my point of view.
That seemed to be the line of his argument. Which is unfortunate. I was talking to him about the fact that everyone is a sinner so why harp on homosexuality? I wouldn’t, for example, protest about gluttony at his house because it is rude – we all have our own crosses to bear and all that. His response was that the seven deadly sins were a Catholic creation and so aren’t truly Christian. That threw me for a loop and I didn’t really know how to continue.
If I were to defend his preaching against homosexuality, it would only be to say while everybody is a sinner, this particular sin is being actively taught as being not a sin at all, and there is a need to counter that message. But again, gluttony is more rampant, and probably even more accepted, so he’s still got a problem with hypocrisy.
What he should have done is admitted his flaws, agreed with you that he certainly wasn’t perfect and has his own areas that needed work, but that despite that he thought his message was important. Perhaps something about “if only the sinless were allowed to preach…” or whatever. Instead, his pride made the whole thing fall apart- that, or he really doesn’t believe there’s anything wrong with gluttony, which would be too bad. Maybe it was pride and not charity that led him to preach that particular message in that particular place in the first place?
That’s it. From a Christian perspective, I think that preaching in a predominantly homosexual area has a lot of appeal. Not just because it is an area that actively engages in something that they feel is a bad action but also because there are a lot of fallen-away homosexuals, in that they still do very much want to believe but feel that they can’t. In terms of trying to convert people, that is a tempting audience that you could really get your message out to. But he was less about getting a Christian message out and more about harassing people while they went about their business which, ironically, does the opposite of what he was (theoretically) trying to accomplish. My point was to try and point out that while he was preaching against a particular sin he was neglecting others and, errr, everybody could see that. Had he taken the approach that everyone was sinful and that Jesus was the answer or something similar he could have been happily ignored by most people and possibly listen to by a few.
Saint Paul liked making lists. Here’s one Galatians chapter 5:
"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these;
adultery,
fornication,
uncleanness,
lasciviousness,
idolatry,
witchcraft,
hatred,
variance,
emulations,
wrath,
strife,
seditions,
heresies,
envyings,
murders,
drunkenness,
revellings,
and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Pope Gregory’s list is pretty short by comparison. Maybe he was a liberal. 
Actually if you look at that list and then the 7 dead sins they cover your list plus many other things. Since the big 7 are about self control over emotions. The 7 and some of the big 10 are the only things worth paying attention to.
I think the drunken master understands the bible better than the street preachers!
It is true that most protestants theologically do not accept the grading of sins in any shape or form. But then paradoxically they harp on about homosexuality to the exclusion of most others.
Gluttony is a sin. Don’t mention the 7 deadly sins to a protestant, just quote this text on your next encounter.
Philippians
18For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.