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Envy & Kindness
Take out a sheet of paper and number from one to seven. Now list the seven deadly sins in what you would say is their order of badness. Did you put envy last? Does it seem “less bad” to you …Read More
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Pride & Humility
Pride is the idolatry of the self. It is the nature of pride as competition with God — the displacing of God by the self at the center — that has led many Christian thinkers through the ages to regard pride (superbia …Read More
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Dante on Virtue and Vice
Dante ranks right up there with Shakespeare and Homer as the greatest writers of our civilization. Though the Italian poet, who lived from 1265 to 1321, embodies the High Middle Ages, he is sometimes called a proto-reformer for his bold …Read More
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Wrath & Patience
Jesus told a parable about a king who wished to settle accounts with His servants (Matt. 18:23–35). A certain servant was brought to the king with a debt that was virtually incalculable and realistically unpayable. Facing the prospect …Read More
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Sloth & Diligence
When one thinks of the enduring legacy of the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation, there are a number of things that come to mind — things like justification by faith alone, in Christ alone, according to God’s Word alone, and for His …Read More
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Greed & Liberality
My guess is that you can’t guess who the fastest growing debtors in America are. According to the Wall Street Journal (1/19/07, W2), it’s the super rich — not to be confused with the obscenely rich. The …Read More
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Gluttony & Temperance
Two mistakes accompany most discussions on gluttony. The first is that it only pertains to those with a less than shapely waistline; the second is that it always involves food. In reality, it can apply to toys, television, entertainment, sex …Read More
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Lust & Chastity
We often think that “our day and age” differs significantly from previous eras. We tend to think that our day presents more dangerous and stubborn problems, requiring more complex and sophisticated solutions, from wiser and nobler people, namely ourselves. Someone …Read More
