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Vatican Adds 7 Deadly Sins Including Abortion, Contraception & Drug Dealing
FOX ^ | 03/10/08 | Richard Owen

Posted on 03/10/2008 10:21:49 AM PDT by Froufrou

The list came as the Pope deplored the “decreasing sense of sin” in today’s “secularized world” and the falling numbers of Roman Catholics going to confession.

The Catholic Church divides sins into venial, or less serious, sins and mortal sins, which threaten the soul with eternal damnation unless absolved before death through confession and penitence.

It holds mortal sins to be “grave violations of the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes,” including murder, contraception, abortion, perjury, adultery and lust.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into Hell.”

Although there is no definitive list of mortal sins, many believers accept the broad seven deadly sins or capital vices laid down in the 6th century by Pope Gregory the Great and popularized in the Middle Ages by Dante in "The Inferno": lust, gluttony, avarice, sloth, anger, envy and pride.

Christians are exhorted instead to adhere to the seven holy virtues: chastity, abstinence, temperance, diligence, patience, kindness and humility.

Bishop Gianfranco Girotti, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican body which oversees confessions and plenary indulgences, said after a week-long Lenten seminar for priests that surveys showed 60 percent of Catholics in Italy no longer went to confession.

He said that priests must take account of “new sins which have appeared on the horizon of humanity as a corollary of the unstoppable process of globalization.” Whereas sin in the past was thought of as being an individual matter, it now has “social resonance.”

“You offend God not only by stealing, blaspheming or coveting your neighbor’s wife, but also by ruining the environment, carrying out morally debatable scientific experiments, or allowing genetic manipulations which alter DNA or compromise embryos,” he said.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: sin; vatican
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To: Alas Babylon!

My point exactly!

The vatican are the lawyers of Christianity.

(The spirit of the message is what counts.)


241 posted on 03/10/2008 8:41:10 PM PDT by AmericanDave (Over it's not, till over it IS, Jedi....... Yoda Berra)
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To: Mrs. Don-o
Nothing new here. It's been considered a sin since Onan (Genesis) and that was the view of the original Protestant reformeres as well: Luther, Calcin, etc. There's not one Christian denomination that approved of contraception until the Anglican's OK'ed it at their Lambeth Conference in 1930.

That is a total misreading of Genesis 38.
shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach Adonai
242 posted on 03/10/2008 8:46:59 PM PDT by Uri’el-2012 (you shall know that I, YHvH, your Savior, and your Redeemer, am the Elohim of Ya'aqob. Isaiah 60:16)
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To: Froufrou
The ommissions of pedophilia and beastiality are beyond me.

They're not omitted. This is not meant to be a catalog of *every* deadly sin, just some of the more commonly practiced ones today. And if you read the old Baltimore catechism, you know that sodomy/pedophilia isn't just a "deadly sin", it's a sin that cries out to heaven for vengeance.
243 posted on 03/10/2008 8:47:25 PM PDT by Antoninus (Tell us how you came to Barack?)
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To: AmericanDave
Jesus said: Love one another, in that all the commandments are fulfilled.

He also said "Go and sin no more." and "Anyone who looks at a woman with lust has committed adultery with her in his heart."

If anything, Jesus had a stricter interpretation of sin than the "pre-Jesus" people did.
244 posted on 03/10/2008 8:49:46 PM PDT by Antoninus (Tell us how you came to Barack?)
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To: Claud
Oooh! We wouldn't want our *sex lives* to be over would we!!! Because it's soooo horrible to be chaste!

Yes, it is soooo horrible to be chaste when you're a 45 year old adolescent who still believes that "getting yourself off" is the most important action in the known universe--more important, even, than attaining eternal life.

Did not the Blessed Mother say at Fatima that more souls are lead to perdition through sins of the flesh than through any other?
245 posted on 03/10/2008 8:53:25 PM PDT by Antoninus (Tell us how you came to Barack?)
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To: Tatze
Forget about wearing glasses or contacts. God made you sight-impaired, so you must stay that way! Born deaf? Forget about that cochlear implant! Can't defy God, now can we?

Those are all physical defects. Getting a vasectomy is taking something that's in perfect working order and breaking it.

Even the Greeks knew that was wrong.
246 posted on 03/10/2008 8:55:19 PM PDT by Antoninus (Tell us how you came to Barack?)
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To: gracesdad

the excessive accumulation of wealth by a few
Ahh excuse me , when is that a sin ? If the money is made in a legitimate way what;’s wrong with that? Sounds like socialism is infesting he Vatican.
PS Who has more money than the Vatican anyway ?


247 posted on 03/10/2008 8:57:48 PM PDT by sonic109
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To: All

I tend to think we are punished BY our sins and not FOR them .I think God stays out of it and lets natural consequences take their toll.


248 posted on 03/10/2008 9:01:36 PM PDT by sonic109
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To: samiam1972

Place marker for tomorrow. I want to respond but am too darn tired tonight!!


249 posted on 03/10/2008 9:01:38 PM PDT by samiam1972 (It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.)
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To: timm22

I’ve always seen God as acting through man , in this case through science. A science that can cure disease is surely a gift from God. Like any gift it can be abused.Just my 2 cents


250 posted on 03/10/2008 9:09:10 PM PDT by sonic109
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To: timm22
With NFP the couple is not actively *blocking* conception. But even though the means differ, the *intent* is the same. Under both scenarios, the couple wants to have their cake and eat it too. So why is the NFP option ok? (Again, assuming that it is just used for a few months and there's a valid reason to avoid pregancy.)

First of all, NFP is only supposed to be used under serious circumstances. Even so, couples practicing NFP are supposed to remain open to the possibility of children and recognize that children are gifts from God and not ever "mistakes". Once you accept this teaching, the idea that you would ever use an artificial method to attempt to impose your will upon God becomes anathema.

So the mindset behind NFP is the polar opposite of the mindset behind artificial birth control which has as its goal the 100% blocking of fertility. In this case of NFP, the practice of it also helps the couple understand the theology behind it. Indeed, many couples who start out using NFP end up with large families specifically because it draws the couple closer together and helps them understand the tremendous gift they've been given. Oh, and once you understand how it works, the method is just as good at making babies as spacing them. :-)
251 posted on 03/10/2008 9:10:00 PM PDT by Antoninus (Tell us how you came to Barack?)
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To: Froufrou
What are Capital Sins? [Seven Deadly Sins]
252 posted on 03/10/2008 9:55:42 PM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: Antoninus
Ok, so as I understand it even NFP is not acceptable in all circumstances. But it is morally acceptable in some circumstances. However, all other forms of birth control are never morally acceptable. I'd like to ask follow up questions based on this distinction, but first I want to make sure I'm not setting up a straw man.

Basically, I've heard 3 reasons why NFP is treated differently. There are probably more that I'm not aware of, but I'll briefly summarize the ones I know:

1. Intent or mindset- It is argued that the intent or mindset behind NFP is unique in that it is open to the possibility of children and does not reduce sex to a selfish act.

2. Artificiality- It is argued that methods of birth control like the Pill or condoms are artificial interferences with the natural order, making them immoral.

3. Effect- It is argued that NFP is not an attempt to 100% preclude conception, like other methods of birth control.

Would you say this is a fair summary of the reasoning behind the Church's position on NFP and other methods of birth control? Am I missing anything?

(I'm also aware of objections to birth control based on the risk of inducing abortion...I do not include them since I largely agree with those objections).

253 posted on 03/10/2008 10:53:56 PM PDT by timm22 (Think critically)
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To: ChurtleDawg
HUMANAE VITAE

In the area of morality, matters involving human life and the sources of life (where life comes from) are considered to be of the highest category of importance.

254 posted on 03/11/2008 3:31:04 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o (Make love. Accept no substitutes.)
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To: Wuli
really, and exclusively????? sex is purely biology and follows purely biological demands and employs purely biological functions???

The question was what is the reproductive system for. For as in ultimate purpose. For as in why did God (or evolution, if you prefer) give it to us. Why is it there?

It must be admitted by anyone who isn't barking mad that the *purpose* of the sexual organs is to reproduce the species.

so what do the lips, the mouth, the tongue have to do with ‘the reproductive system’??? nothing, but, apparently, in almost NO human society do they NOT have something to do with sex

Ah, but you make the leap from organ systems to actual organs. It's patently obvious certain organs can be used for a dual purpose--in males, for example, the urethra is used by both the excretory and reproductive systems. The mouth is used for digestion and respiration.

But is the digestive system ever used for respiration? No. Is the excretory system ever used for reproduction? No. They may share pathways, but they do not share purpose.

And I am not a materialist. So I would never say that sex is purely biological. In human beings it is spiritual as well.

Finally, to answer your question, no, the "use" of non-generative organs during sex is not sinful so long as the generative nature of the act is preserved.

255 posted on 03/11/2008 4:44:17 AM PDT by Claud
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To: Wuli; timm22
the moral difference between onan says he will knowingly have sex intending to cheat the reproduction commandment to be fruitful and multiply by wearing a condom and onan says he will knowingly have sex intending cheat the reproductive commandment to be fruitful and multiply, by artificially controlling his times of sleeping with his wife, to artificially avoid her fertile eggs is a purely theological distinction without a moral difference

No, it isn't. As I said before, NFP differs from artificial contraception the way dieting differs from bulimia. In the former, you are simply restraining yourself. In the latter, you are not restraining yourself at all--you are committing the act and then deliberately frustrating its natural purpose. We call dieting a good thing, and an example of self-restraint. No one ever says that about bulimia--it's a psychological illness, a misuse of food.

Let's think this through here. If deliberately engaging in sex at naturally infertile times was just as immoral as contraception, it would be immoral to have sex after menopause. It would be immoral to have sex during pregnancy. Clearly, neither of those is the case, right? There is no immorality in having relations even when we know the act will most likely be infertile.

As long as, of course, we *do* nothing to the act itself to deliberately make it infertile. That is what Onan did. And that is why he was struck down.

But note that under the Law, Jewish women were not niddah (ritually unclean) during pregnancy--they could have relations even though they were infertile during those times. So obviously God saw a distinction between natural infertility and artificial infertilility.

256 posted on 03/11/2008 5:02:53 AM PDT by Claud
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To: Antoninus

Sorry, my reply was aimed at a statement that altering your body was tantamount to telling God he got it wrong. So apparently we must accept ourselves as God made us, physical defects and all.


257 posted on 03/11/2008 5:46:19 AM PDT by Tatze (I'm in a state of taglinelessness!)
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To: XeniaSt
"That is a total misreading of Genesis 38. "

(1) By what authority do you say that?

(2) If you're right about that, then all Christian people everywhere were wrong about it for about 1900 years. I guess the Holy Spirit was MIA?

258 posted on 03/11/2008 6:09:29 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o (Those who accept no dogmas upon any authority, will accept any dogmas on no authority. GKC)
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To: timm22
It seems that under both options, the parents are trying to enjoy the fun of sex while actively reducing the chances of conception for a period of time. With NFP the couple is not actively *blocking* conception. But even though the means differ, the *intent* is the same. Under both scenarios, the couple wants to have their cake and eat it too.

I'm enjoying the discussion too, and thanks for your patience! After pondering it I think I got it at least somewhat sorted out.

There is no indication from Scripture or from Jewish tradition that sex during naturally infertile periods was wrong. Leviticus outlines a woman's times of niddah, during which there can't be relations. But I find it interesting that these times do not include pregnancy or menopause: two times when women are totally and knowingly infertile. If God had wanted to put a stricture on having sex during infertile periods, He could have easily done it here.

And yet He didn't. Pregnant and post-menopausal women were still having relations and they, unlike Onan, were not struck down. Women who were thought to be barren were having relations as well. So there seems to be a distinction being made here.

I'm not exactly sure how intent plays into this--one can't say that those Jewish women were avoiding conception; they really didn't have a choice in the matter. But they did know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were currently infertile. And despite that knowledge, they had relations and there was no moral problem with that.

This may well be why the Church can separate these two methods out. Having relations during a woman's natural cycles of infertility per se does not seem to raise moral issues (unless, perhaps, there's a defective intent there?). But making use of artificial means to block fertility (as in the case of Onan) is a grave sin.

It makes sense to me anyway! :)

259 posted on 03/11/2008 6:11:56 AM PDT by Claud
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To: JRios1968; XeniaSt; ChurtleDawg; old and tired; Froufrou
Please jump to THIS FReepin' THREAD to find a very well-focused perspective on this same news item. Thank you.
260 posted on 03/11/2008 6:24:06 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o (Cordially.)
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