The meaning of the phrase has shifted considerably since their inception, and has now become the foundation for listicles of varying degrees of absurdity: “The Seven Deadly Sins of Googling; …of Disney Princesses; of Menopause; …of Marriage”.

What are they?

The official Catechism of the Catholic Church says,

“Vices can be classified according to the virtues they oppose, or also be linked to the capital sins, which Christian experience has distinguished, following St. John Cassian and St. Gregory the Great. They are called ‘capital’ because they engender other sins, other vices. They are pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth.”

Where do they come from?

A Morgan Spurlock TV series ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ has started in the US this year, just another reinvention of the popular theme.

An ascetic monk named Evagrius Ponticus was the first to identify a system that categorised types of temptation in the 4^th Century. He produced a list of “eight evil thoughts” from which it was thought all sinful behaviour sprang.

This list was picked up by St John Cassian, and through him, St Gregory the Great in the 6^th Century. It was Gregory’s revision of this list into the more commonly known ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ that was then incorporated into the official doctrine of the Catholic Church in AD590.

Mortal sin is a peculiarly Catholic idea, a sin serious enough that an individual needs to go to confession to get back on track. This is known as the “rite of reconciliation”.

There is no formal rite in Protestantism to deal with these particular sins. They are just like any other. The remedy is repentance. Though, even among Protestants there are levels of accountability required for certain sins. While sin has been wiped clean by the blood of Jesus, often a minister will suggest a path to help resist temptation in the future.

Why are we so obsessed with them?

For such an infamous group of vices originally intended to highlight the foundational sins from which all others sins flow, the Seven Deadly Sins have enjoyed a level of influence far beyond their initial purpose.

They’re marketable. And sexy. They have been used to sell ice cream. They have been the subject of horror movies. They have been the influence for hyper-sexualised television shows. They have inspired book series’.

There’s no skirting around it: we love sin. The idea is satisfying and attractive. The act is often pleasurable and fulfilling. If it wasn’t, don’t you think it’d be easier to stop?

Sin promises happiness and fulfilment, and it promises it here and now. It’s an easy lie to believe. Look around. The unrepentant sinners amongst us often appear very happy. And there are echoes of truth in the promise of sin.

To be confident in the abilities God has given you is a good thing; to boast in them without acknowledging God is pride. Work is a good thing; work for the sole purpose of making more and more money at the expense of others is greed. To recognise something good in someone else’s life is a matter of rejoicing in others; to say “I want it” is envy. To watch evil being perpetrated and become angry can be a good thing; to let that anger rule you is wrath. Sexual intimacy within marriage is a good gift from God; to remove it from its appropriate context is lust. Food is a good thing; eating to excess is gluttony. Rest is good for the body and soul; to refuse to work is sloth.

Sin takes the good gifts of God, and removes God from them. It twists these good gifts into self-obsessive acts.

Our culture is obsessed with identifying the ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ of everything. So often we can recognise an evil or troublesome thing, without being able to explain why we think it’s evil or troublesome. This is the premise of the Seven Digital Deadly Sins – an initiative of The Guardian. People around the world are filmed explaining the seven deadly sins of the digital world, identifying their own tendencies, sometimes revelling in them, sometimes reviling them. You can read more about it here.

If we think about it, we might get a bad feeling about overeating or greed, but can’t really identify why. Until we watch something like Se7en. It amplifies the sin, showing it up for how ugly it can be. It helps us to see just how insidious sin is.

Sometimes these shows can have a curious effect. While we sit repulsed by the depth of sin, we can also find that something is us takes comfort in the fact that we’re not that bad.

But this is a false hope. My sin is just as offensive to the God of Heaven as any other, regardless of whether or not it is a “deadly sin”. No, my sin won’t cut me off from the grace of God, but I still have to repent and ask for forgiveness. And when I do, God always welcomes me back with open arms.