Part three of my series on the Seven Deadly Sins is the Sin of Sloth, also known as the sin of Idleness.
By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through. Ecclesiastes 10:18
The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour. Proverbs 21:25
Medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas said Sloth is "sluggishness of the mind which neglects to begin good... [it] is evil in its effect, if it so oppresses man as to draw him away entirely from good deeds."
A slothful person is loose, meaning a waywardness with a view to doing what he wants, since slothfulness is tied to gluttony. Apparently he can be a gossip, having a loose tongue and can't trusted to be told anything in confidence. He is also deceitful, using lies and deceit in order to get what he wants and to enable him to do only what he wants to do. He appears to be a follower, subjecting himself to other people's rule because he doesn't really think for himself.
The modern view goes further, regarding laziness and indifference as the sin at the heart of the matter. Sloth is often seen as being considerably less serious than the other sins, more a sin of omission than of commission.
Your punishment in Hell will be: You'll be thrown into snake pits.
If you don’t want to end up in Hell because of your slothful ways, you must practice
the Heavenly Virtue of Zeal or Diligence
Zeal is shown by a diligent and careful nature as proved by one's actions and work. It includes a decisive work ethic, budgeting of one's time; and monitoring one's own activities to guard against laziness. It the decision to fulfill all of the responsibilities in your vocation or state in life.
Diligence includes suitable recreation, particularly on the Lord’s Day after Mass, after you have fulfilled your responsibilities.
The dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of God; it is fulfilled in his vocation to divine beatitude. It is essential to a human being freely to direct himself to this fulfillment. By his deliberate actions, the human person does, or does not, conform to the good promised by God and attested by moral conscience. Matthew 5:3-12
5 comments:
So if I'm reading this right, my "loophole" is that if I *plan* to be lazy, it's not actually sloth!
Cool. I should plan to be lazy more often! LOL
This is probably why you're only going to purgatory instead of hell. :-)
I like the verse that says the sluggard is too lazy to lift the food to his mouth. Really? He's starving because he won't feed himself? Wow. Yeah, I don't think I have an issue with this one. Pride maybe, but not sloth.
Haha...Jamie, I agree with C R. Or you might find a Cobra Pit for you, instead of a Snake Pit ;)
My excuse is that I am not Christian, so Bible definitions and punishments don't apply to me. So I can be as lazy as I like.
LOL I've never been baptised so my sisters claim I'm going to Hell anyway.
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