The Seven Deadly Vices is a term that has been used since early Christianity to classify the different types of misdeeds or sins that an individual can commit. In our present time, the term is used both religiously and secular to describe the modern problems in the society. According to DeYoung (2009), the Seven Deadly Sins consists of greed, envy, lust, sloth, gluttony, wrath, and pride where each of them represents an aspect of an individual’s life that has been corrupted. When used religiously, the seven vices acts as guidelines that inform people when they are not up to par with God’s standards in their lives. However, secularly these vices are portrayed as something good and okay when in fact they are poisonous to our soul. Therefore, individuals should avoid these emotions since they can lead to a chaotic, dangerous, immoral, and unstable society. This essay seeks to discuss the modern lust as a capital vice, its dynamics, and ways in which both Christians and non-Christians thinkers may rid of the sin from within their character traits.
As defined by Veselka, Giammarco, & Vernon (2014), modern lust refers to the emotion of intense feeling or desire in the body. Lust comes in various types such as the desire for power, sex, or knowledge. The average citizens experience intense feelings of satisfying their sexual urges where individuals lust for sexiness and beauty. The more people lust, the more their obsession for physical attractiveness becomes extreme. As a result, the societal desire for beauty grows the definition of beauty morphs exponentially. For instance, in today’s society, young females and males commonly referred to as models are paid to look good and pretty hence creating different definitions of beauty. Those persons who do not qualify for the ‘beautiful category’ have their photographs edited by experts to portray exaggerated physical proportions. Consequently, males and females of all ages are driven by their lust to mimic the models since they are supposed to show them what real beauty is even though it is physically impossible to attain. This leads to the notion of ‘not good enough,’ an effect that can cause eating disorders, depression, mental illnesses, and even suicide.
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The lust vice does not allow people to fully accept Gods love in their lives since it destroys the relationship with him and fellow believers. As DeYoung states, modern lust sabotages sanctification. As imperfect, fallen human beings, our flesh strongly desires various things that result in less of God and his love (Sullender, 2015). This, therefore, makes us lose our desire for closeness to God since lust makes us focus on other material things such as power, sex, and knowledge. Despite the scriptures assertion of, “Don’t collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal (Matthew 6:19),” individuals still have extreme greed and desire for material gain. Hence, there is a need for individuals to resist both external lusts such as overindulgence in drinks or foods and ungodly sexual appetites as well as the internal lusts such as the desire for a position, power, or fame.
According to Flower & Wills (2017), individuals have to deal with lust constantly due to their fallen nature. The Biblical virtue of chastity addresses and combats the vice of lust through encouraging individuals to walk in the spirit while asking God for help. The virtue persuades Christians and non-Christians to engage in conducts that are by the moral standards and guidelines of their religion and culture. Besides, chastity enables people to renew their minds in prayer where they ask God to remove their lustful actions and thoughts that appeals to their flesh. This, therefore, makes it possible for individuals to focus on God and other humans rather than their desires. Moreover, chastity teaches people on how to avoid temptation, and this makes them avoid things that make them lustful.
However, the enduring questions of goodness, truth, and beauty helps in discovering, arresting, and dealing with the modern lust in our modern society since they enable us to flee from our longing, cravings, and desires. The enduring questions of goodness allow individuals to wage war against their youthful passions that stem from their sinful hearts (Everall, 2011). The reason is that they urge people to pursue righteousness, peace, faith, and love rather than focusing on their lusts. Besides, focusing on goodness allows persons to resist and flee their youthful lusts by disallowing lust to linger in their minds. Further, enduring questions of truth and goodness enable a person to respect him or herself, and that makes it possible for them to control their bodies rather than allowing their desires to determine their personalities.
From the above discussion, it is apparent that modern lust is a leading sin in our today’s society. The reason is that it sabotages sanctification by ruining individuals’ relationship with God and fellow believers and non-believers. Lust makes individuals focus on their desires such as sexual, power, leadership, and food lust hence allowing themselves to be controlled by their bodies. However, the Biblical virtue of chastity has enabled both Christians and non-Christians to combat lust by encouraging them to engage in conducts that are by the moral standards and guidelines of their religion and culture.
References
DeYoung, R. K. (2009). Glittering Vices: A New Look at the Seven Deadly Sins and Their Remedies. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press.
Everall, G. (2011). From The Seven Deadly Sins. Hecate , 37 (2), 128-131.
Flower, C., & Wills, A. (2017). Seven Deadly Sins: A guide to avoiding some of the most common mistakes in pressure relief system design. TCE: The Chemical Engineer , (912), 24-31.
Sullender, S. (2015). The Seven Deadly Sins as a Pastoral Diagnostic System. Pastoral Psychology , 64 (2), 217-227. doi:10.1007/s11089-014-0602-8
Veselka, L., Giammarco, E. A., & Vernon, P. A. (2014). The Dark Triad and the seven deadly sins. Personality & Individual Differences , 67 75-80. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2014.01.055
