Sunday, April 5, 2009

The Seven Deadly Sins

The Seven Deadly Sins — lust, envy, gluttony, sloth, greed, anger and pride — have had an enormous impact on the moral compass of the modern world. These sins have had different interpretations in Christianity, Islam and Judaism, and some argue that they have even greater significance than the Ten Commandments.




The series traces the history of the sins, how they became part of religious doctrine, and looks at historical figures who have been the worst perpetrators of each. Each of the seven sins is explored, from their origins and nature, their opposing virtue, and their corresponding punishment.


PART ONE - Lust

Christianity says lust is a sin but the Greek and Roman empires celebrated it. The history of the sin of lust reveals surprising twists—including Gnostic Christian orgies, Puritan anti-fornication laws, and exorcists who battled the demon of lust called Asmodeus. Today scientists believe lust maybe more genetics than choice... but can they prove it?



PART TWO - Envy

The medieval philosopher St. Thomas Aquinas said that those guilty of the sin of envy take "pleasure at another's misfortune." Italian writer Dante characterized the envious as "sinners [who] have their eyes sewn shut because they enjoyed watching others brought low." The sin of envy has led to murder, revolution and even the fall of empires.



PART THREE - Gluttony

As early as the 4th century those of Christian faith believed that eating too much could send you to Hell. During the Dark Ages theologians believed there were seven ways to commit the sin of gluttony, from "eating too much" to "eating too daintily." Crusaders fought against the sin with religious fasts to Prohibition.



PART FOUR - Sloth

Simply put, the sin of sloth is the sin of the lazy. Some scientists suggest that the sin of sloth may actually be a medieval diagnosis of clinical depression. The historical cures for the sin of sloth range from ancient Greek doctors who fought it with herbs, to medieval monks who prescribed prayer and fasting.



PART FIVE - Greed

While vilified from the time of Moses, the sin of greed has created vast empires and doomed them as well. Wise men from the philosopher Aristotle to Jesus have railed against this vice, but the 18th Century economist Adam Smith theorized that capitalism itself was based on the sin of greed. Has greed become good?



PART SIX - Anger

The sin of anger is the sin that kills. The prophet Moses was prone to fits of rage. The mythic warriors of Sparta meditated in order to banish the sin of anger before a battle. Italian writer Dante placed those that committed the sin of anger in the "Fourth Circle of Hell," tearing each other limb from limb for eternity.



PART SEVEN - Pride

The Italian writer Dante called the sin of pride the "Chief of All Sins" - the sin of Satan himself. The sin of pride was condemned by the Bible and the philosopher Socrates, while Romans and Vikings made it their greatest virtue. The sin of pride is thought to have led to the fall of Satan but strangely enough, the most famous story about Satan is not in the Bible.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Man I wish it was on MegaVideo or somewhere else. VEOH wants you to download their software which slows down my computer entirely -__-

Spiritual Heart said...

Was looking forward to watching these 7 deadly sin videos but they are all 5 minute previews? Do I have to download software to watch it like the other commenter said it wanted you to download software???

Scott said...

You have to download Veoh player to watch Veoh films in full length unless they are less than 25 minutes in length.

Despite what some may say...Veoh player is NOT a security risk and allows you to watch many more quality films than are available on Google Video and others.

Because films are often only available on Veoh, you will be seeing a lot more films from this great host on this site.

Scott
Webmaster
OD4U

Spiritual Heart said...

Thank you Scott,

I did not want to install a player unless I knew for certain that I would be able to view the complete video.

I will download the player so that I can enjoy many of the films hosted on Veoh.

Thank you for running such a beautiful website. I enjoy documentary videos and your site is the best. I quite often pass your link around on Facebook etc.

Scott said...

@Spiritual Heart

Thank you for your suuport! I am just looking at your profile and WOW...you have some great blogs! I will be checking these out this weekend.

Spiritual Heart said...

Thank you very much. Its great to be able to blog and share knowledge with others. I always encourage others to try blogging as a way to express themselves and share what they know.
I'll continue to visit your site for more amazing documentaries.
Spiritual Heart

Spiritual Heart said...

Hello Scott, I have now downloaded the veoh player in order to watch the crystal skulls. Do I have to download the entire video before I can watch it? I thought I could click the play button but that only takes me to the short preview.
I live in slow DSL land so I'm hoping I can watch the video as streaming but from what I can see I have no choice but to download it entirely first.

Scott said...

@Spiritual Heart

Sorry for the delay getting back to you...never seems to be enough hours in the day!

Once you have the Veoh player, you will be able to stream their videos in their entirity.

The easiest way is to just click on play on my embeded link, then a "watch the full video" button that comes up at the top of the embeded video window.

This will take you to the Veoh website and attempt to start streaming the full video.

One point - quite often you will get a message on the video window on the Veoh site the first time you try to watch the whole file. The easiest thing to do is to close the window or tab that had the Veoh site on it and start again from my website. It always works the second time.

Hope this helps!

Scott
Webmaster - OD4U

Scott said...

Sorry, forgot to say you need to click on the "watch the full video" button when it comes up to be directed to the Veoh site.