Pints With Aquinas - 69: What are the 7 deadly sins? (Part 1)

Episode Date: August 29, 2017

Today we'll be discussing the 7 deadly sins. In particular I'll be drawing from a famous work of Pope St. Gregory the Great entitled The Books of the Morals: An Exposition on the Book of Blessed Job. The work is often cited in St. Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologiae when he talks about vice and virtue.   ---   Thanks to the following awesome people who are supporting Pints With Aquinas on Patreon: Jack Buss! ... You're the man, Jack. Tim Davolt, Chris Reintjes, Tom Dickson, David Young, Andrew Kener, Desirae Sifuentes, and Sean McNicholl. James Boehmler, Laura Suttenfield, John Hipp, Kathleen Cory, Sarah Jacobs, Fernando Enrile, Travis Headly, Matthew Lafitte, Russell T Potee III, Jed Florstat, Phillip Hadden, and Katie Kuchar, Tom Clark, Ben Blythe, Trevor Sorensen, Russell Potee III, James Governale, Benjamin Morris, and John Droesch. SPONSORS EL Investments: https://www.elinvestments.net/pints Exodus 90: https://exodus90.com/mattfradd/  Hallow: http://hallow.app/mattfradd  STRIVE: https://www.strive21.com/  GIVING Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mattfradd This show (and all the plans we have in store) wouldn't be possible without you. I can't thank those of you who support me enough. Seriously! Thanks for essentially being a co-producer coproducer of the show. LINKS Website: https://pintswithaquinas.com/ Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/matt-fradd FREE 21 Day Detox From Porn Course: https://www.strive21.com/ SOCIAL Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mattfradd Twitter: https://twitter.com/mattfradd Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattfradd MY BOOKS  Does God Exist: https://www.amazon.com/Does-God-Exist-Socratic-Dialogue-ebook/dp/B081ZGYJW3/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=fradd&qid=1586377974&sr=8-9 Marian Consecration With Aquinas: https://www.amazon.com/Marian-Consecration-Aquinas-Growing-Closer-ebook/dp/B083XRQMTF/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=fradd&qid=1586379026&sr=8-4 The Porn Myth: https://www.ignatius.com/The-Porn-Myth-P1985.aspx CONTACT Book me to speak: https://www.mattfradd.com/speakerrequestform

Pints with Aquinas depends on your support. If you're an awesome person and want to prove it, go to pintswithaquinas.com, click the Patreon banner, and there you can learn how to support the show for as little as $2 a month. Every dollar helps, and we are grateful for your support. Welcome to Pints with Aquinas, episode 69. I'm Matt Fradd. If you could sit down over a pint of beer with St. Thomas Aquinas and ask him any one question, what would it be? In today's episode, which will be the first in a two-part series of episodes, we'll ask St. Thomas about the seven deadly sins. What are they? How do they destroy the soul? And today, in particular, we'll be speaking about the queen sin, the sin of pride, the sin of vainglory, the sin of envy, and the sin of anger.

And in next week's episode, we'll be addressing the rest. Welcome to Pines with Aquinas. This is the show where you and I pull up a barstool next to the angelic doctor to discuss theology and philosophy. Today we'll be talking about the seven capital sins or the seven deadly sins. The reason it's sometimes called the seven capital sins, capital comes from the word head. It's from which, in a sense, the rest of the members flow. And so it's from these seven sins that the many other sins that try to attack and overtake the soul, as it were, spring. Okay. Now, before I tell you what the seven capital sins are, I want to let you know that I'll be referencing a work by Pope St.

Gregory the Great today, quite a bit. It's called the Books of the Morals, an exposition on the book of Blessed Job. Now, the reason I'll be referencing this work is that's what St. Thomas Aquinas does in the Summa Theologiae, especially when he addresses the issues of vice and virtue. What are the seven deadly sins? Well, here's a very easy way to remember it. Now, I hope you're listening because if you listen to this, you will never forget what the seven deadly sins are again. because if you listen to this, you will never forget what the seven deadly sins are again. I got this from Taylor Marshall, who is a Catholic theologian and apologist, and certainly worth you looking up, Taylor Marshall. But he uses an acronym called PALEGAS, P-A-L-E-G-A-S. Now, I don't know what you think of when you think of pale gas,

but it certainly sounds like something nasty, as are the seven deadly sins. So, with that acronym in mind, what are the seven deadly sins? Well, here they are. Pride, anger, lust, envy, gluttony, lust envy gluttony avarice and sloth so pale pride anger lust envy gas gluttony avarice and sloth and these seven deadly sins from which all the other multitude of sins spring are directly opposed to seven virtues, right? So, pride is opposed to humility. Anger is opposed to forgiveness. Lust to charity. Envy to kindness. Gluttony to temperance. avarice to charity and sloth to diligence, right? So, Pope St. Gregory the Great has this fantastic way of thinking about the seven deadly sins, has fully possessed a conquered heart, she surrenders it immediately to seven principal sins, as if to some of her generals to lay it waste. And an army in truth follows these generals,

because doubtless there spring up from them importunate hosts of sins, He goes on. ...to actually bring forward in enumeration, as we are able, the leaders themselves, that is those generals he was talking about, and their army. For pride is the root of all evil, of which it is said, as Scripture bears witness, pride is the beginning of all sin, from Ecclesiasticus 10. But seven principal vices, as its first progeny, spring doubtless from this poisonous root. Now, you might be wondering, why is he talking about seven generals coming in after pride has laid it waste, if pride is one of the seven deadly sins? Well, the first of these generals, as it were, is vainglory, and that's usually accordioned into pride when we enumerate them today, but that's the reason. So here's what we'll do. We'll go through each of these seven captains, see what Pope St. Gregory the Great has to say about them, and then also see the many other sins that these captains then bring with them. So the first we're going to deal with

is vainglory. And we could think of vainglory perhaps as synonymous with pride, although with some nuance. He says, for vainglory is want to exhort the conquered heart as if with reason, when it says, thou oughtest to aim at greater things that as thou hast been able to surpass So when we think of pride, we could think of it simply being an excessive esteem about one's own excellence, an excessive esteem of one's own worth. It's manifested in these sorts of things like vanity, narcissism, where inordinately interested in our appearance, our intelligence, our status. Dante described pride as love of self perverted to hatred and contempt for one's neighbor. You know, when's the last time you confessed pride? I don't know about you, but sometimes I'll be standing in line for confession and I'll think to myself, well, I don't think I did anything huge this time around, so what can I say? So it at least looks like I'm thinking properly about these things, which is probably in itself the sin of pride.

But sometimes I'll say pride, but I'm not really sure if I mean it. You know, pride is one of those things that's very difficult to detect. But I know for me, I certainly struggle with pride, even with appearance. When I go to the gym and I look around at all these people who are fit and muscular, and I look at myself, I think, gosh, why can't I get to that stage? Why can't I look like that? And certainly, there are many other ways in which I struggle with pride. But let me just ask you a couple of those questions.

You know, how are you, not are you concerned about how others perceive you, unless you're a, you know, been perfected. You are concerned about those things. So there's just a few questions. How are you concerned about how others perceive your appearance, your intelligence, your status, the kind of car you drive, the kind of neighborhood you live in? And just think for a moment how incredibly free you and I would be if we were no longer concerned about these things. Imagine what it would be like if we actually knew what it was to be a son of God, to be a daughter of God, to be loved, and for that to be our identity.

If we knew that, we would no longer be that interested in these other things. And you can see that, I think, with your children, if you have any. I have four. And I'd be really disappointed if my son or my daughter felt they had to fight for my love, impress me with the way they wrote or rode their bike or swung on the swing. But they do it, right? It's like, hey, dad, look at this, look at this, look at this. I mean, in a sense, that's healthy, because they're looking to me to affirm who they are. And that's natural in kids, not so cool when you're an adult, you know. Look at me, look at me, look at me. But if they just knew they were loved, there's a certain freedom that comes from that. Children who know that they're loved intensely, there's a certain freedom that comes with that.

That if they're told off for walking in the house with dirty shoes or not putting their bike away or not scraping their food into the trash or something, it doesn't pierce their heart as if, oh, no, dad's not going to love me anymore. The freedom that comes. But pride ensnares us. I mean, it was this sin that led Satan and his minions to hell. So pride is the capital sin, or as St. Pope Gregory the Great calls it, the queen of the sins. And so here's what Vainglory brings along with it. Disobedience, boasting, hypocrisy, contentions, discords, obstinancies, presumptions of novelties. And we won't go through each of them, but just think about how that's the case. If I resent my neighbor because I wish to surpass him, then I'll be disobedient to him

because what right does he have to tell me what to do? I'll boast because I'll want to show that I'm superior to others, etc., etc. The second general that Pope St. Gregory the Great talks about is envy. Now, what is envy? Well, here's what he says. Envy is also want to exhort the conquered heart as if with reason when it says, in what art begins each of his descriptions of these generals in this way. Envy is also want to exhort the conquered heart as if with reason, right? So, there's a certain arguing that goes on from false premises. Why should you be equal to these people? We sort of try to argue ourselves

as if envy were a truth. Thomas has said somewhere that for the moral philosopher, sin is thought of as an abuse of reason, an abuse of reason. For the theologian, it's thought of as an offense against God, but the two are the same, right? Sin, which is an offense against God, whether it be a sin of commission or omission, that is something we've done that's sinful or something we should have done but did not do, right? This is an abuse of reason. You know, I've often thought that the further entrenched in sin we are, the more rational insanity seems. The further entrenched in sin we are, the more rational insanity seems. And it seems that sometimes you get it right. It seems like

Pope St. Gregory the Great would agree with that, or I guess I should say I would agree with him, because he talks about how these capital sins attempt to lead us into madness. Listen to what he says. He says, quote, but the leaders are well said to exhort the armies to howl because the first vices force themselves into the deluded mind as if under a kind of reason. Those that are entrenched in sin are in a sense mad. They've made a virtue out of what is despicable. out of what is despicable. They have raised on high as if this were something to be praised, that which ought to be despised. I remember some time ago seeing a Maxim magazine front cover article. I can't remember exactly what it said, but I know the gist of the article, it was essentially like five ways to cheat on your wife. And the whole point was so that if you were married, her and the kids wouldn't find out. That is insane. And yet people read that as if it's a sort of reason. If you pick that magazine

up and look to that and think to yourself, oh, this is quite good. This is interesting. You're mad. You're mad. But as Pope St. Gregory the Great is saying, it's almost like this sin is exhorting itself with a sort of reason, but it's not reasonable at all. So, what is envy? So, what is envy? Well, we've said what it is, right? This desire to be better than others, okay? And not only better than others, but to hate others who exceed us in any regard, okay? So, that makes sense that that would follow on from pride, doesn't it? And what does envy bring with her? Hatred, whispering, detraction, exultation at the misfortunes of a neighbor, affliction at his prosperity. Again, let's think about how this is true in our life. Because if we're going to battle this queen and her captains, we need to have self-knowledge. We should pray that the Holy Spirit enlightens our mind and our hearts so that we can wage war with these generals that are seeking to lay waste our soul. The only other option is to ignore it and to be laid waste. And I'd much prefer the former option, and so would you. That envy brings with

itself hatred, whispering, detraction, exultation at the misfortunes of a neighbor, affliction at his prosperity. How is that true of you? Now, don't worry, it's true of me too, but you're the one listening to the podcast. So here's some uncomfortable questions for you. Detraction, right? When we detract from another's character by speaking badly about him, by asking insinuating questions about him or her that put them into a negative light. How have you done that? And did you realize that this was an act of envy, right? That this was a daughter of envy, as it were, right? Exhultation at the misfortunes of a neighbor, affliction at his prosperity. I know this can be true of me. You know, when I'm on Instagram and I see families posting photos

about their perfect little life, you know, and their perfect house and their perfect car and their perfectly neat house and their vacations and all these things, there's this sort of affliction. house and their vacations and all these things. There's this sort of affliction. And I'm sure that in part is a result of envy. All right. Okay. So that is in a sense the armor, sorry, not the army, the army of envy, right? The general comes in and brings in her armies. What about the army of anger? Well, what is anger? Well, anger isn't always a sin. There can be a righteous anger, but most of the time, I think it's fair to say our anger is unrighteous, right? It exceeds the thing that we're facing or the situation at hand. So, we're talking about here the sin of anger and

Pope St. Gregory the Great says that anger is also want to exhort the conquered heart as if with reason when it says the things that are done to thee cannot be borne patiently, nay rather patiently to endure them is a sin because if thou dost not withstand them with great indignation, they are afterwards heaped upon thee without measure. All right. So, the daughters of anger, all right, or the armies of the general anger are strifes, swelling of mind, insults, strifes, swelling of mind, insults, clamor, indignation, blasphemies. Here's what Aquinas says in the Summa Theologiae regarding anger. This is from the Secundae Secundae, question 158.

And he speaks here of when anger is not a sin and when it is a sin. He says, And again, right here in the Summa Theologiae, he's appealing to that work of Pope St. Gregory the Great that we're referring to in this podcast. On the other hand, if one desire the taking of vengeance in any way, whatever, contrary to the order of reason, for instance, if he desire the punishment of one who has not deserved it or beyond beyond his deserts, or again contrary to the order prescribed by law, or not for the due end, namely the maintaining of justice and the correction of defaults, then the desire of anger will be sinful, and this is called sinful anger. This leads us a little bit into the death penalty and whether or not it should

be forbidden. Unfortunately, there are Catholics who treat the death penalty as if it were the same thing as abortion or to the same degree of graveness. Well, it isn't. In fact, if you were interested, go back and listen to episode 11 and you'll see right there that Aquinas argues why the death penalty can be a legitimate thing, okay? So, that's, again, episode 11. But for many of us, I mean, this reaction, right, this desire to bring about justice, as it were, exceeds what's taking place. So, somebody slights us, okay? Maybe they ignore us. And we don't just want to say like, ignore them. We want to really harm them. We want to make them feel stupid. Somebody says something on your Twitter feed that's a little nasty, and you don't just want to sort of reply in kind.

You really want to drive the dagger in and twist it. I know that's true of me, all right? And I'm sure it's true of you too. I don't think I'm particularly special in this regard. Okay. Well, that will do us for this week's episode of Pints with Aquinas. Make sure you tune in next week where we will address the rest of the seven deadly sins, namely sloth, avarice, gluttony, and lust. I want to thank everybody out there who is supporting Pints with Aquinas on Patreon and invite you to support Pints with Aquinas if you haven't done that yet. Go to pintswithaquinas.com, click the Patreon banner,

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