Thursday, September 25, 2008

The Seven Deadly Sins: Part 1

Lust.

Guilty as charged.

However, in my defense, I was hard wired this way. To therefore declare me unfit for heaven, or worse, fit for hell, is foolhardy.

Dante's criterion for lust was "excessive love of others," which therefore rendered love and devotion to God as secondary.

Is my excessive love for others my fault or God's?

Q.E.D.

4 comments:

ktward said...

Lust and Love are not synonymous--despite Dante's rhetorical shortcomings--though easily and frequently confused, and often co-exist.

Whatever your faults may be, they are your fault. Well, or the dog's.

Ann R. Key said...

Depends on the definition.

Love: sexual passion or desire.
Lust: intense sexual desire or appetite.

Some of my faults are not my fault. Some are directly attributable to my parents. Some indirectly. Ultimately, they are all on my parents. They decided I should live, not me. And if one believes in a Creator God, its all God's fault.

It is most certainly not the dog's fault.

Ü

And you know sometimes words have two meanings.

Bonus points if you know where that one's from.

ktward said...

You're right: it does indeed depend on one's working definitions, and I would respectfully suggest your def of love is really, really wrong. Or grossly myopic. I love my children deeply, having nothing to do with sexual desire.

C'mon. Get your mind out of the gutter! ;)

When we are raised in an environment that is not grossly abusive, I believe in complete personal accountability: when we are children/adolescents, our parents are indeed culpable to some degree. When we become adults, we are completely responsible for our own shortcomings and growth, whatever they are. If we do not believe this inherently, we cede control of our own life ... much like the doctrine of fundie religions.

Just because your parents gave you life does not mean they are responsible for how you live it. That is, indeed, your free will.

It can only be 'God's' fault if one actually believes that 'God' is concerned with how we live our lives, in the context of his 'gift' of free will.

Introspective and deep convo, this.

I beg to differ: the only reason to have a dog, is to have a scapegoat. ;)

I'll get 100% on a test and completely miss the extra credit: what's the double-entendre you're referring to?

Ann R. Key said...

Myopic? Me? Nah, I am likely just a dick.

"Just because your parents gave you life does not mean they are responsible for how you live it. That is, indeed, your free will."

There are some who believe there is no such thing as free will. We do have choices though. And my choices are dependent on the road I have traveled. Mine was fairly wide and smooth, but not entirely. Others were not so lucky.

Its God's fault if there is a Creator God.

Cats are for scapegoats more so than dogs. Ü

It wasn't a dooble on tondre, I don't think. It was just a line from Stairway To Heaven.