What are the 4 mortal sins?

What are the 4 mortal sins: pride, covetousness, anger, and lust.Introduction. Sin is an action that displeases God, motivated usually by selfishness, but also by other motives.

What are the 4 mortal sins: pride, covetousness, anger, and lust
What are the 4 mortal sins: pride, covetousness, anger, and lust

It is said to result in a deviation from God’s will and His standards of ethics and values. There are many religious traditions within Christianity that define sin similarly. 

In the Hebrew Bible (and the Jewish faith), sin was seen as active rather than passive, in contrast with canonical Christian understanding. The Old Testament defines sin as deliberate violation of one or more divine laws or commandments (with some restrictions).

Sin is usually defined in the New Testament as “the transgression of the law” [1 John 3:4] or as an act of disobedience [Romans 5:19].

Accordingly, some more recent theologians hold that to talk of a “sin problem” means that we are talking about a problem caused by breaking one or more laws (or commandments) laid down by God and that only makes sense if we believe in divine laws. 

This is not the view of most modern theologians and religious historians, who see things differently. The Bible clearly teaches that many of the human actions thought to be sinful when we read it out of context are not really sins at all. There is no need to keep re-fighting the old arguments about whether or not what you did was really a sin. 

There are four specific sins considered as mortal sins. They include the sin of covetousness, lust, anger and pride. These sins are called mortal because in the eyes of God they result in spiritual death or separation from Him.

The loss of sanctifying grace is a spiritual death that cannot be cancelled out by repentance and cannot be regained except through the sacrament of Reconciliation, which applies the merits of Christ’s passion to us.

The sin of pride

The sin of pride is the sin of the carnal mind, which is more subtle than the others. It often manifests itself in pride, anger and stubbornness. Its external sign is the desire for praise, which is the result of self-love. The carnal mind supposes that it deserves to be praised and loved by everyone because it considers itself as excellent. 

This feeling of personal worth and superiority is usually based on an uneven comparison between oneself and others. Pride leads to a condemnation of everything not subject to one’s own power, thereby creating enemies of those who refuse to obey one’s will or control over them. As a result, one has no followers because they are enemies and know it.

The pride of the natural man also manifests itself through self-righteousness or a religious fervour that makes one proud of performing his duties sincerely. It is as if God had created man to be proud and would not like him to give way to shame. The other characteristic of pride is being attached to human powers and resources. This attachment to human powers is called carnal security.

Pride, which is the result of the natural man’s fallen state, leads to a spirit of contentiousness, whereby one wants to control everything through control.

It leads to disunion in families and nations, towards enmity and an ungovernable lust for power. All this happens because one wants to be in love with oneself above all others, and adds that the object of love must accept this condition. If they do not accept it then they are in rebellion against God. 

The sin of covetousness

This sin is an unbridled desire for more power, wealth, or possessions. Covetousness is an insatiable hunger for more and a greater fortune than we already have. It is contempt before those who have less than we, who have less than we would like. It leads to envy and jealousy, which are contrary to generosity and charity. 

These vices destroy the virtue of patience, which can grow only on a firm foundation of the virtue of humility. Covetousness is the vice that destroys love. This sin is clearly shown in the Gospel at the beginning of Christ’s public life. Having brought his disciples to a place where they could rest, they fell into a dispute on who among them was the greatest. 

The sin of anger

This is a violent form of violence which leads to the decision to sin. It is the manifestation of rage and revenge. It is caused by an illness or by resentments or by traumatic events, for example, by threats that frighten.

When we feel angry we do not distinguish between right and wrong because we do not control our actions. On this path are hatred, contempt, envy, jealousy, anger and violence. All these vices are seen as sins when they are transferred to other people because they disturb the peace within people.

The sin of lust

This is the negation of chastity and the sexual desire for innocent people, for children above all, for everyone. They are not aware that what they do to others does not please them either. They do it not only because they want to be satisfied in this way, but even without knowing what they do wrong. 

It is a form of cruelty and violence that one inflicts on oneself. It is a vice that destroys charity, patience, goodness and generosity. It ends up by putting in doubt the existence of Divinity. If man is capable of such horrible crimes, who can believe that he is protected by a just and merciful God? See also: Is adultery a sin?; Adultery consequences

Conclusion

These are sins which can be practised by anyone. The body has no regard for reason and the soul is tempted by them without being able to control them because it is obsessed by pleasure or pain. If this happens it is not always possible to tell what is good and what is bad. The only thing that one can do is to try to overcome them. 

These sins are caused by the excess of pleasure or pain. It is not always easy to overcome their lure. But can certainly be done by practicing moderation in food and sex and not developing a dependency on them. The point is to avoid excesses that cause problems for our souls.

Read Also: What are the 4 mortal sins

How to overcome mortal sin. Haggai:in the bible, meaning, Nehemiah, Zechariah, Death; What is adultery in the bible?

External resource: Wikipedia

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