Which sins are the worst

Greed, gluttony, prejudice, and many other transgressions have been acceptable in the church. But which sins are the worst? You may have your own list. Some rebellious behaviors certainly affect us outwardly more than others. They also affect society more than others. In that sense, we can rank actions and attitudes which displease God. Sadly, since it affects everyone, yes, even YOU are afflicted with pride.

But knowing you have a problem is the first step to solving a problem. We are all prideful. So in order to beat it, we must be able to identify when we're being prideful.

We must be able to admit our mistakes. We must strive to improve. No one is perfect. We can all be better. Because pride hurts relationships. It makes your life worse. We all want a better life and getting over your pride is a great way to have a better life. The biggest problem with pride is that the ones that need to improve the most will never admit they have a problem in the first place. It smelt pretty bad and it had made a lump on my head from where the plastic had been rubbing against my skull.

The affair was over. I drew a picture of it before giving it back to my neighbour, but shall never forget the fling I had with the Darth Vader mask.

My first true love. I was a very, very late developer. While everyone else was getting a man-voice, sprouting armpit hair and moustaches not the girls I remained as squeaky and smooth as a dolphin. When my body finally woke up to the fact that I was now 16 years old and needed to look the part, it started growing at an alarming rate and I grew very quickly and awkwardly.

I hate to admit that on Christmas day I often got the blues after I had unwrapped my presents. No matter how amazing or thoughtful my presents were, there was a little part of me that was sad not to be opening another gift. I felt terrible for admitting it. The things I had been given were wonderful. An alarm clock you could stop by clapping your hands.

A science kit that you could build a radio with. One year I got an amazing radio-controlled car. I remember taking it for a spin around the park and it went like a rocket. And then it ran out of power and as it did, I felt a gloomy cloud descend. That was it. No more presents. You see, my expectations for Christmas were always impossible to live up to. It often took me a day or two of hanging out with the family to stop wishing for more and I remember once stacking up my presents and apologizing to them for not being grateful enough when I first met them.

For example, there were containers with the ashes of children found in ancient Carthage — so they must have burnt their children as offerings, right?

No, probably not. The ashes were probably only the cremated remains of children who had died a natural death. The Sacrifice of Isaac, painting by Caravaggio. What about the Bible story of Abraham and Isaac? This horrific tale seems to suggest that Abraham was ready to sacrifice his own son Isaac, cutting him with a knife.

But no. Look more closely. On the other hand, you might argue, the Bible only ever forbids something that is already happening….. The passage forbidding sex with animals appears immediately after a law forbidding child sacrifice.

Leviticus You shall not have sexual relations with any animal and defile yourself with it, nor shall any woman give herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it: it is perversion.

This give you some idea of how disgusting the writer of Leviticus found this practice. Both acts were seen as perversions of the worst sort.

But there is no doubt that the ancient nomadic tribesmen performed this act on the unfortunate animals of their flocks. Modern science tells us that children of too-closely related people have, among other things, defective immune systems.

But people in ancient times not just the Hebrews seem to have realized that sexual relations between closely related people could result in biologically flawed offspring.

All ancient tribal groups have strict laws about who you can and cannot have sex with. These are built into tribal law, usually by a system of taboos.

Leviticus None of you shall approach anyone near of kin to uncover nakedness: I am the Lord. Be careful who you trust, what you believe in. You can get taken in. The Bible strongly warns against belief in the power of magic, incantations and even lucky charms. Magic was very popular in the ancient world — then as now it gave people a sense of control over events that were in fact out of their control.