Interesting...New Sins ? As if we don't have enough already !   As a child growing-up in South Boston I attended Catholic Church .  

Now I read about New Sins :    7 Deadly Sins...Now More to Fear ...Whew !  

Seven Deadly sins apparently aren't enough anymore ! To the long-standing list of Sloth, Envy, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Wrath and Pride, we now have added as of last month : Genetic Experiments, Mind-damaging Drugs, (thus so we won't become Drain Bamaged) Pollution, and the  Growing Gap between Rich and Poor...Sins ! Last year , as I remember the list was expanded to include Drunk -Driving and Road Rage. All this , and the Ten Commandments as well...WHEW !  What's a person to do ? And is it true that cardinal sins are sine committed by Cardinals ?  

 
In the Pacific Northwest I just read we have our so-called "Local Transgressions" : Drinking Instant Coffee, or ordering simply 'Regular Drip' at a Starbucks, PEETS, or Coffee People...It seems 'Seattles Best' didn't make the list ! Then we have the all pervasive...Forgetting your Personal Coffee-cup, thus Killing a Tree and a Spotted Owl ! Let us not forget the Tossing of a Soda can in the Trash, (Tonic can for you Easterners), Not Recycling, and Complaining about that strange yellow orb up in the sky (The Sun), and of course using an Umbrella...EVER ! Then my pet-peeve of Not yielding the Right-of-way and thus creating a "Polite-Off" that stalls rush-hour traffic; and akin to that  we add the unspeakable...Driving the Freeway Speed Limit !!! (Did I mention I'm from Boston ?)    

Trust me, this list isn't the last word on Sin, nor is it by any means definative !   A few people have written me about this Sin thing...What is it ? What is a Sin ?   Well, as a Protestant Cleric , I would answer ..." A Sin is a voulntary transgression of a known law of God, by a morally responsible person, or any act contrary to Love !"  

There is a Taoist Daily Prayer I copy over into my Daytimer month-in and month-out  :     "Avoid Evil , Practice Good and Purify Your Heart each day"  

One of the first tenets of Taoism that Taoist Lineage Master B K Frantzis shared with me was akin to the the Golden Rule...   "What you do to others, you have already done to yourself !"   Now, and not to blow your minds, we have the  famous Golden Rule : "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you" ! Yes ! Well it was written by Confucius some 500 years before Jesus ! But then, the Parable of the "Prodigal Son" is found in the Hindu Sanskrit some two-thousand years before the New Testament...   I count Chi as Love, the power emanating from the Creative and Sustaining Power of the Universe, or God or even TAO if you prefer. If one is looking to be "safe", (whatever that means), I believe a thelogy of Love is the fullest expression of how to live...not by heaping on more Sins.  I like what the  great Italian poet of Sorrento, TASSO, wrote over four hundred years ago : "Anytime that is not spent on Love, is wasted !"   Yeah Yeah yeah...but the World is going to Hell in a Handbasket...well, hasn't it always been so ?   TO PUT THE WORLD IN ORDER, WE MUST FIRST PUT THE NATION IN ORDER; TO PUT THE NATION IN ORDER, WE MUST FIRST PUT THE FAMILY IN ORDER; TO PUT THE FAMILY IN ORDER, WE MUST CULTIVATE OUR PERSONAL LIFE; AND TO CULTIVATE OUR PERSONAL LIFE, WE MUST FIRST SET OUT HEARTS RIGHT !                                                                                                               -CONFUCIUS   Hence the Daily Taoist Prayer : "Avoid Evil, Practice Good and Purify Your Heart each day !"   I shall end with the words of George Bernard Shaw who wrote (and I'm sure he also said these words a time or two himself) :    "What a man believes may be ascertained, not from his creed, but from the assumptions on which he habitually acts."   Shen Sung     Fred