What Are John Owens Seven Deadly Sins

In Overcoming Sin and Temptation, John Owens presents the seven deadly sins or vices as a list originally used in early Christian teachings to educate and instruct followers concerning fallen man's tendency to sin. Proverbs 6:16-19 declares, “There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: 1) haughty eyes, 2) a lying tongue, 3) hands that shed innocent blood, 4) a heart that devises wicked schemes, 5) feet that are quick to rush into evil, 6) a false witness who pours out lies, and 7) a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.” According to Pope Gregory the Great in the 6th century, the seven deadly sins are as follows: pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed, and sloth. The traditional list of seven deadly sins
The demands of excessive and misdirected sexual desire are in the air we breathe. Lust is not a private, personal problem (DeYoung, 3158). Harris writes about a teenage girl and her struggle: One girl named Chelsea, who found herself trapped in a web of masturbation and Internet pornography, wrote me. Her letter is typical of the desperation and frustration of so many: I don’t know who I am anymore. I am so scared…. I do what I know is wrong. I have tried to stop—really, I have. I have cried and sobbed at night. I have prayed and kept journals. I have read books. I am honestly at a loss. I love God, but I cannot continue to ask for forgiveness over and over and over for the same thing. I know I need help, but I don’t know how to get it. I know that God has so much more planned for my life than this. But this sin continues to conquer me. Can you relate to Chelsea’s anguish? You try and try, but it never seems to be enough. Is there anything more discouraging than losing the fight against lust? It saps your spiritual passion. It makes your faith feel hollow. It stifles prayer. It colors your whole view of your walk with God. At moments you’re so overwhelmed by shame that God seems a million miles away. What Are We Doing Wrong? Is this how it’s supposed
. . but not yet,” prays Augustine in his Confessions. Make me holy, he implores God, but please don’t make me give up my unholy sexual gratifications, at least not today. When he finally wanted to give up his lustful ways, however, he found he couldn’t. He describes himself as imprisoned by the “overwhelming force of habit.” He found lust to be the demon he had no success in exorcising through willpower (DeYoung, 2943). The Promise of Pleasure in the Great Divorce, C. S. Lewis tells an allegorical story about a ghost of a man afflicted by lust. Lust is incarnated in the form of a red lizard that sits on his shoulder and whispers seductively in his ear. When the man despairs about the lizard, an angel offers to kill it for him. But the fellow is torn between loving his lust and wanting it to die. He fears that the death of the lust will kill him. He makes excuse after excuse to the angel, trying to keep the lizard he says he doesn’t want. Finally, the man agrees to let the angel seize and kill the lizard. The angel grasps the reptile, breaks its neck, and throws it to the ground. Once the spell of lust is broken, the ghostly man is gloriously remade into a real and solid being. And the lizard, rather than dying, is transformed into a breathtaking stallion. Weeping tears of joy and gratitude, the man mounts the horse and they soar into the heavens. In this story, C. S. Lewis shows the connection between killing our lust and finding