七宗原罪

基督教义中，人有七宗原罪，今天看来仍有积极的现实意义，其一针见血地指出了人性的弱点及改进方向。下面的英文定义摘自维基百科：

1. Extravagance is also refered to as "Lust". Extravagance is unrestrained excess. Extravagant behaviour includes the frequent purchase of luxury goods, and forms of debauchery. In the Romance languages, the cognates of luxuria (the latin name of the sin) evolved to have an exclusively sexual meaning; the old French cognate was adopted into English as luxury, but this lost its sexual meaning by the 14th century. The church found it more practical and politically expedient to allow this more restricted interpretation to become dominant, resulting in lust replacing extravagance in the list.
2. Gluttony derived from the Latin gluttire, meaning to gulp down or swallow, gluttony is the over-indulgence and over-consumption of anything to the point of waste.
3. Greed is, like lust and gluttony, a sin of excess. However, greed (as seen by the church) is applied to the acquisition of wealth in particular.
4. Acedia (three meanings): Acedia is apathetic listlessness; depression without joy. ... In early Christian thought, the lack of joy was regarded as a wilful refusal to enjoy the goodness of God and the world God created; ... Despair describes a feeling of dissatisfaction or discontent, which causes unhappiness with one's current situation. ... Sloth: Gradually, the focus came to be on the consequences of acedia, rather than the cause, ... The modern view goes further, regarding laziness and indifference as the sin at the heart of the matter.
5. Wrath may be described as inordinate and uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger.
6. Envy: Like greed, envy may be characterized by an insatiable desire; they differ, however, for two main reasons. First, greed is largely associated with material goods, whereas envy may apply more generally. Second, those who commit the sin of envy resent that another person has something they perceive themselves as lacking, and wish the other person to be deprived of it.
7. Pride: In almost every list pride (or hubris) is considered the original and most serious of the seven deadly sins, and indeed the ultimate source from which the others arise. It is identified as a desire to be more important or attractive than others, failing to acknowledge the good work of others, and excessive love of self (especially holding self out of proper position toward God).