The Seven Deadly Sins

The 4th century monk Evagrius Ponticus developed a list of "eight evil thoughts" In AD 590, a little over two centuries after Evagrius wrote his list, Pope Gregory I revised this list to form the more common "Seven Deadly Sins", basically by combining vainglory and hubris into pride. 

The most common Biblical references are Proverbs 6:16: "There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him:"  and Galatians 5:19 (which I have a previous post on those here): "Now the works of the flesh are evident:"  However, comparing these to each other and to the seven deadly sins, I just don't see it. In the Proverbs verse, using numbers in x, x+1 is called a "graded numerical literary device" to emphasize something and show it is important. Hands that shed innocent blood is the only one that can be civilly punished.  The sowing of discord is the only one not associated with a body part. The sins are adjectives to the body part, showing that sin is the corruption of creation. It also describes and characterizes our bodies as sinful, showing original sin and total depravity.

Also, if there were deadly sins, why would they not be the Ten Commandments. Or even more, why not the only "unforgivable sin" of Matthew 12:31: "And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven." More importantly, the mindset behind this idea is completely backwards. If you think sins you are doing are deadly, then you have faith and Jesus died for them and they can be forgiven.  However, if you think sins you are doing are not deadly, then you don't take them seriously enough and are secure in sin. This is when you are in trouble.

Just for fun:

From: http://thisisindexed.com