So I was taking an afternoon nap today, and my roommate woke me up to say that dinner was ready (she was making Runza casserole, it was delicious) and as I was trying to get my brain out of dream mode it occurred to me that there is a curious (and perhaps obvious) connection between the activities that we find enjoyable and the basic human needs that we all have...and that same connection goes further to embody at least three of the cardinal sins. Basically (haha), humans naturally want to eat, sleep, and have sex. These 3 activities are all needed to survive personally and/or for the survival of the species as a whole.
What's fascinating then is how we don't such do these activities out of some sort of biologically need (at least most of the time). I know for me its a daily struggle not to just keep eating because food is so enjoyable or two keep sleeping because of the feeling of relaxing so completely. And there are definitely people who cannot make it through a day without a sexual encounter of some kind.
On the other hand animals, at least the commonly termed 'wild' animals, do not seem to find this pleasure in the way we do. Domesticated animals do seem to find pleasure in food and sleep, but they do not take eating to the depths that we do, mostly because they have no method of cooking. There are animals (ex. Bonobos) who obviously find sex pleasurable, and even use it in their 'forgiveness' rituals, but that is definitely not very widespread.
So this human difference between some animal instinct for the good of our species and our enjoyment of these activities that apparently goes beyond what many animals experience seems to be why these activities all correspond to one of the seven 'deadly' sins. Realistically, that list is a bit strange since there is actually no reference in the bible to a list of 'deadly' sins. All of these sins are listed in the bible, in different areas of Proverbs and Galatians, but God never actually said that there are a limited number of 'deadly' sins or gave some sort of definitive list. It is my understanding that any sin no matter how apparently small is enough for you to need forgiveness for. However these 'deadly' sins translate to God's Word, three of the cardinal sins are lust, gluttony, and sloth. Obviously these God-given gifts, which he made more than just biological functions in us humans, are easy targets for the enemy to twist. And probably because of the biological basis for these sins, these are particularly hard to get out of. You cannot just abstain from sleep or food, especially, for more than short periods of time.
Whatever the connection, I will probably still love to sleep...and will also be happy that my roommate can still wake me up.
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