Guilty as charged to most if not all of those...
Look, I taught First Communion and First Penance prep. I had to explain the concept of sin to second graders on an age appropriate level..... And the whole time, I was thinking, "Kids, you don't know JACK yet about sin. Hell, I still don't know jack about sin. Even with good guidelines, I still have ideas that are very much in the gray areas. And you're looking to me for answers? God help us all..."
And here I am some 18 years removed from that class of 2nd graders (no! cannot be!) and damn if I'm any closer to answers. In some ways, I grew a great deal spiritually. I went through crises (including the 'recent unpleasantness') which never quite destroyed my faith but which dismantled what I assumed about God and rebuilt it..... carefully and lovingly. These days I am more of the persuasion that our biggest sins stem not from a willful disobedience ("I will not ___ ") but from a refusal to open our hearts to love more -- for fear there will be less for us. These sins of scarcity are a slap in the face to the God whose very nature is abundance, extreme generosity, whose answer is usually "okay, we'll just make more..."
Our other big sins come from a failure to believe that we are soooo deeply loved by that same abundant God, the eager belief that we are so damaged by our transgressions that we have become worthless and can never be restored to goodness. No, again and again the loving God of "there's plenty, more than enough!" says to us that no, you were created as a beautiful child of God, and though the sins you have committed have marred the appearance, a little spit and polish and you will shine beautifully again. And he SMILES when he says this, to you and to me.
Sadly, too much of Christianity focuses on the vengeful "kill da wabbit" type of God. I grew up with that God. Smoking a ciggy was a sin equivalent to murder. God didn't care, sin was sin was sin. So there. Doomed.
So glad things are different now.....
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