Thou shalt not stick matchsticks under thy finger nails and light them.

Hey I could easily keep that one!

Thou shalt not tie a twine around thy testicles, tie the other end to a rock and throw the rock over a cliff.

I’m fine with that! No problem here. I won’t have a problem not breaking that one.

Thou shalt not stand 130 feet up on the pinnacle of the temple and dare the elders to use thy head as a coconut shy.

I can live with that!

Thou shalt not sit with thy naked buttocks on the embers of a fire.

Yes, well, no problem there for me.

Thou shalt not stick thy head in a lions mouth and get your friend to kick him in the nuts.

Not a problem. So far so good. 5 commandments and I have no intention of breaking any of them, nor do I have any inclination to break any of them. Hey I could turn out to be a real Saint.

Thou shalt not stick thy head in a microwave oven, set the timer for ten minutes and press the “Go” button

Do you have a problem with keeping that one? I could manage to keep that I reckon.

Thou shalt not stand behind an elephant which has just been given a dose of senna whilst thy friend dangles a mouse in front of it.

Thou shalt not stick thine hand in a blender, nor down a waste disposal unit, nor in anything with sharp blades that rotates at the speed of sound.

No problem there.

Thou shalt not pass thy water on a live electric socket for a dare, even if the the wager to do so be a great one.

Thou shalt not kick a crocodile in the wedding tackle department nor flick his love buds with a wet towel.

No problem, yet again – hey ten out of ten. I am on my way to gloryland – one of the best, most commandment keeping people on the planet .

Thou shalt not lust after a member of the opposite sex unless you are married to them. Neither in thy youth nor in later years. Thou shalt always keep thy mind pure from all such lustful thoughts.

Oh shit, there it all goes down the drain, at least for the average guy. I can’t speak for the average woman - not being one.

Have you ever wondered why all sins are the good things in life or the things that we human beings seem naturally predisposed to do?

“Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication. wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful” Romans 1: 29 – 31

And Luke chapter 6 tells us –

“Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.” Luke 6: 28 - 30

I mean – let’s face it if you are walking down the road and somebody nicks your coat off your back you are not naturally predisposed to give them your jumper as well are you? You are more predisposed to give them a smack in the mouth.

I remember in my younger days when I was very much influenced by Christianity and its dogma being driven almost to suicide because of the guilt of sin and the burden of trying to be pure. This is no joke and when I say suicide, I mean suicide. I was a hairs breadth away from it.

My problem was – the guilt complex that the Bible and the teaching of the church had placed upon me because of my sinfulness and my inability to be anything other than sinful.

I doubt that many will believe it as they read through some of the things that I have written and many more will not even understand it, but I was once a seriously endeavouring Christian.

I lived a relatively normal life for a few years going to church, praying a lot and trying to rid myself of the sins of the flesh so to speak, but it didn’t work. So I thought that to accomplish such a thing it would be helpful if I removed myself out of society to a greater degree. I still had to work to earn in order to live, but I chose to be a self imposed semi-recluse by taking a job as a warden on a nature reserve in the North of England. Here I lived on my own and by the very nature of the job was out in the fields and woods every day where I could pray a lot more, contemplate a lot more and not be disturbed by society in general. I didn’t have a TV or much else. But I did have my Bible. I prayed sincerely, consistently and incessantly for the strength and ability to become a better, less sinful man like no man has ever prayed – we are talking about a "perspiring blood" effort on this one. When I wasn’t praying I was studying. I studied the Bible looking for something that I had missed, the key to succeeding, but I didn’t find it.

From there I began to study all manner of Christian teachings and sects to see if they could provide the answer – if they had the key. As Methodism was the local popular religion amongst the sparse community where I was in semi reclusion I attended their chapels and studied Methodism and the writings of John Wesley – I read all of him. I then purchased John Calvin’s – Institutes of Christian religion – read both volumes and attended C of E instead of the Methodists. I tried the Baptists, The Mormons, The Seventh Day Adventists, and on and on and discovered that they didn’t have the answer either. I attended the Pentecostals - they were an interesting bunch and a diversion for some time. They didn’t seem to care too much about the problem – hey they didn't seem to care much about anything - they were all too busy raising their hands in the air and hallelujahing and getting high on the experience. But as guided by them I did read Finney’s systematic Theology and a whole host of his other writings. I read John Bunyan, and then moved on into contemporary writers like Billy Graham, John Stott, Michael Green, David Watson, and on and on the list went.

The result of it all – it cost me an awful lot of money on building up the library of books and it sure made my eyes sore- but still no answer. I did read an awful lot of despair bringing gloom and doom from a lot of these people, and I read an awful lot of times where they totally and utterly contradicted themselves, but no answer to my question.

I then moved my sights even further back into history and on to Luther – the Protestant Reformer – I read a lot of his stuff, and to be fair it was while reading his Commentary on Galatians that I came across the account of Jerome who had chosen to live like a hermit in the desert in an attempt to become more holy – and Jerome’s account of his experience which I quote -

“Burnt up with the heat of the sun, so scorching that it frightens even the monks who live there, I seemed to myself to be in the midst of the delights and crowds of Rome.... In this exile and prison to which through fear of Hell I had voluntarily condemned myself, with no other company but scorpions and wild beasts, I many times imagined myself watching the dancing of Roman maidens as if I had been in the midst of them. My face was pallid with fasting, yet my will felt the assaults of desire. In my cold body and my parched flesh, which seemed dead before its death, passion was still able to live.”

So there you go – it wasn’t for the lack of trying on Jerome’s part, nor the lack of trying on mine – nor for the lack of our sincerity.

This was a serious matter which I undertook for many years, and as I say was taken to the brink of suicidal despair with it all.

I therefore came to the conclusion after many years of sincere and faithful endeavour that the accomplishment of such a thing was impossible. I don’t care who tells you that it is possible or what authority they claim – I say they are talking crap, and anybody who has sincerely tried it will surely concur with me.

One thing that I did learn from my bitter experience was the need to re-evaluate much of what Christianity teaches. Which is why you are able to view this website today.

Dante
Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321) was a Catholic layman who wrote "The Divine Comedy," which is a collection of three poems in Italian.

1. "Inferno,"
2. "Purgatorio,"
3. "Paradiso,"

The first “Inferno” is about Hell. The second “Purgatorio” is about Purgatory, and the third “Paradiso” is about Heaven/Paradise.

In "Purgatorio," Dante places each of the seven sins on a level, with the higher levels closer to Paradise and the lower ones closer to Hell.

Dante considered and taught that these sins were all offences against love, and groups them accordingly:

Perverted Love - Pride, Envy, Wrath/Anger
Insufficient Love - Sloth
Excessive Love of Earthly Goods - Avarice/Greed, Gluttony, Lust

The seven deadly sins as listed and now accepted on a greater level by most are –

Pride – the excessive belief in one's own abilities, that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. Pride is also known as Vanity.

Envy - the desire for others' traits, status, abilities, or situation.

Gluttony – the desire to consume more than that which one requires.

Lust – the craving for the pleasures of the body.

Anger – the turning away from love and opting for fury or wrath instead.

Greed – the desire for material wealth or gain, also called avarice or covetousness.

Sloth – the avoidance of physical work, or laziness.

I prefer my ten commandments as listed at the beginning of this web page. If the ten commandments were anything like mine then nobody would have a problem keeping them.
And if you are a Christian of any amount of years who is currently in a state of despair concerning your sinfulness and are looking for some relief from the despair and want to find a Christian answer to your dilemma – jump to here

So have you ever wondered why sins are all the good things in life? Or the things that we are so apt as humans with our nature to do over and over again?

Then let us begin our quest to find the answers