Blogathon Day 6 - List Your Biggest Sins

I bought my brother a book called Listography for Christmas. It just a list of questions that you answer at your leisure. I was gong to use it as a basis of the 29 blog posts for Feb but, even though I had the full list since last October I didn't complete any. I shall however dip in and do some on various days.

I am of course sinless, (cough), and the seven deadly sins are way too easy to achieve so I'll check how I'm doing against the 10 Commandments.

You shall have no other Gods but me. - As someone who believes that all religions are worshipping the same God, whatever they think, I'm pretty much onside here. Virtue 1 : Sin 0

You shall not make for yourself any idol, nor bow down to it or worship it. - I was useless at art. There is no way I can make make an idol for myself. I can't even borrow one, I know of two, the green eyed yellow one just north of Katmandhu, and we've never been formally introduced and secondly, Pop Idol, which is long gone and I only flirted briefly with it. Virtue 2 : Sin 0

You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. - Ah, I think I know what he might be getting at. I shouldn't think many will get past this one. Time to move on. Virtue 2 : Sin 1

You shall remember and keep the Sabbath day holy. - To be fair I can normally remember it's Sunday. And in fact since coming to France it's certainly a quieter day as nearly all the shops are shut, bar the bakers for our daily bread and a handful of others. As for keeping the Sabbath, it's not as easy in a staunchly Catholic country being nominally Anglican but our little local church only has a service every eight weeks and going is part of integration into the village. Hmm, I think that's a draw. Virtue 2.5 : Sin 1.5

Respect your father and mother. - When you talk about general respect for them, then I am a product of my generation, and respect is something we had for our elders. When you look at respect for each individualy then I respect my mum but always find it harder to respect my father for some of the things he did yet for some of his achievements I respect him greatly. On balance, a virtue. Virtue 3.5 : 1.5

You must not commit murder. - I can't vouch for the add ant or a million but I'm pretty clear on the human front. Virtue 4.5 : Sin 1.5

You must not commit adultery. - Well, you have to be married to committ adultery so that's quite a small window of opportunity but as that's how I met Linda I'll have to hold my hands up. Virtue 4.5 : Sin 2.5

You must not steal. - Oh. I have a bit of form. I was a little bit naughty when I was 10. W H Smiths in Ealing ended up a bit light of items as did Bensteads Book Shop in West Ealing. Virtue 4.5 : Sin 3.5

You must not give false evidence against your neighbour - Oh dear, I seem to be on a bad run. In 1972 me and my best mate were walking home from school when we were stopped by a group of boys from our rival school. We got seperated and although I was a bit shook up I was ok but they beat my mate up. Cutting a long story short, the boys got nicked and I ended up in court. Under evidence I swore that the sharpened comb one of the guys had was a knife to increase the possible sentence. Going forward about 5 years I was in the stands at Brentford when I ended up staning next to the guy with the comb and he recognised me. He was friendly enough but was at pains to explain that it really wasn't a knife but a comb. So I let him know that I knew it was. He was somewhat surprised so I explained to him the simple fact that if you hurt my friend I will cause you as many problems as I can. I might not be physically strong but there are other ways to get even. Virtue 4.5 : Sin 4.5

You must not be envious of your neighbour's goods. You shall not be envious of his house nor his wife, nor anything that belongs to your neighbour. - Ah, the old covet thy neighbours ox, eh? I'm certainly clear on the ox front. But have I coveted other's goods. Hmm. I'm trying to think of an example where I have and I can't think of one. Well, not since I was a small kid and my friend had a Johnny 7 gun and I wanted it but I think that might be forgivable. In general I aren't jealous of other people and what they own. I might wish I had millions but I'm not jealous of those who do. Virtue 5.5 : Sin 4.5

Well, that's a close one. I'm just on the side of the Angels but I better watch my step!