The three chief sins : Karl Barth

I don't know the third one he had mentioned, but I have one, pride. I think pride is the slippery slope to many other sins. A person could have so much pride where they think that they are able to put themselves in a situation they shouldn't, but be convinced that they can handle it. Even the one you mention wanting acceptance from others in my opinion starts with pride. Someone can be to proud to be humble when they should maybe seek counsel or help from an elder. Pride can make someone not admit their faults. It can make them not be honest with a spouse. Pride can make someone believe they understand everything, and not listen to correction or advise. Pride can lead to feeling superior. Feeling to superior can lead to slothfulness as you mentioned, because you might feel you have already paid your dues, and achieved or accomplished enough. Pride can lead to covertness because you deserve something others have. Pride can lead to someone thinking they won't fall into sin. Pride can lead to someone thinking they are so spiritual that they no longer need to be on their knees in pray everyday, or in the word everyday. Really we can go on and on, I think pride is a real danger that everyone should be on constant guard about, and what is so dangerous is that is so subtle that it is usually hard to recognize especially at first. It is like a slow cancer of a sin, rather than the in your face type of so many other sins.

 

The Big Three according to the Bible is, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, 1 John 2:16. Sloth seems to fall under the lust of the flesh, and the fear of what folks think falls under the pride of life.

 

Hello Christian Youth,

It's nice to see someone talking about Karl Barth on here. Barth talked about sin and sloth a lot in his Church Dogmatics. My guess is the passage you have in mind is from IV.1 p. 145-146 where Barth discusses sin and its response in reconciliation. There, Barth mentions sin as the act of human pride, the sloth of man (here Barth is using sloth along the lines of evil being a privation and sinful man not living up to being a man), and sin as the falsehood of man.

For a general introduction to Barth I don't recommend the Church Dogmatics because of the sheer size and content of the books. However, Barth's two little books Dogmatics in Outline and Evangelical Theology: An Introduction are superb introductions to his thought.

Unfortunately Van Til and Schaeffer did a hatchet job on Barth and convinced many people that his theology is horrible and to be discarded. I recommend deciding for yourself by reading his two books above as a sort of introduction to his theology.

PS it's nice to see a fellow Michigander on here.

BJ

 

I generally like Barth... What "good reasons" are you thinking of?