Fourth on The Se7en Deadly sins list is listlessness, or acedia, or spiritual dejection, or sloth, or blah-blah . . . whatever. I really don’t care anymore. Hey, what time does the Surreal Life air on the All-Hope-Is-Gone channel?
Anyway, sloth is essentially the desire to sit on your butt and pick lint from your navel because you’re a jaded and dejected bleak little monkey. Sloth is the sin, according to Dorothy Sayers, “which believes nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, loves nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and only remains alive because there is nothing it will die for.”
The decadent tub of spiritual lard that’s satiated with this swill will not lift a finger to fight insanity or to stand for God and humanity because, to them, there isn’t anything worth getting riled up about. As they see it, life has sucked, does suck and will continue to suck, and they feel there’s nada they can do about it. Therefore, don’t ask or expect them to cheerlead any cause because the world, according to this gloomy group, is irrevocably hell-bent for leather.
This sin, unlike pride, envy, anger, avarice, lust and gluttony is a sin of omission rather than of commission. Being a sluggard is a simple sin in that all you have to do to do this doo-doo is do nothing when you’re s’posed to do something.
When most folks think of someone who’s given to sloth, they usually conjure up an image of some bloated, slow moving, mumbling, unshorn, unemployed human sea cow with excessive eye buggers. The fact is that most indolents aren’t your typical heel draggin’ slackers. True slothfulness is easy to hide under a flurry of inconsequential activities and frothy busyness. Yes, you can be hectic, fit, religious and industrious and still be slothful. “But how?” you might ask. Here’s the real acid test to gauge whether or not you have this soul disease: when that which is consequential confronts you . . . such as the pursuit of God, the good, the true and the beautiful . . . how do you react?
Does that which is holy, just and good get a rise out of you and cause you to get off your butt and move into action? Or do you stand there and stare at the substantial like a calf looking at a new gate and then shrug and say, “Whatever.”?
Sloth can not be simply deduced to just loitering in life. Classically defined, sloth is a sluggishness of spirit which is the byproduct of a Van Gogh-esque spiritual gloominess that no longer sees the worthiness of the worthwhile and, ironically, leaves one, as Os Guinness states, trying to find “meaning in its own meaninglessness.”
Oh, yeah . . . before I go on to further slam our slothfulness, let me help you workaholics out there with what sloth is not. Being slothful is not equated with being able to relax. Okay, Mr. I’m-Two-Minutes-Away-from-a-Major-Frickin’-Heart-Attack Man?
There’s nothing wrong with chillin’ like a villain. As a matter of fact, there is a lot right about it. It’s right to lie on the beach, drink ice cold Coronas and not be demon possessed with what’s going on back at the office. It’s right to relax for several hours over dinner with your good friends making jest at people who do not believe like you do. It’s healthy for you and your wife to get away for a weekend of steamy hot relations (as Mother Klump would put it). That’s not slothfulness—that’s yumminess.
Slothfulness, one more time, is a careless apathy towards ideals that leads to a lethargic approach towards that which really matters in life.
So how does one fight off the noon-day demons, the mid-life malaise, the teenaged doldrums, and the bean burrito drowsiness? In The Sermon on the Mount, Christ tabled, in contrast to slothful soul sludge, a hunger and a thirst for righteousness.
Jesus, far from being a Pollyanna and far from ministering in easy and uncomplicated times, said one is “blessed” when in the midst of all the major crapola that’s going down on the planet, including all the bad religion, corrupt politics and war torn nations. He said one can still hunger and thirst for that which is right. Jesus said you’re fortunate when you can keep focused on ideals and hotly pursue them when circumstances are screaming for you to abandon all hope.
Spiritually myopic people move into sloth mode when they’re confronted with the above crud. They see problems as a nice out from activity. They can not see right when wrong is around. They can not hunger for ideals unless the conditions are idyllic. Their conscious or unconscious response when their world ceases to look like a Viagara commercial is, “Forget you guys. I’m moving to the desert.”
Christ, on the other hand, was fueled by selfless passion rooted in a firm persuasion that good will triumph over evil in time and in eternity. This caused him to be, let’s say, involved with what was happening in His day.
You don’t see Jesus dragging though life like Richard the III in passive indifference to that which was good, bad and ugly. He saw the ideal and saw what was currently being played out on the planet and being the unreasonable hopeful rebel that He was, He got a whip and started clearing the punks. If it wasn’t right, then Christ felt compelled to correct it instead of slothfully standing by and just watching.
Doug’s articles have also appeared on several other print and online news sources, including The Washington Times, The Daily Caller, Fox Nation, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Examiner, The Blaze, American Hunter Magazine and ABC News.
He’s been a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel and Fox Business Channel as well as many nationally syndicated radio shows across the nation — which, he believes, officially makes him a super hero.
In addition, Doug is an occasional guest host on New York City’s WABC (The Jason Mattera Show) and he is a weekly guest, every Friday at 7:45am[et], on America’s Morning News (155 markets).
Giles and his wife Margaret have two daughters: Hannah, who devastated ACORN with her 2009 nation shaking undercover videos, and Regis who is an NRA columnist, huntress and Second Amendment activist.
DG’s interests include guns, big game hunting, big game fishing, fine art, cigars, helping wounded warriors, and being a big pain in the butt to people who dislike God and the USA.
Speaking Engagements.
Doug Giles speaks to college, business, community, church, advocacy and men’s groups throughout the United States and internationally. His expertise includes issues of Christianity and culture, masculinity vs. metrosexuality, big game hunting and fishing, raising righteous kids in a rank culture, the Second Amendment, personal empowerment, politics, and social change. For availability, please contact us.
Props.
“Doug Giles is a good man, and his bambinas are fearless. His girls Hannah and Regis Giles are indefatigable. I admire the Giles clan from afar.”
- Dennis Miller
“Doug Giles must be some kind of a great guy if CNN wants to impugn him.”
- Rush Limbaugh
“Doug Giles is a substantive and funny force for traditional values.”
- Ann Coulter, best-selling author
“Doug Giles speaks the truth … he’s a societal watchdog … a funny bastard.”
- Ted Nugent, rock icon
“Doug is funny and insightful. Giles is always spot-on with his analysis and so incredibly hilarious, as well. Whether you’re 15 or 50, if you love God and America, Doug Giles is for you!”
- Jason Mattera, NYT best-selling author of Obama Zombies and Editor-in-Chief, Human Events
“Doug is a raucous and rowdy mix of old-school, traditional conservative values with the kind of eff-you attitude folks like Ted Nugent have made millions on. He’s one part rebellious rock star, one part crusading missionary, and another part rough rider.”
- S. E. Cupp, NYT best-selling author of Why You’re Wrong About The Right and Host of The S. E. Cupp Show on GBTV.com
- When I Want a Progressive’s Opinion on What Guns I “Need” or “Don’t Need”… - Tuesday January 22, 2013 at 5:18 pm
- Massacre Solution: The Brady Bunch Bill to Prohibit the Procreation of Irresponsible People - Sunday January 13, 2013 at 1:16 pm
- Whiny Atheists Protest Charlie Brown Christmas Special - Thursday November 29, 2012 at 9:24 am
