The Seven Deadly Sins And Spiritual Transformation

"Sin and temptation are daily battles for every Christian (or at least they should be!). In this book, John Mabray will help you win those battles by pointing you again and again to Jesus Christ and His means of daily transforming grace as you face the most common and challenging temptations for us all." Robert C. (Ric) Cannada, Jr., Chancellor and CEO Reformed Theological Seminary, RTS System "Powerful and relevant ... . Comprehensive in scope and practical in approach. John Mabray provides transforming insights into God's word on the spiritual battles challenging every believer. His writings answer many questions for those who desire to live an effective and victorious Christian life." Dr. A. Pierre Guillermin Co-Founder and President Emeritus Liberty University "The seven deadly sins are just as deadly today as they were a thousand years ago. John Mabray makes that clear. He makes something else radiantly clear: only with, through, and in Christ can we conquer the evil that threatens our lives. The reader of this book will find extremely helpful spiritual direction for conquering the enemies of our souls." Sandy Willson, Senior Pastor Second Presbyterian Church Memphis, Tennessee This is the meatiest, most accessible, and most spiritually challenging book I have ever seen on the seven deadly sins. John Mabray is a superb preacher whose wisdom needs to be known widely. I recommend this book to every serious Christian. Gerald McDermott Jordan-Trexler Professor of Religion Roanoke College John Mabray serves as Senior Pastor of Rivermont Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Lynchburg, Virginia.

Drawing on centuries of wisdom from the Christian ethical tradition, this book takes readers on a journey of self-examination, exploring why our hearts are captivated by glittery but false substitutes for true human goodness and happiness. The first edition sold 35,000 copies and was a C. S. Lewis Book Prize award winner. Now updated and revised throughout, the second edition includes a new chapter on grace and growth through the spiritual disciplines. Questions for discussion and study are included at the end of each chapter.

Visionary theologian and award-winning author Matthew Fox challenges traditional perceptions of good and evil by offering a new theology that lays the groundwork for a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In this revised edition with a luminous foreword by Deepak Chopra and a new preface that brings the book up to date with the cataclysmic events of the new millennium, Fox illustrates how, contrary to mainstream church doctrine, flesh is the grounding of spirit. Fox argues that our culture has concentrated far too much on transgressions of the flesh while failing to take into account its sacredness. Artfully weaving together the wisdom of East and West, he considers Thomas Aquinas's definition of sin as "misdirected love" and applies parallels between the Eastern teachings of the seven chakras and the Western teachings of the seven capital sins. Fox explains how the chakras teach us to direct the love-energies we all possess and proposes seven positive precepts for living a full and spirited life. He invites us to change the way we think about sin and asserts that we can combat and transform evil through love, generosity, letting go, and creativity. Crafting a blueprint for social change, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh points the way toward a deeper and more compassionate way to live while eloquently revealing the means to confront evil both within and without. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Are you tired of living a life overcome by hurt and pain? Do you feel like you’re stuck in a rut and tired of setbacks? What do you do while you are waiting on your breakthrough? Are you ready to take back your life and live the victorious life that Jesus Christ died to give you? “7 Deadly Sins That Poison the Soul and How to Conquer Them” is a tool to help readers overcome seven of life’s most difficult challenges: jealousy, unforgivingness, anger, pride, disobedience, gossip, and addiction. This book will provide spiritual tools to help the hurting, equip the strong, enlighten the wise, nurture the insecure, and enhance spiritual growth through exploring the author’s real-life experiences and learning what the Word of God has to say about the situation. Reading this book will encourage you to take back your life, unpoison your soul from the deception of the enemy, and live an abundant life. Romans 8:37 (NIV) says, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors!”

An unflinching look at the meaning and substance of sin.

Our world is charged with both the grandeur of God and the void of his absence. The seven deadly sins are the force causing that hole. They are at work in each of us. They decimate our relationships, our souls and our world. These deadly sins often seem pleasing and good for gaining what we desire, but they are thoroughly poisonous. Conversely, the Beatitudes are Jesus' pictures of a restored creation. The Beatitudes introduced what Jesus said to his earliest followers about a life strong and fruitful. In fact, the Beatitudes give us a glimpse of a world empty of evil and filled to the edges with God's life. Looking at the Beatitudes and the seven deadly sins in turn, we see two paths, two sets of invitations. Both call to deep places within us to come and taste. Both invite us to take up residence. Both present themselves as life as it actually is. But only one will draw us further into reality.And only one will make us happy. “Of the many, many books about the Gospels, or about Jesus, or about Christian morality, only one in a thousand gives us a real breakthrough, a new ‘big picture’. Most are just nice little candles on the cake. Seven is a bonfire. It’s not just good; it’s striking. It doesn’t just say all the things you’ve heard a thousand times before. And yet it’s totally in sync with both the saints and the scholars.”--Peter Kreeft, professor of philosophy at Boston College, and author of over forty-five books, including Fundamentals of the Faith.

This book began with Paul Steinberg’s realization that although religions are struggling to meet the needs and trends of our modern age, spirituality is not. Its contemporary manifestations continue to thrive, and Jews can be found throughout all varieties of spiritual leadership in America. Facing the fact that, for whatever reason, Jewish leaders simply have not done a good job of translating the ancient, spiritual wisdom of their beliefs into contemporary language and images that resonate with mass appeal, Rabbi Steinberg knew that the faith of his fathers was ready for a new spiritual message. And so he has written it—a message that is both particular to Judaism and uses Jewish language and text as starting points for a view that is universal enough to include spiritual concepts, terms, and expressions from many other spiritual traditions. Spiritual Growth: A Contemporary Jewish Approach provides both a language and a set of Jewish spiritual principles that are accessible and integrated with contemporary life, as well as being deep and authentically real (i.e., not “dumbed down” for anyone). It is a work that emerged out of Rabbi Steinberg’s own personal experiences, pains, and spiritual journey—the trials and growth documented in his highly successful book Recovery, the 12 Steps, and Jewish Spirituality. There are not a lot of works like this. There are books on Jewish scholarship, history, and theology. But books on Jewish spirituality tend usually to focus on a particular motif, such as the feminine, grief, aging, or Kabbalistic biblical interpretations. Spiritual Growth: A Contemporary Jewish Approach presents its message through the psycho-spiritual world view of 2018 but without the language and narrative of a therapist. It is an important contribution to the spiritual-seeking community at large, to Jews who have become alienated from their faith, and to anyone interested in learning more about what a historically vibrant spirituality can bring to today’s troubled world.

The Christian life is a war and one of your most lethal enemies hangs its helmet inside your heart. This infernal, internal enemy is sin, which even after new birth continues to reside in every believer. As followers of Jesus, we’ve been given a simple mission regarding sin: search and destroy. Put it to death. But in the words of Cornelius Plantinga Jr., “sin has a thousand faces.” It is one thing to oppose sin in principle, quite another to actually do the bloody work of crucifying specific sin patterns in our lives. Sometimes these patterns are difficult to detect. Always they fight back, tooth and nail, mounting vehement resistance in counter-maneuvers of a variety and complexity that would send General Schwarzkopf’s mind spinning like a tilt-a-whirl. The most famous faces of sin are the Seven Deadly Sins: pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust. Not merely corrupting vices in themselves, these seven are gateway sins leading to countless others. They are the leading undercover operatives for the world, the flesh, and the devil—that evil complex of powers arrayed against our souls. And while we may recognize these sins by their names, we are often misled by the subtlety of their methods and ways. These sins are masters of disguise, adept at masking their true nature in charades of harmlessness, acceptability, and fun. In Hit List, Brian Hedges helps us take aim at the seven deadly sins by providing detailed dossiers for each one and equipping us with rich gospel resources for replacing vice with the virtue of Christ.