Rate your friends on the VELAWIG scale

Okay, I hear a lot about the Fatima proclamation that most souls go to hell for sins of the flesh. Reasonable. But what bothers me is that the common interpretation (at least in the circles where I hear an interpretation of this) is that these sins of the flesh are confined solely to modesty. Now correct me if I am wrong, but there are a lot of sins of the flesh that do not relate primarily to lust. Has there ever been an age where obesity has reached crisis proportions than in this country at this historical time period? Crisis speaking spiritually, not health-wise. Not going to claim to be a reader of souls, but looks like the modern world has a gluttony problem. Has there ever been a time in history when there were more people with more free time to sit on the couch and watch T.V.? Or play video games? Or post on the internet? Sounds pretty immobile to me, or perhaps another ‘i’ word would do better: indolence. Sloth seems to be a pretty clear sin of the flesh, as does gluttony. Drive through junk food – that combines the best of gluttony (bad food in large portions) with the best of indolence (not only do I not have to cook or clean up, but I don’t even have to get my ass out of the car). Does your town have a drive through fast food place? More than one? I’m shocked. Not to downplay the role lust has played in the damnation of people. Look around, in our overly sexualized society (which I would argue makes things less sexual, but that for another time) idiotic thirteen year old boy fantasy “women” are paraded around naked to sell everything. Several years ago a comedian joked that there would be billboards of naked women, provocative (I won’t say what he said exactly) and letters reading “drink Coke”. We’re not too far from there. But at the same time, the sins of the flesh, as a general rule, seem to be, to me, rolled into one lusty, indolent glutton called: the modern American.

(aside, spell check tried to replace “VELAWIG” with Bellagio, a casino in Las Vegas. I forgot all about lottery tickets, gambling, Texas hold ’em and greed. . . but that seems a little less fleshy to me)