by NICOLE NEROULIAS
How Do You Spell Lust?
M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I
L
AS VEGAS may be known as “Sin temptations are everywhere. It doesn’t has more to do with, let’s say, someone
City,” but when it comes to trans- surprise me that in the Bible Belt, where who had a musical talent or a bright kid
gressions per capita, parts of the you’re keeping it more from other people, who just didn’t work in school,” he said.
Bible Belt may burn much hotter, it’s going on more than people think.” “I would have measured it more by high
suggests a new study by Kansas But most experts, including the school dropout rates or college comple-
State University geographers. researchers themselves, advise people not tion rates, but even that would have been
The project, conducted by four gradu- to take the study seriously as a reliable incomplete.”
ate students in the university’s geography measure of saintliness to wickedness, The concept of the deadly sins is less
department, maps out “hot spots” for given the difficulty of finding ways to prevalent in Jewish tradition, but the def-
Christianity’s seven deadly sins—lust, accurately quantify each of the sins. initions—and critiques of the study’s
gluttony, greed, slothfulness, wrath, envy Slothfulness, the sin of not realizing weaknesses—are basically the same, said
and pride. The hot-spot data is based on one’s potential and perhaps therefore the Solomon Schimmel, professor of Jewish
federal statistics such as sexually transmit- hardest of the seven to quantify, was education and psychology at Hebrew Col-
ted disease rates for lust, theft rates for mapped as the total expenditures on arts, lege in Massachusetts and author of The
envy, and violent crime rates for wrath. Seven Deadly Sins: Jewish, Christian, and
Researcher Ryan Bergstrom emphasizes Classical Reflections on Human Nature.
the project was intended as a secular map- He agrees with Biddle that the study’s
ping exercise, but faith leaders have been wrath manifestation—
gradually discovering it through word of incidents of violent
mouth. Many express surprise and dis- crime—comes closest to
belief at findings that show Ameri- the source, but falls short
ca’s Deep South as suffering from by overlooking all the
more overall sinfulness than south- uncontrollable anger that
ern Nevada. doesn’t culminate in bloodshed,
The Rev. Joel Hunter, pastor of North- such as road rage.
land Church in Longwood, Florida, specu- “Someone can lose his temper with-
lated the results could mean that regional out hitting anyone,” Schimmel said,
stereotypes about morality have been
“Every city is
adding that measuring lust as a reflection
greatly exaggerated.
Sin City nowadays,
of sexually transmitted disease cases also
“Perhaps Las Vegas is known for its overlooks a large segment of sinners.
tourist industry but the residents are in
with the availability
“This could also reflect a lack of
reality more sedate and conservative,” he sexual education, or someone who is a
said. “And perhaps Florida is known for of everything online devout Catholic and still has sexual
its retirees but our residents are more ‘out impulses but doesn’t believe in using a
there’ with our appetites.”
and the world we live in.”
condom,” he said, adding that the calcu-
The Rev. Craig Gross of XXXChurch, a
—Craig Gross
lation also ignores all the sinners who
national antipornography mission, said keep their lustful impulses to themselves
the project’s findings were consistent with entertainment, and recreational activities or turn to the Internet and other disease-
his own experiences, both as a Las Vegas compared to employment per capita. free outlets.
resident and as a pastor frequently asked That’s a particularly dubious method, said Ultimately, no map could accurately
to speak at evangelical churches in the Mark Biddle, a professor at Baptist Theo- pinpoint America’s modern-day equiva-
southeastern United States. logical Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, lents of Sodom and Gomorrah, Biddle
“Every city is Sin City nowadays, with and author of Missing the Mark: Sin and Its said, unless researchers someday develop
the availability of everything online and Consequences in Biblical Theology. mind-reading capabilities. He concluded,
the world we live in,” he said. “It’s on “You certainly wouldn’t measure “Jesus says that it doesn’t matter if you
display more here in Las Vegas, but the [slothfulness] by trips to the theater; it act on it or not for it to be a sin.”
EVANGEL • AUG 2009 27
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