20100426 Question: Seven Deadly Sins

6: Why do many Catholics refer to the 7 deadly sins when they aren't mentioned in the Bible directly and were compiled by a man who had nothing to do with the Bible?

6. Yeah, one thing to get used to with Christianity: there are lots of things we do, talk about, etc. that are not expressly in the Bible. Nowhere in the Bible does it tell us how to build a synagogue or a Christian church. Nowhere in the Bible does it tell us how Christian ministers should dress. Nowhere in the Bible does it tell us what books belong in the Bible! The comfort we have in Catholic Christianity is found in the fact that we grew organically from our Hebrew roots in the revelation of Jesus the Christ, through the ministry of the Apostles, and shepherded through history by their successors, the popes and bishops. Protestant communities are generally defined by what they deny of the Catholic Faith (though they would never admit it). Many of them are not even aware of this historically obvious distinction.
The "Seven Deadly Sins" are just one articulation of a common practice among Christian spiritual leaders of the early Middle Ages to identify the common causes of spiritual failing. Many other spiritual doctors refer to the "Eight Vices" including vainglory, pride that arises after having conquered other temptations (see Evagrius Ponticus and John Cassian). The effort was partially based on passages from Proverbs and Galatians that list offenses to God. Pope St. Gregory the Great really just made a very publicly published list to be of use to the people of God.

20100426 Question: Shroud of Turin

1: Why is the Shroud of Turin still held as a religious artifact when it was proven to be formed hundreds of years after Jesus's death?
1. The Shroud of Turin is believed to be the burial cloth of Jesus because the wounds match the historical methods employed at the time with details unknown in the Middle Ages but later discovered through modern archaeology. The imprint is also inexplicable by modern science. Furthermore, the tests performed on the cloth have long been debunked because the main body of the cloth has been shown to be much older than originally believed and the previous tests included portions of cloth that appear to have been repaired at later dates in history. Lastly, the cloth matches the description of a relic known to have traveled throughout Byzantium in the early centuries AD and doesn't fit the typical anachronistic (according to current fashions instead of with historical accuracy) style of religious works in the Middle Ages.