ACEDIA

Sloth.

Laziness, Sadness, Apathy.

We start the week off with something just about everyone suffers every once and awhile. Some more than others, Homer makes for a great example of a poor example.

Out of all the new expressions I’ve learned here in Australia, the one that bothers me the most that is used by EVERY Aussie I’ve met is, “I can’t/couldn’t be bothered…” The worst part about this phrase that I’ve noticed is this, it seems to always be said in a situation where the person DOES care and/or has just made a big deal about something. Ex: “I want some ice cream, that sounds really good doesn’t it? I think I should have some ice cream, do you want any?”
“ya”
“well, can you get it?”
“why can’t you”
“Oh… meh, I can’t be bothered”

Oh ya… go ahead and laugh my fellow Americans, I only started off with an Aussie phrase because I am IN Australia right now, but, you’re up next, take a look at this:



Alright, I’m getting ahead of myself… back to the beginning. The topic of today’s Blog is Sloth. But as you might notice, there are three sub definitions to Sloth.

Laziness, Sadness, and Apathy.

Laziness: Resistant to work or exertion; disposed to idleness.

Ya, I’m guilty of this when it comes to homework, and exercise. What makes this so bad? Well, for starters, using my first 2 examples. If I was more diligent in my homework in High School, I would have had a good enough GPA to get into the Navy Academy. If I was as diligent working out, I wouldn’t have to unspoil myself half way around the world, nor would I have allowed myself to slide to this point to begin with.

Proverbs 20:4 says, “The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest and have nothing.”

If you are too lazy to work, and you have just barely enough to get by… then you can’t help others. Flat out.

“geez Edward, that sounds very unselfish coming from a hard core capitalist like you… you sure you don’t want to re-think that last statement?”

I am NOT a communist no… you’re all right about that one. But, the role of the church is to show love to others, and one way we do that is take care of those less fortunate. That seems to be the ongoing theme of the seven deadly sins… I think what makes them “deadly” is the fact that one way or another, they prevent us from showing the love of Christ to others. In this example, you have no resources to do so. Yes, a counter argument can be made for that widow who gave a dollar versus the millionaire that gave a few thousand, and yet Joshua said “she gave more” because in percentage it was more, yada yada yada.

But she was an old widow, not lazy. She was trying and that’s all she could afford. The ancient world was MUCH different for widows and orphans than the modern world.


Sadness: Affected or characterized by sorrow or unhappiness.

The definition having been read… try Psalm 149:2-3 (just one of MANY sections that involves rejoicing) “Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the people of Zion be glad in their King. (3) Let them praise His name with dancing and make music…”

Hard to rejoice when you are sad right? Or is it?

Two ways of looking at it:

*Hard to rejoice when you are sad
Or
*Hard to be sad when you are busy rejoicing.

Little kids are great, they almost always see the positive in a situation. You can bring them down, but why would you want to? Maybe we should be like that with God. In fact, I’m pretty sure we should be like that with God since He told us to while He was on earth. More specifically, what if we were so busy thanking Him for our blessings, we forgot about our afflictions?

Instead of being upset about the poor parking choices…
What about being happy that you can walk?

Instead of complaining about heartburn or being overweight…
How about being thankful you are not starving?

Instead of grumbling about taxes…
Count the blessings you have been able to afford


Apathy: Lack of interest or concern, especially regarding matters of general importance or appeal; indifference.

I wish I did not have to go into how “not caring” makes us bad people… but I guess the fact that I do… kinda proves the point.

Here is an example from real life…

Uganda has had a 23 year long civil war between the government (GoU) and a militia army led by a false prophet (LRA). If a 23 year long civil war in the modern day was not enough, the LRA actually kidnaps children and uses them as soldiers. Two words for this…

F^(< ed up!

The TRUE Lord’s Army (us Christians) should have put an end to this long ago, and yet… it continues.

The Irish statesman Edmund Burke once said, “All that is necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for good men to do nothing”

And yet… it continues.

Why does evil continue?

Because WE (the children of God assigned the task of preventing the spread of evil) are too consumed with laziness to move, consumed with sadness to focus on good instead of evil, and to consumed with apathy causing us to be indifferent to the suffering of others in the world.

I myself am HIGHLY included in the above. Being a business major, I watch commercials avidly, but, I NEVER fail to change the channel whenever a “Compassion International” ad comes on.


Basically… evil continues… because we “can’t be bothered” to do anything about it.