Seven Roads to Hell - Various

No one goes to hell by committing sin in the abstract, sin in general. Our character traits, talents and dispositions, our experiences — everything about us points out to us a particular road to hell — one of the seven that are called the capital sins. For us, this or that particular one is the fastest and easiest because of who we are, what we are, where we find ourselves. And the road sign will read either pride, covetousness, lust, anger, gluttony, envy or sloth.

The seven capital sins are called capital because they are the sins of primary importance and inevitably spawn a whole litter of other sins. Pride leads to boasting, ostentation, hypocrisy; envy is followed by hatred, discord, a restless quest for riches and honors, and constant turmoil of soul. The slothful man is idle, aimless, neglects his spiritual duties and the obligations of his state in life. And so on for the other capital sins. They all lead to other sins. They’re all roads to hell. Most important, we must find out whether we’re traveling one of these roads. (From the Introduction)