People don't sin anymore. Kids are told to make good choices. People say they mess up or make mistakes.

Most people don't know that the "seven deadly sins," are anything but a 1995 movie ("Seven") with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman.

FYI the seven are: pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed, sloth; and you can get them on a T-shirt here.

So I think the Vatican was missing the point this week when they added seven new, more modern sins to the list of deadly vices. They were apparently trying to be more up to date and make sin less passé without realizing that sin is totally gone from the post-postmodern vernacular.

The Vatican's list of new sins: environmental pollution, genetic manipulation, accumulating excessive wealth, inflicting poverty, drug trafficking and consumption, morally debatable experiments, and violation of fundamental rights of human nature. Clearly, more focused on societal and governmental ills than individual issues, this list both lets Christians off the hook and at the same time spreads their guilt to entire societies.

I mean I could work on my pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed and sloth. I can't really help most of these new, modern sins.

God's sin list includes more about him than either of these individual or societal sin lists. He is God and I am to worship him only, not create any idols, keep his name and the Sabbath holy. The first four of the Ten Commandments are not about individual sins or societal ills, but about worshipping God.

We get to the nitty gritty with: don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie, don't covet. Here we can see the crossover to the deadly sins—obviously murder—which Jesus expanded to include anger. And adultery, which he expanded to include lust. Stealing and lying are not deadly sins per se. But coveting is covered in envy, gluttony, lust and greed.

It makes sense to update the sin list—Jesus did. But he was more concerned with a person's heart condition rather than legalities.

Is the Vatican concerned about people's hearts? Or are they just trying to seem more relevant? Last year, the Vatican issued a kind of Ten Commandments for drivers that listed as offenses: road rage, alcohol abuse and rudeness.

I prefer Allstate's stand—the TV commercial that shows people eating lunch, working and playing in the middle of the road and then cautions drivers to consider other drivers as human beings rather than nuisances.

If the Vatican really wanted to be relevant it wouldn't offer new sins, but a different perspective, say accident forgiveness or something.

I know he gets a lot of criticism for too much grace and not enough sin, but I think Joel Osteen is more on track than the Vatican about this. People already know about the crap. People need to know about the hope.

"God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again." John 3:17 (The Message).

How can your church join God in this? List of sins? Probably not. Love and grace that lead people to God? Probably.