It seems as if man cannot get enough of sin, for after exhausting the old ones, committing them in the newest kind of ways, I see where new ones are being thrust upon us. Yes, so decreed the Vatican a few weeks ago, as they laid down the law that new sins had been created, as if we need more rules and regulations to abide by.

And ignorance is no excuse either. "Say what, dat is sin now, I didn't know boss, look how long me a do dat?" Make sure you get the memo from Rome regarding these new sins, folks, but I'll get to that later. First let's examine what sin is, and why we commit them. 'Sin is a theological term for evil behaviour, individual or corporate. It is to be distinguished from crime, a legal term applied to a breach of the rules that society imposes on its members, and from vice, a moral term applied to a practice or habit that is injurious to a person's moral nature. Sin specifically refers to conduct that involves a wrong attitude toward God and results in alienation from Him.'

So that's sin by definition, you can't say I didn't tell you, and as you can see, at times the theological, legal and moral boundaries get crossed, or inextricably intertwined, so you'll not only be damned to hell in the afterlife, but arrested as well in this one. You lose both ways, but there's more, for a sin is not only a deed, but also a thought, motive, or desire. So even if you don't do the act, but just think about it, you're doomed, for you have sinned. No wonder my mom used to tell me, "Don't even think about doing that," and no wonder they have said, "Many a murderer has never killed anybody, and many a thief has never stolen anything."

Based on the concept of sin, as you think it so, as you blink, in a flash it's registered, and yu salt, for you know what the wages of sin is. From my mortal point of view, I think it's unfair, let's face it, thinking about it brings no pleasure, doing it does, yet the punishment is the same. No wonder most people just do it and done, after all, in for a penny, in for a pound. From ancient biblical days, the seven deadly sins are pride, avarice, lust, envy, gluttony, anger and sloth, and guess what, pride is regarded as the sin that most surely separates a sinner from the grace of God. Now with all that hanging over our heads, they've now gone and created new sins for us to worry about.

But people sin for pleasure, and regardless of the consequences, dire though they may be, man will continue to sin, old and new combined. Let's take the sin of lust, which to me ranks way up top on the list of seven, at least as far as giving pleasure goes. Lust encompasses almost everything, fornication, adultery, coveting your neighbour's wife and even the heinous act of taking it by force. You see how wide and far-reaching that sin is? No other sin gives so much pleasure, well maybe gluttony if you're really into your food, but lust is king.

So much so that it also has moral and legal ramifications, for almost all of the spin-offs associated with lust can land you in jail, plus being seared by the flames of Hades in the hereafter. Surely you've heard the term, 'He has sinned against man and God.' And yet, people still fall prey to it. Reason, it brings great pleasure, and as long as sin brings pleasure, man and woman, will continue to revel in it. Few feelings are as powerful as lust, especially when you're lusting for something or someone that's not yours, like your friend's woman or wife. Yeah, like that thought never ever crossed your mind, and remember, as the thought is conceived, zap, you've sinned.

There is so much pleasure in lust that people lose all sense of objectivity, reason, intelligence, logic, education and moral fortitude. I'm sure you must be tired of hearing about former New York governor Spitzer's problems by now, but it was lust that brought him down, as it has many great men before him. The road to hell is littered with the condoms of great men throughout history who have been brought down by this one sin. But there is a school of thought that as long as no one is hurt, or it doesn't involve a minor, it really shouldn't be illegal or even a sin, for that matter.

Columnist Ian Boyne outlined this a few weeks ago as he examined 'The power of sex, People talk about morality and standards, but who really determines right and wrong in sexual matters?' It's food for thought, and even as we observe governor's Spitzer's fall from grace, and indeed those before him, we look at the objects of desire, the women who played integral parts in this tango, and think to ourselves, "But damn, she look good, I would if I could do it and get away with it."

Zap, you've sinned right there, and never even got the pleasure of being with those women. I tell you, nine out of ten men would do what those men did, if they could get away with it, for man is man, and man will always be prey to lust. And that's why sin is judged by God and not man, for we are all hypocrites. I think the bigger sin is when someone hits out against something, yet goes and does it themselves, that to me should be added to the list of the new top three sins, recently decreed by the Vatican, pollution, wealth and genetic manipulation. Yes, my friends, that is what those erudite, brilliant minds have come up with as new sins.

Call them breaches against society, but sin? "So what are you in for, stoking the fires of hell beside me for all eternity?" "Oh, I polluted a river in my district and I'm damned forever." If they have their way, wealth is also a sin, which rules out most of us, but making the Forbes list of worlds' wealthiest people is surely a passport to get you into the gates of hell. Well, genetic manipulation I can see with, for when you tamper with nature? that is a sin against man and God. After all, we come and saw animals and plants living in profusion, so why go and mess with them in an effort to 'improve' on nature? Enter mad cow disease and HIV/AIDS, the result of genetic manipulation gone awry, and now our punishment for meddling in God's plan.

The Island of Dr Moreau has come to life and has gone global, and we're all feeling the effect. Dr Moreau was this fictional character who dabbled in genetic mutation, first a book, then a movie, look it up.

Well, if they can invent new sins, so can I, and my newest addition would be cellphone use. I will always contend, that one of this century's greatest inventions is the Internet, and its worst is the cellphone. Never has one instrument caused such anger, disgust, horror, rudeness, jealousy, pain, humiliation, murder, injury, snooping, envy and lust as the cellphone. And that's why I believe that its usage in certain quarters should be considered the greatest sin of all. I needn't remind you of the boorish instances of cellphone use, you already know them, by observation or by commission, or have suffered through them, and the pain and the anguish are great.

Another sin that I would add to that list is that of stupidity. Now it's bad enough that people do things and try to get away with it, but when otherwise bright intelligent people do stupid things, then that should be classed as a sin. I'm not beating up on Spitzer again, but he's current news. Here's a man at the top of his game, Harvard and Princeton-educated, yet he got busted for dabbling with prostitutes. That to me is no sin, but the sin is, he used the Internet and cellphone to conduct his business, making his actions traceable. Not only that, but he used his good friend's name as an alias when he checked into hotels.

Stupid. As one US analyst pointed out, "Doesn't he watch The Wire, or CSI on TV and see how things are traced?" The same applied to actor Hugh Grant, who while involved with arguably one of the most beautiful women in the world, Liz Hurley, got busted for soliciting a streetwalker on a dark street. Stupid, stupid, stupid, making people ask the question, "What the hell were they thinking?" Men will always buy prostitutes, and while I'm not condoning it, I can understand why and will explore it further another time. But the sin is not buying whores, but being stupid about it.

Sin is man's curse, yet it is also his pleasure, and therein lies the dichotomy. On the one hand it's bad, and we know it, but it feels so damn good that we do it anyway. We know that our best friend's wife is out of bounds, yet we throw caution to the winds and indulge anyway. But sin is put here to keep us on a moral tightrope.

Even with decreed sin and its consequences, mankind still runs amok. Imagine if those guidelines weren't there? No wonder civilisations of old imploded, destroyed from within without the help of outside forces. Still, we look on and wonder, as people sin around us with wanton disregard for the consequences. "Some rise by sin, while some by virtue fall," said Shakespeare.

As for me, "I am a man more sinn'd against, than sinning." Well truthfully, Shakespeare said so also. And for those new sins, I say balderdash, we have enough already, leave the list to the Almighty. Congrats to Dania Bogle, Mel Lumley, Romona Robinson, Lascelles Palmer, Jackie Gillings, for being the first to get last week's pop quiz right. The poem, You are Old Father William, by Lewis Carol, (Alice In Wonderland) was actually a parody of Robert Southey's The Old Man's Comforts and How He Gained Them. More time.

seido1@hotmail.com