Gilligan’s Island and the Seven Deadly Sins – Bible Study

 

Lesson 2

Section Title:  “Gilligan and the Skipper”

Lesson Title:  “You Snooze.  You Lose It”

Biblical Principles:  Sloth and Anger

 

Review Deadly Sins (Sloth & Anger) and heavenly virtues (Diligence & Patience) and how heavenly virtues counteract deadly sins:

Sloth & Diligence:  Proverbs 6:9:  “How long will you lie there, you sluggard?  When will you get up from your sleep!”  Roman 2:7-8:  “To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.  But for those who are self seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.

Anger and Patience:  Ephesians 4:26-27  “In your anger do not sin.  Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” Proverbs 14:29:  “A patient man has great understanding, but a quick tempered man displays folly.”

 

Sloth is sinful because it refuses to engage God, and anger is sinful because it allows Satan a chance to drive us apart.  Anger presents a corruption of love, while sloth shows an apathetic absence of any love at all.  A major point of this study is that sloth and anger is self-preserving:  the slothful must be diligent; the angry must be patient.

 

Watch Video Lesson 2

  1. By varnishing the seat, was Gilligan being lazy or diligent?
  2. Did he want to just get through or to be thorough?

 

Patience opposes anger, it is the holy virtue that stands against the deadly vice.  Whereas anger separates us, we are drawn to a man of patience.  This is because patience demonstrates a depth of understanding of self, of others, of life.  By contrast, anger usually demonstrates a quick judgment based on a personal offense.

  1. Despite his outburst, how did the Skipper show patience?
  2. How did he throttle back his anger?

 

Anger can be the right reaction.  Jesus gave us an example:  he became angry unselfishly when he saw uncaring attitudes; he dealt with his feelings immediately by addressing the issue; and he acted constructively instead of destructively (Mark 3:4-5).  Likewise in dealing with anger, we should pray for God to help us control our tempers, express our feelings well and channel our actions.

  1. Was the Skipper right to be angry at the insurance company?
  2. How was truth being challenged?

 

REFLECTION / Your Inner Gilligan……

Sloth and anger are self-destructive.  Without instruction, a lazy man will waste the time he should be working until a time of need, when he will find he has earned nothing with which he can support himself (Proverbs 19:15-16).  Without instruction, an angry man will be slow to listen, quick to speak and quick to become angry and in doing so, he will endanger his life, likely on earth and certainly in heaven (James 1:19-20).  Fortunately, the instruction found in the Bible on both sloth and anger is self preserving:  the slothful must be diligent; the angry must be patient.  Thus, in a very practical way, obeying God is self preserving while disobeying his teaching is self defeating.

  1. Like Gilligan, have you been lazy—mentally, physically or spiritually?

 

At first, the Skipper seemed impatient to get angry.  Indeed, the practice of patience is in part a matter of overlooking offenses.  Anger at personal offenses reveals a lack of faith that God is in control of your life.  Conversely, patience can indicate your faith in the fact that the Lord will use you for his purpose.  This how a man’s wisdom gives him patience (Proverbs 19:11).

  1. Like the Skipper at first, have you showed anger when you should have showed patience?

 

In his anger, the Skipper wasn’t always wrong.  We should become angry when sinful actions occur, such as a miscarriage of justice or a distortion of the truth.  The breaking of these principles goes far beyond personal offenses.  Ideals like justice and truth are principles of God, which must not be challenged or violated.  Remember, God will reward those that do good, but those that follow evil will incur his wrath  (Romans 2:7-8)

  1. Like the Skipper, have you gotten angry for the right reasons?

 

For two sins that show a lack of judgment in men, both sloth and anger draw a hard judgment from God.  This is because both sloth and anger break the Lord’s command to love.  While anger, like many of the other seven deadly sins, presents a selfish corruption of love, sloth is the only sin to show an apathetic absence of love.  A Lazy man become poor in not only materials but spirit (Proverbs 10:4-5)  And an angry man is judged in not only deed but thought (Matthew 5:21-22).  However, both sins can be opposed by their counter virtues.  If you are lazy, you should be diligent, seeing life as a gift from God and using it in loving service to him.  If you are angry, you should be patient, taking a second look at whether you are reacting to evil which hurts all men or rather a petty insult that offends only you.

  1. Why should you not be lazy?
  2. How can you stop being angry?
  3. How can sloth and anger destroy you?

 

This Week: 

  1. Read John 3:16 daily devotional days 15-21
  2. Be diligent and patient.

 

Next Sunday:  Lesson will focus on Deadly sin of Lust along with virtue of Diligence of Chastity. 


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