What is Sin?

What is sin?

Sin is rejecting or ignoring God in the world he created, rebelling against him by living without reference to him, not being or doing what he requires in his law—resulting in our death and the disintegration of all creation.
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I like the part of this answer that says “rebelling against him by living without reference to him.”

This seems to be the key to sin. And it also opens up the issue to what is really our problem. We think of sin as “right or wrong actions or behaviors.” But the truth is, we can be the most morally upright people in the universe and still be the worst sinners of all.

He created us and in the cross he redeems us. We owe everything to him, and he commands it from us. Yet, how often do our lives look like the life of an atheist?

We are creatures. We are created things. We are not independent. We are not self-sufficient. We are not self sustaining. But so often we live like we are all these things.

The created order places humanity at the top of creation with the God given order to reflect his image to everything he has made (including one another.)

When we fail to do that, we are not living out the call to live fully human lives, and all of creation suffers suffers from humanity’s failure.

This is why Jesus was the perfect man. He fulfilled the call to live a fully human life, and then he died in order to defeat the curse. He still calls us to live a fully human life, but his death provides the answer for our frequent shortcomings.

*Catechism questions and answers taken from The New City Catechism.