A Look at How Sin Keeps the World in Bondage

We have all heard the adage, “My actions hurt no one but myself.” But is this sentiment truth? When we look back to the first earthly sin committed, the Church teaches of its devastating consequences. CCC: The harmony in which they had found themselves, thanks to original justice, is now destroyed: the control of the soul’s spiritual faculties over the body is shattered; the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions, their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination. Harmony with creation is broken: visible creation has become alien and hostile to man. Because of man, creation is now subject “to its bondage to decay” (400).  
Adam and Eve hurt themselves when they did not listen to God, and their choice to sin would also affect every future generation. Every human soul (save one) would inherit the taint of original sin. CCC: Death makes its entrance into human history (400).
We then ask, how does Adam and Eve’s sin stand apart from every future person’s sin that followed? CCC: Although it is proper to each individual, original sin does not have the character of a personal fault in any of Adam’s descendants (405).So, does this mean the sin of Adam is the only sin that would affect every human being? Or is it possible that our sins also have catastrophic consequences, that go beyond our own person.
The Church teaches that there are four categorical consequences to every sin committed: personal, social, ecclesial, and cosmic. The personal consequence of sin restricts the growth of virtue in the individual. Virtue is defined, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church as “A habitual and firm disposition to do the good” (1803). The social consequence of sin affects one’s relationship with other people by building structures of sin. Essentially creating institutions, government, laws, social opinion, and such that are contrary to divine goodness. The ecclesial consequence disrupts The Church and weakens it, as we are all members of its living body, we are considered Church Militant. And when part of the body (us) is sick it affects how the whole-body (The Church) functions.
Lastly, there is the cosmic consequence. This affects the natural world we live in. This consequence when understood clearly shows how sin has affected our world. When God created the universe, He saw it was good. At the beginning the visible world was perfect and did not have the challenges of changing weather, unfriendly creatures, natural disasters, etc.
It was the choice of our first parents that initially soured the good. When their actions and desires did not reflect the perfect good God wished for them and allowed into the world the pride and envy of the serpent, we lost paradise. And with each generation since, and with each newly committed sin, the consequence of sin can be noticed in how it affects the natural world around us.
Imagine a large clear vase of pure untainted water, this represents the world God gave us. Adam and Eve sinned: take some black dye and squirt a stream of it into the water. Watch the beautiful clear water turn cloudy. This was the first sin. This was the first change to the perfect world God gave us.
Now imagine more people being born and each new sin committed by them. It won’t be as traumatic as the first initial sin, so put away the black dye. For each venial sin a person commits put a drop of pink dye into the vase. People tend to commit a lot of venial sins, so sprinkle those drops of dye into the water. Then pick up a purple dye and for each mortal sin a person commits squirt a drop of purple dye into the water. The water is changing. It is becoming murkier. And as the generations pass and people become less conscientious of the sins they commit; they tend to commit more. Now those drops of pink and purple dye are no longer sprinkling but raining down into the vase’s water.
The clear water is quickly tuning dark. This is the affect of sin on our physical world. It is also the affect of sin on our soul. And as the purity disappears, we see its poisonous affect in more and more extreme weather, and natural disasters occurring, and the rise in the lack of honor and morality.
Sin does not only hurt the sinner. The Church recognizes us as members of one body in Christ. And as one body, we must think how our actions affect one another, for we share the same body – which is the Church Christ gave us. And we share the same world. All of which is being corrupted because sin affects everyone and thing.
The only way to heal us and the world we live in is to get rid of sin, for sin is the causation of everything bad that has happened in this world. For everything contrary to the Eternal Law destroys God’s plan and introduces the Devil’s unnatural plans into the world. Sin can be driven from our souls and lives through the sanctifying grace of the Catholic Church, which can only be found in its sacraments. Sanctifying grace is the supernatural life of Christ in us. Grace stays in the soul unless driven out by the willful act of mortal sin, which is death to our soul, for mortal sin crucifies Christ in us.
There are many Catholics today who join social crusades to “save the world.” But the most essential way, the way Jesus Christ gave us and told us to do, is forgotten. To heal the world, we must first heal ourselves. We can only do this through the sacraments. And we can only worthily receive the sacrament of the eucharist, by first cleansing our soul through the sacrament of penance. Only by this can we break the ties that bind us to sin. And we can not save the world without breaking those ties.