Sin is War

Our society tends to ignore sin. It’s considered an outdated word. But, what may we compare sin to so that we may understand it better?

 One way to think of sin is to think of war. Most wars begin over a period of time. The justification of what will be gained by entering into a war seduces many people. Those involved with war think they deserve what they want. They see how easy it is to take it. They feel it is better this way, that they use force to gain what they want. Then, they tell those who oppose war that they’re living in the past, or that they don’t understand how good this war is.

 War is never easy. It involves dominance over another, atrocities never imagined during peacetime, and suffering. War continues because people convince themselves that what they are doing is correct. Not until another authority comes along and ends the war do people see clearly the madness of it all. A lot of the same things may be said about sin.

 We tend to fashion our rationale for sin by making it seem good or justified. Sinners tend to spread their sin to others, just as armies invading neighboring nations do with their war. Soon, disorder rules the persons living in sin, but they do not see it. Consequences of sin infest the world, even beyond the spiritual death of a soul.

 There can never truly be a private sin just as there is never truly a private war. Societies get swept up in wars, just as they get swept up in sin. What begins with a decision by one to disregard order and justice spreads to all. It takes over not only individuals, leading to private hells, but a communal effect of evil. All the good that once existed before the war (or sin) is perverted into a twisted, ugly mess of what once was a beautiful world. That is the price of both war and sin.

 As for what sin is, it is war. It is war with order, truth, goodness, and love. It is violence against the beauty of the created person made dignified by God’s grace.

 Sin should never be appeased, rather it must be defeated.

 Just as an army needs superior weapons to win a war, so too a soul needs weapons to combat sin. Once a war has been won, then we finally see how dark and desolate the landscape has become. The same is true for a soul who learns to stop sinning and finally understands how unhappy they were living away from God. Through prayers, fasting, and ultimately confessing our sins, we realize how much we have lost when we embraced sin. As a society that has been freed from war understands the value of peace, a soul freed from sin understands God’s love.

 This Lent, we have a rich opportunity to see sin for what it is, a war zone. All we have to do is look at a Crucifix.