"Sin is rebelling against God."
In its simplicity, it holds truth. No matter how complicated your life and the decisions you make get, it can all be broken down to this one statement. When you sin it never affects only you. At the minimum it affects you and God. God laid out clearly Ten Commandments for us to follow, the Beatitudes, all of scripture, there is any number of sources to turn to for guidance in our actions. To sin is to go against him, especially when his will is clearly laid out before us.
"...human beings live in lawless communities that do not reflect God's plan for humanity."
The sins of man cannot be blamed on God. So many people make the argument that if there is a god why is their war, famine, death, etc. This argument does not hold true because of free will. When evil things happen on earth because of the personal sins of man, that does not mean God willed it to be so. It means that they went against God's will. With free will comes great responsibility, responsibility to do that right thing and follow God's will not our own. But most people don't follow this and make irresponsible decisions, decisions that go against God.
"[Sin is] an offense against God as well as a fault against reason, truth, and right conscience."
You can sin even if you don't believe in God. God's will is not just for Christians, it is for everyone because his will is what is good. He wants what is just and good in the world, the right thing to do. It is logical and stands to reason, truth and right conscience. His will is not ridiculous requests like 'it is sinning to not wear a purple hat after you ate meatloaf'. No. Don't kill. Don't lie.Don't cheat. Don't steal. These are simple things, easily applied in every day life that everyone should live by anyways regardless of religion, age, or social standing. When you sin it isn't just against God, but also against reason, truth, and right conscience because it simply wasn't the right thing to do.
"A sin of omission occurs when we fail to do something that is required by God's moral law."
Many people don't realize this. Not doing what you are supposed to do is just as bad as doing something you weren't supposed to do. It goes perfectly with another quote, "There are two kinds of evil people in this world. Those who do evil things and those who see evil things and don't try to stop it." It can be applied so many places in life. In school, if you see someone being bullied and don't stand up for them and do something and you just stand there and let it happen, it is almost as bad as being the one throwing the punches. Many people just let evil things happen and feel they have done nothing wrong because they weren't directly involved, but they have. A sin of omission is quite serious, just like a sin of commission.
"Social sin happens when a sinful attitude or action becomes so commonly accepted that it goes unchallenged by most people"
We as a society are constantly guilt of this. The 'Oh thats just the way things are' attitude infects many situations. Individuals commit personal sin, but when many commit the same personal sin, that is when it becomes a social sin. For Example, paying a woman less for equal work as a man. If one boss does it, it is a personal sin. But because so many do it across the country, even the world, it is a social sin. Sexism, racism, ageism and the like are all social sins. Sometimes the social sin can originate from laws and spread that way. An example of that would be segregation laws that forced black and white Americans to have different schools, drinking fountains, park benches, bathrooms, transportation, etc. That is racism but is was manifested in the laws of some states. It began from racism and perpetuated it. While many disagreed, they often did nothing about it, a sin of omission.
There are many kinds of sin and many things to know about them but it can be boiled down to much simpler terms. Sin is bad. Okay? Don't do it. Do the right thing. It isn't that hard. Your conscience is there to help you and there are always people to lean on for advice. It doesn't have to be that complicated.
*Quotes from Christian Morality: Our Response to God's Love.
*All but a few of the opinions expressed here are the opinions that I was supposed to get from reading the textbook, not my own.
