Causes of sin

There are three things which cause us to commit sin.  Of these, one is within our souls, and the other two are outside.

Original sin

Since the Fall of Man, when long ago human beings first rebelled against God, every person has been born with a kind of disease of the soul, called original sin, and we were too.  This disease of the soul makes us treat ourselves, instead of God, as the centre of our lives.  That is why we find it so easy to please ourselves, even when it means doing something which is wrong and which displeases God.  Think of the way small children behave.  Small children think that a thing is good if they like it, even though it is bad; and bad if they dislike it, even though it is good.  They will think it is a good thing to eat chocolates and sweets just before dinner even though it will spoil their appetite; and they will think it is a bad thing to take medicine when they are ill, even though it will make them better.  They judge things by their own likes and dislikes and not by the wishes of their parents.

And so it is with matters of right and wrong.  We treat ourselves as the centre of our own lives, and so judge things by our own likes and dislikes instead of by God’s likes and dislikes.  That, then, is the cause within our souls which leads us to commit sin.

The Devil

Now for the outside causes.  The first is the Devil.  The Devil never has a day off.  He is always on the look out to take us away from God by tempting us to sin.  He does this by putting nasty thoughts into our minds in the hope that we will make them welcome.  St Luke tells us how the Devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness at the start of his Ministry and how Jesus resisted him (Luke 4:1-13). 

Occasions of sin

The second outside cause which leads us into sin is other people or, sometimes, other things.  Many people have been led into sin by bad companions or perhaps by bad books.  People – or things – which are a source of temptation, and which we know by experience are likely to cause us to sin, are known as occasions of sin.